Positive solutions of a second-order difference equation with summation boundary value problem. II (Q2873064)

This paper is a sequel to Part I [ibid. 7, No. 1--4, 91--103 (2013; Zbl 1285.39003)] that studies the existence of positive solutions to the second-order difference equation NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\Delta^2y(t-1)+a(t)f(y(t))=0,\;\;t\in\{1,2,\dots, T\},NEWLINE\]NEWLINE with the three-point summation boundary condition NEWLINE\[NEWLINEy(0)=0, \;\;y(T+1)=\alpha\sum_{s=1}^{\eta}y(s),NEWLINE\]NEWLINE where \(f\) is continuous, \(T\geq 3\) is a fixed integer, \(0<\alpha<\frac{2T+2}{\eta(\eta+1)}\), and \(\eta\in\{1,2,\dots,T-1\}\).NEWLINENEWLINELet NEWLINE\[NEWLINEf_0=\lim_{y\rightarrow 0^{+}}\frac{f(y)}{y},\;\;\;f_{\infty}=\lim_{y\rightarrow \infty}\frac{f(y)}{y}.NEWLINE\]NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEThree cases are studied in this paper:NEWLINENEWLINE1. \(f_0=f_{\infty}=\infty\),NEWLINENEWLINE2. \(f_0=f_{\infty}=0\), andNEWLINENEWLINE3. \(f_0,f_{\infty}\not\in \{0,\infty\}\).NEWLINENEWLINEFor each case, the authors establish a theorem that provides sufficient conditions to guarantee that the boundary value problem has at least two (for the case 1 \& 2) or at least one (for the case 3) positive solutions. These results are obtained by applying Krasnoselskii's fixed point theorem in a cone.NEWLINENEWLINEFour examples are introduced at the last section of the paper to illustrate these results. This paper will be of interest to the researchers who are studying the second-order difference equations.