Steen's 1874 paper: Historical survey and translation (Q5931968)

An important contribution to the theory of differential equations was realized by Adolph Steen. His results were presented in Danish. During this period his work was rediscovered and extended by a great number of other authors. In Part 1, the authors present a historical development of Steen's ideas and in Part 2, his articles are reproduced in an English translation [see \textit{A. Steen} (1873; JFM 05.0190.01)]. Let \(q= q(t)\) be a continuous function on an interval \(I\). The gist of Steen's discovery is that the two equations \[ r''+ qr={1\over r^3},\qquad u''+ qu= 0, \] are equivalent, in the sense that the complete solution to the second yields that to the first, and a particular solution to the first yields the complete solution to the second. Steen is acknowledged by \textit{R. Redheffer} [Aequationes Math. 58, No. 1-2, 60-72 (1999; Zbl 0934.34026)], but only because A. Steen (1873) was brought to our attention by \textit{I. Walter} of Aachen in 1968. A great number of the authors discussed the paper of Steen. \textit{W. Ermakov's} contribution dating from 1880 deserves special mention as he obtains a generalization [Kiew. Nachr. 1880 (1880; JFM 12.0294.01 and JFM 12.0294.02)]. In a remarquable study on oscillation, \textit{M. Ráb} [Cas. Pest. Mat. 82, 342-346 (1957; Zbl 0105.06702)] gives a clear statement of the central results for the pair \[ (pr')'+ qr= {c^2\over pr^3},\quad (py')'+ qy= 0. \] See also \textit{D. Willet} (1969). The general case was taken up again by \textit{R. Redheffer} [Aequationes Math. 58, No. 1-2, 60-72 (1999; Zbl 0934.34026)]. Since the latter formulation summarizes a major part of the historical development over this whole period, it is now given explicitly: On an open interval \(I\) of the real line let \(p\), \(p_1\), \(q\) be continuous complex-valued functions with \(p(t)\neq 0\), \(t\in I\). Define \(F\) and the Wronskian \(W= W(u,v)\) by \[ F(t)= \int {p_1(t)\over p(t)} dt,\quad W(u,v)= uv'- u'v. \] With \(c\neq 0\) constant, let \((ab)\) denote the respective equations \[ pr''+ p_1r'+ qr= {p\over e^{2F}} {c^2\over r^3},\quad e^F r^2s'= c, \] and let \((cde)\) denote the equations \[ pu''+ p_1u'+ qu= 0,\quad pv''+ p_1 v'+ qv=0,\quad e^F W(u,v)= c. \] (i) If \((ab)\) hold, then \(u= r*\cos(s)\) and \(v= \sin(s)\) satisfy \[ u^2+ v^2\neq 0\quad\text{and }(cde). \] (ii) If \(u\), \(v\) satisfy \(u^2+ v^2\neq 0\) and \((cde)\) then they can be written in the form \(u= r*\cos(s)\), \(v= r* \sin(s)\), where \(r\), \(s\) satisfy \((ab)\). The research articles listed at the end of Part 1 comprise over 275 pages, and further references must be added from their bibliographies.