J. Appl. Math. & Computing Vol. 21(2006), No. 1 - 2, pp.

99 - 118
Website: http://jamc.net

OSCILLATION OF NONLINEAR NEUTRAL DELAY

DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

ELMETWALLY M. ELABBASY, TAHER S. HASSAN∗ AND SAMIR H. SAKER

Abstract. In this paper, we study the oscillatory behavior of first order

nonlinear neutral delay differential equations. Several new sufficient condi-
tions which ensure that all solutions are oscillatory are given. The obtained
results extend and improve several known results in the literature. Some
examples are considered to illustrate the main results.

AMS Mathematics Subject Classification : 34K15, 34C10.

Key words and phrases : Oscillation, nonoscillation, neutral delay of differ-
ential equations.

1. Introduction

In this paper, we shall consider the first order nonlinear neutral delay differ-
ential equation
(x(t) − q(t)x(t − σ))0 + f (t, x(τ (t))) = 0, t ≥ t0 , (1)
where
q, τ ∈ C([t0 , ∞), R+ ), σ ∈ (0, ∞) τ (t) < t, lim τ (t) = ∞, (2)
t→∞
and
n Y
X i
1
−→ ∞ as n −→ ∞, (3)
i=1 j=1
q(tj )

f ∈ C([t0 , ∞) × R, R), uf (t, u) ≥ 0, q(t) 6= 1. (4)

In connection with the nonlinear function f (t, u) in (1) we suppose that the
following assumption (H) holds :

Received October 10, 2005. Revised January 16, 2006. ∗ Corresponding author.
c 2006 Korean Society for Computational & Applied Mathematics and Korean SIGCAM.

99
100 Elmetwally M. Elabbasy, Taher S. Hassan and Samir H. Saker

(H) There are a piecewise continuous functions

p : [t0 , ∞) → R+ = [0, ∞) , g ∈ C R, R+

and a number ε0 > 0 such that

(i) g is nondecreasing on R+
(ii) g (−u) = g (u) , lim g (u) = 0,
u→0
Z∞


(iii) g e−u du < ∞,
0
1
(iv) |u| |f (t, u) − p (t) u| ≤ p (t) g (u) for t ≥ t0 and 0 < |u| < ε0 ,
(v) For each ϕ ∈ C ([t0 , ∞) , R) with lim ϕ (t) > 0,
t→∞

Z∞ Z∞
f (t, ϕ (τ (t))) dt = ∞, f (t, −ϕ (τ (t))) dt = −∞.
t0 t0

A solution x (t) of equation (1) is said to be oscillatory if it has arbitrarily large

zeros on [t0 , ∞) . Otherwise it is nonoscillatory and the equation (1) is called
oscillatory if every solution of this equation is oscillatory.
When q (t) = 0, Eq.(1) reduces to the equation
0
x (t) + f (t, x (τ (t))) = 0,

which has been studied recently by Tang and Shen [32]. The oscillatory be-
havior of various other neutral delay differential equations have been investi-
gated by many authors. For contributions we refer the reader to the papers,
[1 − 3, 6 − 12, 14 − 27, 29 − 36], and references cited therein.
Also, in a recent papers Elabbasy and Saker [6], Kubiaczyk and Saker [17] and
their references obtained an infinite integral conditions for oscillation of the linear
neutral delay differential equation
0
(x (t) − q (t) x (t − σ)) + p (t) x (t − τ ) = 0,

Our aim in this paper is to extend the results in [7, 18] and provide some new
finite and infinite integral sufficient conditions for the oscillation of all solutions
of (1). Some examples that are illustrating our main results are given.
The following notations will be used throughout this paper,
δ (t) = max {τ (t) : t0 ≤ s ≤ t} and δ −1 (t) = min {s ≥ t0 : δ (s) = t} .
Clearly, δ and δ −1 are nondecreasing and satisfy
(A) δ (t) < t
and δ −1 (t) > t,
(B) δ δ −1 (t) = t and δ −1 (δ (t)) ≤ t.
Let δ −k (t) be defined on [t0 , ∞) by


δ −(k+1) (t) = δ −1 δ −k (t) , k = 1, 2, ... (5)
 Oscillation of solutions 101

Also, we use the sequence {pk } of functions defined as follows:

δ −1
Z (t)
p1 (t) = p (s) ds, t ≥ t0 ,
t
δ −1
Z (t)
pk+1 (t) = p (s) pk (s) ds, t ≥ t0 , k = 1, 2, ...
t

In what follows, when we write a functional inequality we will mean that it

holds for all sufficiently large values of t.

