A note on alienation for functional inequalities (Q641571)

It is well-known, that the functional equation obtained by adding the system of equations defining ring homomorphisms side by side, characterizes ring homomorphisms under suitable assumptions. Motivated by this so-called alienation phenomenon, the author investigates the functional inequality \[ f(x+y)+bf(xy)\geq f(x)+f(y)+cf(x)f(y),\qquad f(0)=0. \] The main results are presented in three theorems accordingly to the cases \(b,c\neq 0\); \(c=0\); and \(b=0,c\neq 0\). Assuming further regularities on \(f\), the solutions of the inequality above are characterized.