\documentclass[reqno]{amsart} \usepackage{hyperref} \AtBeginDocument{{\noindent\small \emph{Electronic Journal of Differential Equations}, Vol. 2011 (2011), No. 80, pp. 1--5.\newline ISSN: 1072-6691. URL: http://ejde.math.txstate.edu or http://ejde.math.unt.edu \newline ftp ejde.math.txstate.edu} \thanks{\copyright 2011 Texas State University - San Marcos.} \vspace{9mm}} \begin{document} \title[\hfilneg EJDE-2011/80\hfil Hyers-Ulam stability] {Hyers-Ulam stability for second-order linear differential equations with boundary conditions} \author[P. G\u{a}vru\c{t}\u{a}, S.-M. Jung, Y. Li \hfil EJDE-2011/80\hfilneg] {Pasc G\u{a}vru\c{t}\u{a}, Soon-Mo Jung, Yongjin Li} % in alphabetical order \address{Pasc G\u{a}vru\c{t}\u{a} \newline Department of Mathematics, University Politehnica of Timisoara, Piata Victoriei, No. 2, 300006 Timisoara, Romania} \email{pgavruta@yahoo.com} \address{Soon-Mo Jung \newline Mathematics Section, College of Science and Technology, Hongik University, 339-701 Jochiwon, Korea} \email{smjung@hongik.ac.kr} \address{Yongjin Li \newline Department of Mathematics, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China} \email{stslyj@mail.sysu.edu.cn} \thanks{Submitted April 26, 2011. Published June 20, 2011.} \subjclass[2000]{34K20, 26D10} \keywords{Hyers-Ulam stability, differential equation} \thanks{Yongjin Li is the corresponding author} \begin{abstract} We prove the Hyers-Ulam stability of linear differential equations of second-order with boundary conditions or with initial conditions. That is, if $y$ is an approximate solution of the differential equation $y''+ \beta (x) y = 0$ with $y(a) = y(b) =0$, then there exists an exact solution of the differential equation, near $y$. \end{abstract} \maketitle \numberwithin{equation}{section} \newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}[section] \newtheorem{definition}[theorem]{Definition} \section{Introduction and preliminaries} In 1940, Ulam \cite{Ulam} posed the following problem concerning the stability of functional equations: \begin{quote} Give conditions in order for a linear mapping near an approximately linear mapping to exist. \end{quote} The problem for approximately additive mappings, on Banach spaces, was solved by Hyers \cite{HYERS}. The result by Hyers was generalized by Rassias \cite{RASSIAS}. Since then, the stability problems of functional equations have been extensively investigated by several mathematicians \cite{JUN,PARK,RASSIAS}. Alsina and Ger \cite{Alsina} were the first authors who investigated the Hyers-Ulam stability of a differential equation. In fact, they proved that if a differentiable function $y: I \to \mathbb{R}$ satisfies $|y'(t) - y(t)| \leq \varepsilon$ for all $t \in I$, then there exists a differentiable function $g: I \to \mathbb{R}$ satisfying $g'(t) = g(t)$ for any $t\in I$ such that $|y(t) - g(t)| \leq 3\varepsilon$ for every $t \in I$. The above result by Alsina and Ger was generalized by Miura, Takahasi and Choda \cite{Miura5}, by Miura \cite{Miura1}, also by Takahasi, Miura and Miyajima \cite{Takahasi1}. Indeed, they dealt with the Hyers-Ulam stability of the differential equation $y'(t) = \lambda y(t)$, while Alsina and Ger investigated the differential equation $y'(t) = y(t)$. Miura et al \cite{Miura4} proved the Hyers-Ulam stability of the first-order linear differential equations $y'(t) + g(t)y(t) = 0$, where g(t) is a continuous function, while Jung \cite{SMJung1} proved the Hyers-Ulam stability of differential equations of the form $\varphi (t)y' (t) = y(t)$. Furthermore, the result of Hyers-Ulam stability for first-order linear differential equations has been generalized in \cite{SMJung2,SMJung3,Miura4,Takahasi2,Yongjin,Wang1}. Let us consider the Hyers-Ulam stability of the $y''+ \beta (x) y = 0$, it may be not stable for unbounded intervals. Indeed, for $\beta (x)= 0$, $\varepsilon = 1/4$ and $y(x) =x^2/16$ condition $-\varepsilon < y'' < -\varepsilon$ is fulfilled and the function $y_0(x) = C_1 x + C_2$, for which $|y(x) - y_0(x)|=|\frac{x^2}{16} - C_1 x + C_2| $ is bounded, does not exist. The aim of this paper is to investigate the Hyers-Ulam stability of the second-order linear differential equation \begin{equation} \label{e1} y'' + \beta (x) y = 0 \end{equation} with boundary conditions \begin{equation} \label{ebc} y(a) = y(b) =0 \end{equation} or