2. Main results

To prove our main results we shall need the following Lemmas.

Lemma 1. Assume that (2) , (3) and (4) hold, let x (t) be an eventually positive
solution of (1) and set
z (t) = x (t) − q (t) x (t − σ) . (6)
Then z (t) is eventually nonincreasing positive function.
0
Proof. From (1) , (4) , we have z (t) = −f (t, x (τ (t))) ≤ 0 eventually. We prove
that z (t) is a positive function. If not, then there exist T ≥ t0 and α < 0 such
that z (t) < α for t ≥ T. Then from (6) , we have
x (t) < α + q (t) x (t − σ) ,
which implies that
x (t + σ) < α + q (t + σ) x (t) .
Now we choose k such that tk = t∗ +kσ > T. Then x (tk+1 ) < α+q (tk+1 ) x (tk ) .
Applying this inequality by induction it gives
 
X n n−i
Y n
Y

x (tn ) < α 1 + 
q (tn−j ) + q (ti ) x (tk ) .
i=k+2 j=0 i=k+1

Now define qn and dn by

n
X n−i
Y n
Y
qn = 1 + q (tn−j ) , dn = q (ti ) ,
i=k+2 j=0 i=k+1

and let
X
n Y
i
1
sn = .
i=1 j=1
q (tj )
102 Elmetwally M. Elabbasy, Taher S. Hassan and Samir H. Saker

Then
 
k+1
X Yi
qn 1
s∗n = = sn −  q (tk+1 ) ...q (t1 ) → ∞ as n → ∞,
dn i=1 j=1
q (t j )

by condition (3). Using the last inequality, one can see that
 
x (tk )
x (tn ) < s∗n + αdn → −∞ as n → ∞,
α
and this contradicts the assumption that x (t) > 0. Then z (t) must be positive
function. The proof is complete. 

Note that the proof of Lemma 1 is similar to that of Lemma 1 in [4] and we
state it here for the sake of completeness.

Lemma 2. Assume that (2) , (3), (4) and (H) hold, let x (t) be an eventually
positive solution of 1. Then x (t) and z (t) are convergent to zero monotonically
as t → ∞.

Proof. By Lemma 1 z (t) is a nonincreasing positive function and satisfy the

equation
0
z (t) = −f (t, x (τ (t))) .

Choose a t1 ≥ t0 such that x (t) > 0, z (t) > 0 for t ≥ t1 .

It follows from equations (2) , (4) and (H) that there exists t2 > t1 such that
0
τ (t) ≥ t1 and z (t) ≤ 0 for t > t2 .
Hence

lim x (t) ≥ lim z (t) = α ≥ 0 exists.

t→∞ t→∞

If α > 0, then from (1) , we have

Zt
z (t) − z (t0 ) = − f (t, x(τ (s))) ds.
t0

It follows from the assumption (H) (v) that lim z (t) = −∞, which contradicts
t→∞
that z(t) being positive. Then lim z (t) = 0. Since q (t) 6= 1, we have also
t→∞
lim x (t) = 0. Then the proof is complete. 
t→∞
 Oscillation of solutions 103

Lemma 3. Assume that (2) , (3), (4) and (H) hold. If x (t) is a nonoscillatory
solution of equation (1), there exist A > 0, ε > 0 and T ∈ (0, ∞) such that for
t≥T
 
Zt
1
|x (t)| ≤ A exp − p (s) ds + ε. (7)
2
T

Proof. We shall assume x (t) to be eventually positive [if x(t) is eventually

negative the proof is similar]. By Lemma 2, there exists t1 > 0 such that
 
0 < x τ (t) < ε0 for t ≥ t1 .

