A pair of functional inequalities characterizing polynomials and Bernoulli numbers (Q933718)

By a classical result of \textit{S. Mazur} and \textit{W. Orlicz} [Studia Math. 5, 50--68 (1934; JFM 60.1074.03) and ibid., 179--189 (1934; JFM 60.1074.04)], polynomials up to a fixed degree can be characterized via the difference operator \(\Delta_h\) under some weak regularity assumptions. Motivated by this result, the authors investigate the pair of functional inequalities \[ \Delta_af\leq P,\qquad\Delta_bf\leq Q \] where \(f:\mathbb R\to\mathbb R\) is an unknown function, \(a,b\in\mathbb R\), and \(P,Q\) are polynomials of the same fixed degree satisfying some additional conditions. The main result of the paper states that, under the proper assumptions, the inequalities above characterize polynomials (of a fixed degree). The key idea of the proof is a reduction method that guarantees that the difference of the solution \(f\) and a (unique) monomial has to be the solution of a pair of inequalities analogous to the above one, with polynomials of smaller degree then \(P\) and \(Q\). In a particular case, the solution is also presented and it turns out, that its coefficients depend on Bernoulli numbers.