The Existence of Positive Solutions for a Fourth-Order Difference Equation with Sum Form Boundary Conditions

Abstract EN

We consider the fourth-order difference equation: Δ(z(k+1)Δ3u(k-1))=w(k)f(k,u(k)), k∈{1,2,…,n-1} subject to the boundary conditions: u(0)=u(n+2)=∑i=1n+1g(i)u(i), aΔ2u(0)-bz(2)Δ3u(0)=∑i=3n+1h(i)Δ2u(i-2), aΔ2u(n)-bz(n+1)Δ3u(n-1)=∑i=3n+1h(i)Δ2u(i-2), where a,b>0 and Δu(k)=u(k+1)-u(k) for k∈{0,1,…,n-1}, f:{0,1,…,n}×[0,+∞)→[0,+∞) is continuous.

h(i) is nonnegative i∈{2,3,…,n+2}; g(i) is nonnegative for i∈{0,1,…,n}.

Using fixed point theorem of cone expansion and compression of norm type and Hölder’s inequality, various existence, multiplicity, and nonexistence results of positive solutions for above problem are derived, which extends and improves some known recent results.