From (H), we find that for t ≥ t1

f (t, x(τ (t))) ≥ p (t) [1 − g (x (τ (t)))] x (τ (t)) ,
and lim x (t) = 0. By assumption (H), there exists T > t1 such that for t ≥ T
t→∞
1 1
f (t, x(τ (t))) ≥ p (t) x (τ (t)) ≥ p (t) x (t) ,
2 2
and it follows from (1) that for t ≥ T
0 1
(x (t) − q (t) x (t − σ)) + p (t) x (t) ≤ 0,
2
and
0 1
z (t) + p (t) z (t) ≤ 0,
2
where z (t) = x (t) − q (t) x (t − σ) . This yields for t ≥ T
 
Zt
1
z (t) ≤ A exp − p (s) ds ,
2
T
and
 
Zt
1
|x (t)| ≤ A exp − p (s) ds + ε,
2
T

where A = x (T ) − q (T ) x (T − σ) . The proof is complete. 

Lemma 4. Assume that (2) , (3), (4) and (H) hold. If equation (1) has a
nonoscillatory solution, then eventually
Zt
p (s) ds ≤ 2 and pk (t) ≤ 2k , k = 1, 2, ... (8)
τ (t)
104 Elmetwally M. Elabbasy, Taher S. Hassan and Samir H. Saker

Proof. Let us suppose that x(t) is a nonoscillatory solution of equation (1)

which we shall assume to be eventually positive [if x(t) is eventually negative
the proof is similar]. By Lemma 2, there exists T ≥ 0 such that
x (τ (t)) ≥ x (t) > 0 for t ≥ T,
0 1
(x (t) − q (t) x (t − r)) + p (t) x (τ (t)) ≤ 0,
2
and
0 1
z (t) + p (t) z (τ (t)) ≤ 0 for t ≥ T. (9)
2
Integrating both sides from τ (t) to t yields that
Zt
1
z (t) − z (τ (t)) + p (s) z (τ (s)) ds ≤ 0 for t ≥ T.
2
τ (t)

By the decreasing nature of z (t) for large t and the increasing nature of τ (t) ,
there exists T1 ≥ T such that
Zt
1
z (t) − z (τ (t)) + z (τ (t)) p (s) ds ≤ 0 for t ≥ T1 .
2
τ (t)

Then, we have
Zt
p (s) ds ≤ 2.
τ (t)

Also, Integrating both sides of equation (9) from t to δ −1 (t) yields

δ −1
Z (t)

1
z δ −1 (t) − z (t) + p (s) z (τ (s)) ds ≤ 0 for t ≥ T.
2
t
By the decreasing nature of z (t) for large t and the increasing nature of τ (t) ,
there exists T1 ≥ T such that
 −1 
δ Z (t)

1 


z δ −1 (t) − z (t) +  p (s) ds z τ δ −1 (t) ≤ 0 for t ≥ T1 .
2
t
or
 
δ −1
Z (t)

1 
z δ −1 (t) − z (t) +  p (s) ds z (t) ≤ 0 for t ≥ T1 .
2
t
 Oscillation of solutions 105

Then, we have
δ −1
Z (t)
p1 (t) = p (s) ds ≤ 2.
t
By iteration we deduce from this that
pk (t) ≤ 2k ,
which shows that (8) holds for t ≥ T1 . The proof of Lemma 4 is complete. 

Lemma 5. Assume that (2) , (3), (4) and (H) hold, and that
Zt
lim inf p(s)ds > 0. (10)
t→∞
τ (t)

z (τ (t))
If x (t) is a nonoscillatory solution of equation (1) , then , which is well
z (t)
defined for large t, is bounded.

