Triple positive solutions for a class of two-point boundary-value problems. A fundamental approach (Q354842)

The paper is concerned with the existence of positive solutions to the following Dirichlet boundary value problem \[ \begin{gathered} x''(t)=\alpha(t)f(t,x(t),x'(t)),\quad0<t<1,\\ x(0)=x(1)=0. \end{gathered} \] The existence of three positive solutions, in the positive cone of the Banach space of continuously differentiable functions, can be obtained via the classical Legget-Williams fixed point theorem. However, in this paper, the authors use a different approach, while the assumptions on the nonlinearity \(f\) are slightly different from those commonly used with the Legget-Williams fixed point theorem (or Avery-Peterson fixed-point theorem). More precisely, a first positive solution is obtained for a modified problem via Schauder's fixed point theorem in the section of a ball with the natural positive cone. Then, a second and a third solution are obtained using Kneser's theorem of the solution funnel. An example is given to illustrate the main existence result.