A novel discriminant approximation of periodic differential equations (Q1736171)

In this paper, the authors consider the Hill equation \[ \ddot x +(\alpha+\beta p(t))x=0,\quad p(t+\tau)\equiv p(t) \] and its discriminant which is denoted as \(\Delta(\alpha,\beta)\). The aim of the present work is: \begin{itemize} \item[a)] to introduce a new approximation for the discriminant \(\Delta(\alpha,\beta)\). This is accomplished by doing a series of assumptions on a new approximation obtained by means of Wash series and then reducing it to a recursive summation, in terms of the evaluation of the excitation function at different values of time \(t_n\in[0,\tau]\), \(n=1, 2, \dots\), \item[b)] based on the new form of \(\Delta(\alpha,\beta)\), the authors give an alternative proof to the discriminant approximation obtained earlier by A. M. Lyapunov. \end{itemize}