Proof. Let us suppose that x(t) is a nonoscillatory solution of equation (1) which
we shall assume to be eventually positive [if x(t) is eventually negative the proof
is similar]. By the same argument as in the proof of Lemma 3, there exists
T > 0, such that
x (τ (t)) ≥ x (t) > 0 for t ≥ T,
0 1
(x (t) − q (t) x (t − σ)) + p (t) x (τ (t)) ≤ 0,
2
and
0 1
z (t) + p (t) z (τ (t)) ≤ 0 for t ≥ T.
2
The rest of the proof is similar to that of Lemma 5 in [24] respectively, and hence
is omitted. 

Theorem 1. In addition to the assumptions (2) , (3), (4) and (H)

assume that
Zt
1
lim inf P (s) ds > , (11)
t→∞ e
τ (t)
or
Zt
lim sup P (s) ds > 1, (12)
t→∞
τ (t)
106 Elmetwally M. Elabbasy, Taher S. Hassan and Samir H. Saker

where P (t) = (1 − ) p (t) . Then every solution of Eq. (1) oscillates.

Proof. Let us suppose that x(t) is a nonoscillatory solution of equation (1)

which we shall assume to be eventually positive [if x(t) is eventually negative
the proof is similar]. By Lemma 2, there exists t1 > 0 such that
0 < x (τ (t)) < ε0 for t ≥ t1 .
From (H), we find that for t ≥ t1
f (t, x(τ (t))) ≥ p (t) [1 − g (x (τ (t)))] x (τ (t)) ,
and lim x (t) = 0. By assumption (H), there exists T > t1 such that for t ≥ T
t→∞

f (t, x(τ (t))) ≥ (1 − ) p (t) x (τ (t)) ,

and it follows from (1) that for t ≥ T
0
(x (t) − q (t) x (t − σ)) + (1 − ) p (t) x (τ (t)) ≤ 0,
and
0
z (t) + P (t) z (τ (t)) ≤ 0. (13)
But, then by Corollary 3.2.2 [11] the delay differential equation
0
z (t) + P (t) z (τ (t)) = 0, (14)
has an eventually positive solution as well. It is also well known that (11) or
(12) implies (14) has no eventually positive solution (see, [11] Theorem 3.4.3).
This contradiction completes the proof. 

Remark 1. It is clear that every solution of (1) oscillates if (14) has no even-
tually positive solutions.
It is clear that there is a gap between (11) and (12) for the oscillation of all
solutions of (1) . The problem how to fill this gap for the equation (1) when the
limit
Zt
lim P (s) ds,
t→∞
τ (t)

does not exist needs to be considered. This problem has been cleared for the
linear Eq. (14) . Let the numbers k and l be defined by
Zt Zt
k = lim inf P (s)ds, l = lim sup P (s)ds, .
t→∞ t→∞
τ (t) τ (t)

1
0<k≤ , l < 1,
e
 Oscillation of solutions 107

and λ is the smallest root of the equation λ = ekλ . Then Eq. (14) will be
oscillatory if either of the following conditions is satisfied:

ln λ + 1
(C1 ) l> , [18]
λ
√
1 − k − 1 − 2k − k 2
(C2 ) l >1− , [34]
2
√
1 + ln λ 1 − k − 1 − 2k − k 2
(C3 ) l> − , [14]
λ 2
2
(C4 ) l > 2k + − 1, [19]
λ
√
ln λ − 1 + 5 − 2λ + 2kλ
(C5 ) l> , [30]
λ
 
e−1 1 1
(C6 ) l> k+ − , [7]
e−2 λ1 e−2

Remark 2. Theorem 1 implies that Eq. (1) will also be oscillatory if either of
the conditions (C1 ) − (C6 ) is satisfied.

In the following theorems we present new infinite integral sufficient conditions

for the oscillation of all solutions of (1)

Theorem 2. Assume that (2) , (3), (4) , (10) and (H) hold, and suppose that
there exists a positive integer n such that
Z∞
p (t) ln (pn (t) + 1) dt = ∞. (15)
t0

Then every solution of (1) oscillates.

