A new analogue of Gauss' functional equation (Q1902926)

This paper deals with the functional equation \(f((a + b)/2\), \(2a/(a + b)) = f(a, b)\) where \(a\) and \(b\) are positive and \(f : \mathbb{R}^+ \times \mathbb{R}^+ \to \mathbb{R}\). In Theorem 1 it is shown that \(f(a,b) = \sqrt {ab}\) is a solution of the functional equation. In Theorem 2 it is shown that \(J(a,b) = 1/ \sqrt {ab}\) where \[ J(a,b) = {1 \over 2 \pi} \int^{2 \pi}_0 {d \theta \over a \sin^2 \theta + b \cos^2 \theta} = {1 \over 2 \pi} \int^{2 \pi}_0 {d \theta \over a \cos^2 \theta + b \sin^2 \theta} = J(b, a). \] The main result of the paper is the following theorem. Theorem 3. Let \(f : \mathbb{R}^+ \times \mathbb{R}^+ \to \mathbb{R}\) and suppose that \(f\) can be represented by \(f(a,b) = {1 \over 2 \pi} \int^{2 \pi}_0 q(s) d \theta\) where \(s = a \sin^2 \theta + b \cos^2 \theta\) and \(q : \mathbb{R}^+ \to \mathbb{R}\) has a continuous second derivative \(q'' : \mathbb{R}^+ \to \mathbb{R}\). Then the only solution of the functional equation is given by \(f(a,b) = AJ(a,b) + B = A/(\sqrt {ab}) + B\) where \(A\) and \(B\) are arbitrary constants.