Existence of multiple positive solutions for \(n\)-th order \(p\)-Laplacian \(m\)-point singular boundary value problems (Q711533)

This paper is devoted to the existence of multiple positive solutions for the following \(n\)th-order \(m\)-point boundary value problem \[ (\phi_p(u^{(n-1)}(t)))'+h(t)f(t,u(t),u'(t),\dots,u^{(n-1)}(t))=0, \quad t\in(0,1), \] \[ u^{(i)}(0)=0,\;\;\phi_p(u^{(n-1)}(1))=\sum_{j=1}^{m-2}\alpha_j\phi_p(u^{(n-1)}(\eta_j)), \] where \(\phi_p(s)=|s|^{p-2}s,\,p>1,\) \(h:(0,1)\to[0,\infty)\) is singular at \(t=0\) and \(t=1\) and has the properties \(0<\int_0^1h(t)\,dt<+\infty,\;\int_{\eta_{m-2}}^1h(t)\,dt>0,\) \(i=0,1,\dots,n-2,\) the constants \(\alpha_j\geq0,\,j=1,2,\dots,m-2,\) are such that \(\sum_{j=1}^{m-2}\alpha_j<1\) and \(0<\eta_1<\eta_2<\cdots <\eta_{m-2}<1\). The main nonlinearity \(f\in C([0,1]\times[0,\infty)^n,[0,\infty))\) explicitly involves derivatives of the variable \(u(t)\) of arbitrary order. At first, the authors construct a second order multi-point boundary value problem which is equivalent to the considered problem; then imposing growth conditions on \(f\) and using the Leggett-Williams fixed point theorem, they prove that the considered problem has at least three positive solutions.