Positivity conditions and bounds for Green's functions for higher order two-point BVP (Q657402)

The author studies the higher order two-point boundary value problem \[ \sum_{k=0}^n a_{n-k}(x) D^k u(x) = f(x), \quad 0<x<1, \] \[ u^{(2k)}(0) = u^{(2k)}(1) = 0, \quad k=0,1,\cdots,n-1. \] Here \(a_k(x)\), \(k=1,2,\cdots,n\), are real continuous functions, \(a_0(x)\equiv 1\), and \(D=-d^2/dx^2\). The author proves some sufficient conditions for the positivity of Green's function of the problem. He also obtains a set of upper and lower bounds for Green's function. At the end of the paper, an existence result for at least one positive solution for the problem is proved.