A few simple Levi-Civita functional equations on groups (Q670724)

In 1913 \textit{T. Levi-Civita} [Rom. Acc. L. Rend. (5) 22, No. 2, 181--183 (1913; JFM 44.0502.03)] began studying the functional equation \[ f (xy) =\sum_{i=1}^n g_i (x)h_i (y), \] where \(f, g_i, h_i : G\to \mathbb{C}\) for all \(1 \leq i \leq n\). Today the above equation is known as the Levi-Civita functional equation. One can easily see that in the case \(n = 2\) and \(g_1 = g_2 = f\) and \(h_2 = h_1 = 1\) it is a generalization of some additive and multiplicative formulas for scalar functions. Furthermore, it encompasses several interesting functional equations such as: \[ \begin{aligned} f (xy) = f (x) f (y) + f (y), \\ f (xy) = 2 f (x) + 2 f (y), \\ f (xy) = 2 f (x) + 2 f (y) + \lambda f (x) f (y). \end{aligned} \] These functional equations have been widely studied along with several generalizations. The most popular generalizations are of the following form: \[ f (xy) + f (yx) = \sum_{i=1}^n g_i (x)h_i (y), \] where \(f, g_i, h_i : G \to \mathbb{C}\) for all \(1 \leq i \leq n\). The above equation is known as symmetrized Levi-Civita functional equation. In this paper the authors consider a few generalizations of the symmetrized Levi-Civita functional equation. For example, they consider the following functional equation defined on a semigroup: \[ f (xy) + g(yx) = 2 h(x) k(x). \] The above equation leads the authors to another generalization that reads \[ f (xy) + f (yx) = 2 f (x) + 2 f (y) + 2 \lambda f (x) f (y). \] This equation has its roots in a 1878 work of J. Jansen (see [\textit{H. Stetkær}, Functional equations on groups. Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific (2013; Zbl 1298.39018)]).