A remark on a logarithmic functional equation (Q2644048)

The first section of this article contains a simplified proof of a recent result of \textit{K. J. Heuvers} and \textit{P. Kannappan} [Aequationes Math. 70, 117--121 (2005; Zbl 1079.39019)], providing the general solution of the functional equation \(f(x+y)-g(xy)=h(1/x + 1/y)\) for positive \(x,y\) in terms of an arbitrary solution \(L\) of the standard logarithmic functional equation \(L(xy)=L(x)+L(y)\). The second section of the article is needlessly complicated. A much simpler proof can be obtained by observing that if any one of \(f,g,h\) is locally integrable, then it follows from the general solution that the logarithmic function \(L\) is locally integrable. As is well known, this means that \(L\) is a constant multiple of the natural logarithm function, and the author's Theorem 2.1 follows immediately.