On the stability of Appolonius' equation (Q558371)

The Appolonius' identity \[ \| x-z\| ^2+\| y-z\| ^2=\frac{1}{2}\| x-y\| ^2+2\Bigl\| z-\frac{x+y}{2}\Bigr\| ^2 \] holds for any elements \(x,y,z\) of an inner product space. It says that the square of a norm fulfils the Appolonius' functional equation \[ f(x-z)+f(y-z)=\frac{1}{2}f(x-y)+2f\Bigl(z-\frac{x+y}{2}\Bigr).\tag{1} \] It is easy to check that \(f\) fulfils (1) iff \(f\) fulfils the quadratic functional equation \(f(x+y)+f(x-y)=2f(x)+2f(y)\). \smallskip In the paper the stability in the sense of Hyers, Ulam, Rassias and Găvruta of the equation (1) is proved: if \(X\) is a real vector space, \(Y\) is a real Banach space and \(f:X\to Y\) satisfies the inequality \[ \biggl\| f(x-z)+f(y-z)-\frac{1}{2}f(x-y)-2f\Bigl(z-\frac{x+y}{2}\Bigr)\biggr\| \leq\varphi(x,y,z) \] for some fixed function \(\varphi:X^3\to[0,\infty)\), then there exists a unique quadratic function close to \(f\). \smallskip The same problem is also discussed in Banach modules and in complex Banach spaces.