Eigenvalue comparisons for second order difference equations with Neumann boundary conditions (Q2370790)

The boundary value problem (BVP) for the second order difference equation \[ \Delta(r_{i-1}\Delta y_{i-1})-b_i y_i+\lambda a_iy_i=0,\;1\leq i\leq n,\quad y_0-\tau y_1=y_{n+1}-\delta y_n=0 \] with \(\delta, \tau \in [0, 1]\) and \(\tau+\delta\neq 2\) was recently discussed by the authors [see \textit{J. Ji} and \textit{B. Yang}, Linear Algebra Appl. 420, 218--227 (2007; Zbl 1113.39021)]. In this paper, they extend their earlier results to the special case \(\tau=\delta=1\). The difficulty lies in the singularity of some matrix. A new approach is developed to handle the case. As in their earlier paper, they obtain the complete structure of the eigenvalues of the BVP \[ \Delta(r_{i-1}\Delta y_{i-1})-b_i y_i+\lambda a_iy_i=0,\;1\leq i\leq n,\quad y_0-y_1=y_{n+1}-y_n=0 \] and describe the monotonic behavior of all eigenvalues as the coefficients \(\{ a_i\}_{i=1}^{n}, \{ b_i\}_{i=1}^{n}\) and \(\{ r_i\}_{i=1}^{n-1}\) change.