with initial conditions \begin{equation} \label{eic} y(a) = y'(a) =0, \end{equation} where $y\in C^2[a, b]$, $\beta (x) \in C[a, b]$, $-\infty < a < b < +\infty$. First of all, we give the definition of Hyers-Ulam stability with boundary conditions and with initial conditions. \begin{definition} \label{def1.1} \rm We say that \eqref{e1} has the Hyers-Ulam stability with boundary conditions \eqref{ebc} if there exists a positive constant $K$ with the following property: For every $\varepsilon > 0$, $y \in C^2[a, b]$, if \[ |y''+ \beta(x) y|\leq \varepsilon, \] and $y(a) = y(b) =0$, then there exists some $z \in C^2[a, b]$ satisfying \[ z'' + \beta(x) z = 0 \] and $z(a) = z(b) =0$, such that $|y(x) - z(x)| 0$, $y\in C^2[a, b]$, if \[ |y''+ \beta(x) y|\leq \varepsilon, \] and $y(a) = y'(a) =0$, then there exists some $z \in C^2[a, b]$ satisfying \[ z'' + \beta(x) z = 0 \] and $z(a) = z'(a) =0$, such that $|y(x) - z(x)| 0$, there exists $ y(t) = \frac {\varepsilon x^2}{H} - \frac {\varepsilon x}{H}$, with $H > 4$, such that $|y''+ \beta (x) y| < \varepsilon$ with $y(0) = y(1) = 0$. \begin{theorem} \label{thm2.1} If $\max |\beta(x)| < 8/(b-a)^2$. Then \eqref{e1} has the Hyers-Ulam stability with boundary conditions \eqref{ebc}. \end{theorem} \begin{proof} For every $\varepsilon > 0$, $y \in C^2[a, b]$, if $ |y''+ \beta(x) y|\leq \varepsilon$ and $y(a) = y(b) =0$. Let $M= \max \{|y(x)|: x\in [a, b]\}$, since $y(a) = y(b)= 0$, there exists $x_0\in (a, b)$ such that $|y(x_0)| = M$. By Taylor formula, we have \begin{gather*} y(a) = y(x_0) + y'(x_0)(x_0 - a) + \frac {y''(\xi)}{2}(x_0 - a)^2,\\ y(b) = y(x_0) + y'(x_0)(b - x_0) + \frac {y''(\eta)}{2}(b - x_0)^2; \end{gather*} thus \[ |y''(\xi)| = \frac {2M}{(x_0 - a)^2}, \quad |y''(\eta)| = \frac{2M}{(x_0 - b)^2} \] On the case $x_0 \in (a, \frac{a+b}{2}]$, we have \[ \frac {2M}{(x_0 - a)^2} \geq \frac {2M}{(b-a)^2/4} = \frac {8M}{(b - a)^2} \] On the case $x_0 \in [\frac{a+b}{2}, b)$, we have \[ \frac {2M}{(x_0 - b)^2} \geq \frac {2M}{(b-a)^2/4} = \frac {8M}{(b - a)^2}. \] So \[ \max |y''(x)| \geq \frac {8M}{(b -a )^2} = \frac {8}{(b-a)^2} \max |y(x)|. \] Therefore, \[ \max |y(x)| \leq \frac {(b - a)^2}{8} \max |y''(x)|. \] Thus \begin{align*} \max |y(x)| &\leq \frac {(b - a)^2}{8} [\max |y''(x) - \beta (x) y| + \max |\beta (x)| \max |y(x)|],\\ &\leq \frac {(b - a)^2}{8} \varepsilon + \frac {(b - a)^2}{8} \max |\beta (x)| \max |y(x)|]. \end{align*} Let $ \eta = (b - a)^2\max |\beta(x)|/8$, $K = (b -a)^2/\big(8(1 - \eta)\big)$. Obviously, $z_0(x)=0$ is a solution of $y'' - \beta (x) y = 0$ with the boundary conditions $y(a) = y(b) = 0$. \[ |y - z_0 | \leq K \varepsilon. \] Hence \eqref{e1} has the Hyers-Ulam stability with boundary conditions \eqref{ebc}. \end {proof} Next, we consider the Hyers-Ulam stability of $y''+ \beta (x) y =0$ in $[a, b]$ with initial conditions \eqref{eic}. For example, let $\beta (x) =1$, $a=0$, $b=1$, then for any $\varepsilon>0$, there exists $ y(t) = \frac {\varepsilon x^2}{H}$ with $H > 3$, such that $|y''+ \beta (x) y| < \varepsilon$ with $y(0) = y'(0) = 0$. \begin{theorem} \label{thm2.2} If $\max |\beta(x)| < 2/(b-a)^2$. Then \eqref{e1} has the Hyers-Ulam stability with initial conditions \eqref{eic}. \end{theorem} \begin{proof} For every $\varepsilon > 0$, $y \in C^2[a, b]$, if $ |y''+ \beta(x) y|\leq \varepsilon$ and $y(a) = y'(a) =0$. By Taylor formula, we have \[ y(x) = y(a) + y'(a)(x - a) + \frac {y''(\xi)}{2}(x - a)^2. \] Thus \[ |y(x)| = |\frac {y''(\xi)}{2}(x - a)^2 | \leq \max |y''(x)|\frac {(b - a)^2}{2}; \] so, we obtain \begin{align*} \max |y(x)| &\leq \frac {(b - a)^2}{2} [\max |y''(x) - \beta (x) y| + \max |\beta (x)| \max |y(x)|]\\ &\leq \frac {(b - a)^2}{2} \varepsilon + \frac {(b - a)^2}{2} \max |\beta (x)| \max |y(x)|]. \end{align*} Let $ \eta = (b - a)^2 \max |\beta(x)|/2$, $K = (b - a)^2/\big(2(1 - \eta)\big)$. It is easy to see that $z_0(x)=0$ is a solution of $y'' - \beta (x) y = 0$ with the initial conditions $y(a) = y'(a)= 0$. \[ |y - z_0 | \leq K \varepsilon. \] Hence \eqref{e1} has the Hyers-Ulam stability with initial conditions \eqref{eic}. \end {proof} \subsection*{Acknowledgements} This work was supported by grant 10871213 from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. \begin{thebibliography}{0} \bibitem{Alsina} C. Alsina, R. 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