Boundary value problems for a second-order difference equation involving the mean curvature operator (Q2081703)

The authors obtain sufficient conditions for the existence of multiple solutions for the following nonlinear difference equation with the mean curvature operator: \[ -\Delta(\phi_{c}(\Delta u(t-1)))+q(t)u(t)=\lambda f(t,u(t)), \] with \(t\in \mathbb{Z}(1,T), u(0)=u(T+1)=0.\) Here \(q(t)\in \mathbb{R}^{+}\) for each \(t\in \mathbb{Z}(1,T),\) \(\lambda > 0\) is a parameter, \(\Delta\) is the forward difference operator defined by \(\Delta u(t)=u(t+1)-u(t), \Delta^{2}u(t)=\Delta(\Delta u(t))\), \(T\) is a given positive integer, \(f(t,.)\in C(\mathbb{R},\mathbb{R})\) for each \(t \in \mathbb{Z}(1,T)\). For \(a,b \in \mathbb{Z}, \mathbb{Z}(a,b)\) denotes the discrete interval \(\{ a,a+1, \dots, b\}\) if \(a\leq b\); \(\phi_{c}\) is the mean curvature operator defined by \[ \phi_{c}(\xi)=\frac{\xi}{\sqrt{1+k\xi^{2}}} , \quad k>0. \] Here the nonlinear terms do not need any asymptotic and super-linear conditions at 0 or at infinity. For their work, they used Clark's theorem (see [\textit{P. H. Rabinowitz}, Minimax methods in critical point theory with applications to differential equations. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (1986; Zbl 0609.58002); \textit{D. Bai} and \textit{Y. Xu}, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 326, No. 1, 297--302 (2007; Zbl 1113.39018)]. They also consider the existence of a positive solution by using the strong comparison principle. Examples are given to illustrate the results obtained.