Mean value operators and the characterization of cotangens by functional equations (Q2491986)

The function \(f\), \(f(x)=\pi \cot \pi x\), satisfies, for all \(n\in \mathbb{N}\), the functional equation \(f(x)=(1/n)\sum_{j=0}^n f((x+j)/n)=:(M_n f)(x)\). The author studies properties of the mean value operators \(M_n\). He also gives an excellent survey on known and also new characterizations of the function \(cot\) by functional equations. Among others he shows that the general continuous solution \(f: ]0,1[\to \mathbb{K}\in\{\mathbb{R},\mathbb{C}\}\) of the system \(M_n f=f, M_m f=f\) equals \(f(x)=a \pi \cot \pi x+b\) with \(a,b\in\mathbb{K}\) provided that \(\log m\) and \(\log n\) are linearly independent over the rationals. It is also shown that there are many continuous ``exotic'' solutions of the system above, if these numbers are linearly dependent over \(\mathbb{Q}\). Moreover the author also proves that a meromorphic function \(f\colon \mathbb{C}\to \mathbb{C}\) with poles in \(\mathbb{Z}\) only which satisfies \(M_n f=f\) for some \(n\geq 2\) has the form \(f(z)=a\pi\cot \pi z+b\), where \(a,b\in\mathbb{C}\) are constants.