Proof. Assume that (1) has a nonoscillatory solution x (t) which will be assumed
to be eventually positive (if x (t) is eventually negative the proof is similar). By
Lemma 2 and assumption (H), there exists t∗0 ≥ t0 such that
0 < x (t) ≤ x (δ (t)) ≤ x (τ (t)) < ε0 , g (x (τ (t))) < 1, t ≥ t∗0 , (16)
where ε0 is given by assumption (H). (16) and (H) yield that for t ≥ t∗0 ,
f (t, x (τ (t))) ≥ p (t) [1 − g (x (τ (t)))] x (τ (t)) ≥ p (t) [1 − g (x (τ (t)))] z (δ (t)) ,
(17)
and it follows from (1) that
z 0 (t) z (δ (t))
+ p (t) [1 − g (x (τ (t)))] ≤ 0, t ≥ t∗0 . (18)
z (t) z (t)
108 Elmetwally M. Elabbasy, Taher S. Hassan and Samir H. Saker

By Lemmas 1 − 5, there exist T > t2 , A > 0, ε > 0 and M > 0 such that for
t ≥ T,
 
τZ(t)
 1 
x (τ (t)) ≤ A exp − p (s) ds + ε, (19)
2
T

Zt Zt
p (s) ds ≤ p (s) ds ≤ 2, pk (t) ≤ 2k , k = 1, 2, ..., (20)
δ(t) τ (t)

z (δ (t)) z (τ (t))
≤ ≤ M. (21)
z (t) z (t)
Let tk = δ −k (T ) , k = 1, 2, ...Clearly tk → ∞ as k → ∞. Set
0
−z (t)
λ (t) = , t ≥ T.
z (t)
Then
Zt
z (δ (t))
= exp λ (s) ds, t ≥ t1 ,
z (t)
δ(t)

and from (18) we have for t ≥ t1

Zt
z (δ (t))
λ (t) ≥ p (t) exp λ (s) ds − p (t) g (x (τ (t))) . (22)
z (t)
δ(t)

It follows from (19) − (22) that for t ≥ t1 ,

   
Zt τZ(t)
  1  
λ (t) ≥ p (t) exp λ (s) ds − M p (t) g A exp − p (s) ds + ε
2
δ(t) T

   
Zt Zt
1
≥ p (t) exp λ (s) ds − M p (t) g A1 exp − p (s) ds + ε ,
2
δ(t) T (23)

where A1 = eA. By the inequality ec ≥ c for c ≥ 0, we have for t ≥ t1

   
Zt Zt
1
λ (t) ≥ p (t) λ (s) ds − M p (t) g A1 exp − p (s) ds + ε .
2
δ(t) T (24)
 Oscillation of solutions 109

Set
Zt
1
α (t) = p (s) ds, t ≥ T, (25)
2
T

and

 λ0 (t) = λ (t) , t ≥ T,

 Zt

 λk (t) = p (t) λk−1 (s) ds, t ≥ tk , k = 1, 2, ..., n, , (26)

δ(t)

and

 G0 (t) = 0, t ≥ T,



 Zt
Gk (t) = p (t) Gk−1 (s) ds .



 δ(t) (27)

+ M p (t) g (A1 exp (−α (t)) + ε) , t ≥ tk , k = 1, 2, ..., n,
Clearly (10) implies that α (t) is nondecreasing on [T, ∞) and α (t) → ∞ as
t → ∞. By iteration we deduce from (24) that
λ (t) ≥ λk (t) − Gk (t) , t ≥ tk , k = 1, 2, ...n − 1, (28)
and so by (23) ,
   
Zt Zt
   
λ (t) ≥ p (t) exp  λn−1 (s) ds exp − Gn−1 (s) ds − G1 (t) , t ≥ tn .
δ(t) δ(t)
(29)

From (27) , one can easily obtain

Gk+1 (t) − Gk (t)
Zt
= p (t) [Gk (s) − Gk−1 (s)] ds, t ≥ tk+1 , k = 1, 2, ..., n − 1. (30)
δ(t)

By (20) , (25) and (27) , for t ≥ t2 we have

Zt Zt
G1 (s) ds = M p (s) g (A1 exp (−α (s)) + ε) ds
δ(t) δ(t)

Z
α(t)


