On the oscillation of certain fourth order functional differential equations (Q960309)

A fourth order functional differential equation is considered. New criteria for oscillation are established. Comparison results for oscillations are also obtained which reveal that the oscillation behavior of this equation is inherited from that of certain associated first and second order nonlinear functional differential equations. Nice and interesting conditions are derived from these results for the special case with constant coefficients and deviating arguments. This work generalizes some existing results in the literature.