No label defined (Q4399142)

The author obtains existence results, properties and comparison theorems for the first positive eigenvalue of the general eigenvalue problem \[ p_n(p_{n-1}\dots\bigl( p_1(p_0y')'\dots \bigr)'+\lambda q(x)y=0, \] \[ L_iy(a)=0,\;i\in\{i_1,\dots,i_k\}, \quad L_jy(b)=0,\;j\in\{j_1,\dots,j_{n-k}\}, \] with \(L_0y=p_0y\), \(L_iy=p_i(L_{i-1}y)'\), \(i=1,\dots,n\). The function \(q\) is allowed to change sign, which represents the main difficulty in the treatment of the problem since the previously known results on the existence of eigenvalues and their properties, do not apply. The presentation of the paper is self-contained. The approach is interesting and leads to the generalization of various classical comparison theorems. The results are interesting.