Precise estimate of total deficiency of meromorphic derivatives (Q2644802)

Let f be a transcendental meromorphic function in the plane and k be a positive integer. Then the author proves \[ \sum_{a\in {\mathbb{C}}}\delta (a,f^{(k)})\leq \frac{2k+2}{2k+1}. \] This improves a result of \textit{E. Mues} [Manuscr. Math. 5, 275-297 (1971; Zbl 0225.30031)]. If the order of f is finite he also proves \[ \sum_{a\in {\hat {\mathbb{C}}}}\delta (a,f^{(k)})\leq 2-\frac{2k(1-\theta (\infty,f))}{1+k(1-\theta (\infty,f))}. \] Remark: \textit{K. Ishizaki} proved the first result independently [Arch. Math. 55, 374-379 (1990; Zbl 0698.30029)].