Two sided bounds and positivity conditions for the Green function to periodic problem for a higher order ODE (Q2267161)

The author establishes bounds on the Green function for the periodic problem \[ \sum_{k=0}^n a_k(t) x^{(n-k)}(t) = 0, \quad 0 < t < 1, \qquad x^{(k)}(0) = x^{(k)}(1), \quad k = 0, \dots, n-1, \] where \(a_0(t) \equiv 1\) and \(a_k(t)\), \(k = 1, \dots , n\) are continuous real valued functions. In the last section of the paper, the author uses the main result to formulate conditions for the existence of a positive solution for the nonlinear equation \(\sum_{k=0}^n a_k(t) x^{(n-k)}(t) = [\phi(x)](t)\), \(0 < t < 1\), \(x^{(k)}(0) = x^{(k)}(1)\), \(k = 0, \dots, n-1\).