A link between Wilson's and d'Alembert's functional equations (Q284704)

The purpose of this note is to prove the following result: Let \(G\) be a group. If \(f,g:G \rightarrow \mathbb{C}\), \(f\neq 0\), is a solution of Wilson's functional equation \[ f(xy)+f(xy^{-1})=2f(x)g(y), \quad x,y\in G, \] then \(g\) is a solution of d'Alembert's functional equation \[ g(xy)+g(xy^{-1})=2g(x)g(y), \quad x,y\in G. \] This outcome subsumes a lot of special cases in the literature and finishes the work on the function \(g\) from Wilson's equation because the solution of d'Alembert's equation on a group are known [\textit{T. M. K. Davison}, Publ. Math. 75, No. 1--2, 41--66 (2009; Zbl 1212.39034)].