Existence of two periodic solutions for the periodic equation \(\ddot x=g(t,x)\) (Q810712)

Let g: [0,T]\(\times {\mathbb{R}}\to {\mathbb{R}}\) be a continuous function, where \(T>0\), and suppose that there are \(M_+\geq m_+>m_ -\geq M_ -\) such that \(g(t,M_{\pm})\geq 0\geq g(t,M_{\pm})\). Define \(I(g)=\inf \{g(t,x):\) \(M_ -\leq x\leq M_+\}\) and \(J(g)=M_ -+\frac12 T^ 2I(g)\). The author shows that, if g(t,x)\(\geq 0\) for \(M_ -\geq x\geq J(g)\), then the problem \(\ddot x=g(t,x)\); \(x(0)=x(T)\); \(\dot x(0)=\dot x(T)\) has a solution \(u_ -\) such that inf \(u_ -\leq m_ -\) and \(J(g)\leq u_ -\). As a consequence the author proves the existence of two T-periodic solutions for \(\ddot x=g(t,x)\), when g is continuous and T-periodic in the first variable for some \(T>0\).