The inhomogeneous general linear functional equation (Q2354662)

Let \(a,b,c,A,B \in \mathbb{R}\), \(abAB \neq 0\) and \(\varphi: \mathbb{R}\times\mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}\) be given. The authors study the existence and uniqueness of solutions of the functional equation \[ f(ax + by + c) - Af(x) - Bf(y) = \varphi(x,y).\tag{1} \] One of the results is the following. If a function \(f: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}\) fulfils (1) then {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] the functional equation \[ g(x + y) - g(x) - g(y) = \psi(x,y),\tag{2} \] where \[ \psi(x,y):= \varphi\left(\frac{x}{a},\frac{y}{b}\right) - \varphi\left(\frac{x}{a}, 0) - \varphi(0,\frac{y}{b}\right) + \varphi(0, 0) \] is solvable, \item [(ii)] for every solution \(g: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}\) of (2) and for \[ \varphi_g(x,y) := \varphi(x,y) - \varphi(0,0) - g(ax + by) + Ag(x - c) + Bg(y - c) - (A + B)g(-c) \] the system \[ \begin{aligned} \gamma(ax) - A\gamma(x) = \varphi_g(x,0), \\ \gamma(bx) - B\gamma(x) = \varphi_g(0,x) \end{aligned} \] has an additive solution \(\gamma_g: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}\) which in the case \(A + B = 1\) satisfies \[ \gamma_g(c) = \varphi(0,0)+ g(-c) \] and there exists a constant \(K \in \mathbb{R}\) such that \[ f(x) = g(x - c) + \gamma_g(x) + K.\tag{3} \] If \(A + B \neq 1\), then \[ K = \frac{\varphi(0,0) + (A + B)g(-c) - \gamma_g(c)}{1 - A - B}. \tag{4} \] \end{itemize}} If conditions (i), (ii) and \(A + B = 1\) hold, then formula (3) defines the solution of (1) for arbitrary \(K \in \mathbb{R}\). If conditions (i), (ii) and \(A + B \neq 1\) hold, then formula (3) defines the solution of (1) for \(K\) given by (4).