Discrete third-order three-point boundary value problem (Q2372942)

The boundary value problem (BVP) \[ \Delta ^{3}x(t) = f(t,x(t+1)),\quad t\in [t_{1},t_{3}-1], \] \[ x(t_{1}) = \alpha x(t_{2})-\beta \Delta x(t_{2})=\gamma x(t_{3})+\delta \Delta ^{2}x(t_{3})=0 \] is considered. Here all variables are real, \(\Delta x(t)=x(t+1)-x(t)\) and \( t_{1}<t_{2}<t_{3}.\) A Green's function \(G(t,s)\) is first constructed for the corresponding homogeneous problem under a condition involving \(\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma ,\delta ,t_{1},t_{2}\) and \(t_{3}.\) Then two additional conditions on these numbers imply \(G(t,s)\) is positive on \((t_{1},t_{3}+2]\times [t_{1},t_{3}-1].\) Rewriting the above BVP as \[ x(t)=(\Psi x)(t):=\sum_{s=t_{1}}^{t_{3}-1}G(t,s)f(s,x(s+1)),\quad t\in [t_{1},t_{3}+2], \] the Kransnosel'skii fixed point theorem can then be applied to yield the existence of two positive solutions. The eigenvalue problem \[ x=\lambda \Psi x, \] where \(\lambda >0,\) is also considered under additional conditions on the sizes of \(\min_{t\in [t_{1},t_{3}-1]}f(t,x)/x\) and \(\max_{t\in [t_{1},t_{3}-1]}f(t,x)/x\) near \(0\) and \(+\infty.\) Existence of intervals of the form \((0,\lambda _{0}]\) or \([\lambda _{0},\infty )\) and one or two corresponding positive solutions is then established by the Kransnosel'skii fixed point theorem. (We do not write down the exact conditions since there are already quite a few (recent) papers using the same approach, see the references and look up in the MathSciNet and Zentralblatt MATH the key words: existence, boundary value problem.)