On the equality problem of two-variable Bajraktarević means under first-order differentiability assumptions (Q2695999)

Let \(I\) be a nonempty open interval on the real line. Denote by \(CM(I)\) and \(CP(I)\) the classes of continuous strictly monotone and continuous positive functions defined on \(I\), respectively. Given two functions \(f,g: I \to \mathbb{R}\) with \(g \in CP(I)\) and \(f /g \in CM(I)\), the \textit{two-variable Bajraktarević mean} \(B_{f,g}: I^2 \to I\) is defined by \[ B_{f,g}(x, y)= \left(\frac{f}{g}\right)^{-1} \left(\frac{f(x) + f(y)}{g(x) + g(y)} \right)\quad (x, y \in I). \] The pair \((f,g)\) is called the \textit{generator} of \(B_{f,g}\). One of the most basic questions related to this class of means is their \textit{equality problem}, which is to find the solutions \(f, g, h, k :I \to \mathbb{R}\) of the functional equation \[ B_{f,g}(x, y)=B_{h,k}(x, y)\quad (x, y \in I). \tag{1} \] This functional equation was solved for the first time by \textit{L. Losonczi} [Aequationes Math. 58, No. 3, 223--241 (1999; Zbl 0939.39015)] under sixt-order continuous differentiability assumptions. Additional and new characterizations of this equality problem have been found recently by \textit{L. Losonczi} et al. under the same regularity assumptions in [Aequationes Math. 95, No. 6, 1011--1036 (2021; Zbl 1482.39031)]. To recall this result, we need to introduce some further notations. If \(f,g: I\to \mathbb{R}\) are differentiable functions, then their Wronskian \(W_{f,g}\) is defined as \[ W_{f,g}= f'g- fg'. \] For a real parameter \(\alpha\), let us define the functions \(S_{\alpha}, C_{\alpha}: \mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}\) as follows: \[ S_{\alpha}(t)=\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}\frac{\alpha^k t^{2k+1}}{(2k + 1)!},\quad C_{\alpha}(t)=\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}\frac{\alpha^k t^{2k}}{(2k)!}. \] If \(h = af + bg\) and \(k = cf + dg\) with some constants \(a, b, c, d\) such that \(ad - bc\neq 0\), then we say that \textit{the pair} \((f,g)\) \textit{is equivalent to} \((h, k)\) and we denote this property by \((f,g) \sim (h, k)\). Theorem. Let \(f, g, h, k :I\to \mathbb{R}\) be six times continuously differentiable functions such that \(g, k \in CP(I)\) and the derivatives \((f /g)'\), \((h/k)'\) do not vanish in \(I\). Then the following assertions are equivalent: \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] The means \(B_{f,g}\) and \(B_{h,k}\) satisfy the functional Eq. (1); \item[(ii)] Either \((f,g) \sim (h, k)\) or there exist real constants \(\alpha,\beta\) and \(\gamma\) such that \[ W_{f',g'}=\alpha (W_{f,g})^3,\quad W_{h',k'}=\beta (W_{h,k})^3,\text{ and } W_{h,k}=\gamma W_{f,g} \] hold on \(I\); \item[(iii)] Either \((f,g) \sim (h, k)\) or there exist real constants \(a,b,c,A,B,C,\gamma\) such that \[ af^2+bfg+cg^2=1,\quad Ah^2+Bhk+Ck^2=1, \text{ and } W_{h,k}=\gamma W_{f,g} \] hold on \(I\); \item[(iv)] Either \((f,g) \sim (h, k)\) or there exist two real polynomials \(P\) and \(Q\) of at most second degree which are positive on the ranges of \(f /g\) and \(h/k\), respectively, and there exist real constants \(\gamma\) and \(\delta\) such that \[ g=\frac{1}{\sqrt{P}}\circ \frac{f}{g},\quad k=\frac{1}{\sqrt{Q}}\circ \frac{h}{k},\text{ and } \left(\int \frac{1}{Q}\right)\circ \frac{h}{k}=\gamma \left(\int \frac{1}{P}\right)\circ \frac{f}{g}+\delta; \] \item[(v)] Either \((f,g) \sim (h, k)\) or there exist a continuous strictly monotone function \(w : I\to \mathbb{R}\) and real constants \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\) such that \[ (f,g) \sim (S_{\alpha}\circ w, C_{\alpha}\circ w)\text{ and }(h,k) \sim (S_{\beta}\circ w, C_{\beta}\circ w); \] \item[(vi)] Either \((f,g) \sim (h, k)\) or \(B_{f,g}=B_{w,1}=B_{h,k}\) holds on \(I^2\) with \(w= \int W_{f,g}\); \item[(vii)] Either \((f,g) \sim (h, k)\) or there exists a continuous strictly monotone function \(w : I\to \mathbb{R}\) such that \(B_{f,g}=B_{w,1}=B_{h,k}\) holds on \(I^2\). \end{itemize} The main goal of the paper is to solve one of the open problems related to equation (1). The authors show that conditions (i) and (iii)--(vii) of the above theorem are equivalent to each other under first-order continuous differentiability assumptions. In addition, if \(f, g, h, k\) are twice continuously differentiable, then also assertion (ii) is equivalent to the other ones. The pairwise equivalence of conditions (i) and (iii)--(vii) suggests that the statement of theorem (without assertion (ii)) could be true even if we do not assume first-order continuous differentiability.