= 2M g A1 e−u + ε du (31)
α(δ(t))
110 Elmetwally M. Elabbasy, Taher S. Hassan and Samir H. Saker

Z
α(t)


≤ 2M g A1 e−u + ε du.
α(t)−1

Thus, from (30) , we get

Zt
G2 (t) − G1 (t) = p (t) G1 (s) ds
δ(t)

Z
α(t)


≤ 2M p (t) g A1 e−u + ε du, t ≥ t2 ,
α(t)−1

Zt
G3 (t) − G2 (t) = p (t) [G2 (s) − G1 (s)] ds
δ(t)

Zt Z
α(s)


≤ 2M p (t) p (s) g A1 e−u + ε duds
δ(t) α(s)−1

Z
α(t) Zv


= 4M p (t) g A1 e−u + ε dudv
α(δ(t))v−1

Z
α(t) Zv


≤ 4M p (t) g A1 e−u + ε dudv
α(t)−1v−1

Z
α(t)


≤ 4M p (t) g A1 e−u + ε du, t ≥ t3 .
α(t)−2

By induction, one can prove in general that for k = 2, 3, ..., n − 1,

Z
α(t)
k−1

Gk (t) − Gk−1 (t) ≤ (2) (k − 2)!M p (t) g A1 e−u + ε du, t ≥ tk ,
α(t)−(k−1)

and so
n−1
X
Gn−1 (t) = [Gk (t) − Gk−1 (t)]
k=1
X
n−1
≤ G1 (t) + M p (t) (2e)k−1 (k − 2)! (32)
k=2
 Oscillation of solutions 111

Z
α(t)


× g A1 e−u + ε du, t ≥ tn−1 .
α(t)−(k−1)

By (20) , (21) and (26) , we obtain


 Zt  

 z (δ (t))

 λ (t) = p (t) λ (s) ds = p (t) ln

 1
z (t)



 δ(t)



 ≤ p (t) ln M, t ≥ t1 ,
 Zt Zt
. (33)

 λ2 (t) = p (t) λ1 (s) ds ≤ p (t) ln M p (s) ds






δ(t) δ(t)

 ≤ 2p (t) ln M, t ≥ t2 ,



 ........


λn−1 (t) ≤ 2n−2 p (t) ln M, t ≥ tn−1 .
Set
   
Zt Zt
   
D (t) = p (t) exp  λn−1 (s) ds 1 − exp − Gn−1 (s) ds
δ(t) δ(t)

+G1 (t) , t ≥ tn .
One can easily see that
0 ≤ 1 − e−c ≤ c, c ≥ 0. (34)

From, (20) , (32) , (33) , (33) and (34) we have

 
Zt Zt
 
D (t) ≤ p (t) exp  λn−1 (s) ds Gn−1 (s) ds + G1 (t)
δ(t) δ(t)
 
Zt
 
≤ G1 (t) + p (t) exp 2n−2 ln M p (s) ds
δ(t)

Zt  n−1
X k−1 Z
α(s) 
−u


× G1 (s) + M p (s) (2) (k − 2)! g A1 e + ε du ds
δ(t) k=2 α(s)−(k−1)

  Z
α(t)
n−1

≤ G1 (t) + 2M p (t) exp (2) ln M g A1 e−u + ε du
α(t)−1
112 Elmetwally M. Elabbasy, Taher S. Hassan and Samir H. Saker

 
+M p (t) exp (2)n−1 ln M

n−1
X Zt Z
α(s)
k−1

× (2) (k − 2)! p (s) g A1 e−u + ε duds (35)
k=2 δ(t) α(s)−(k−1)

n−1
X Z
α(t)
k−1

≤ G1 (t) + M1 p (t) (2) (k − 1)! g A1 e−u + ε du, t ≥ tn ,
k=1 α(t)−k

 
n−1
where M1 = 2M exp (2) ln M . Let T ∗ > tn be such that α (T ∗ ) > n +
ln A1 . It follows from (36) and (H) that

Z∞ Z∞ n−1
X Z∞ Z
α(t)
k−1

D (t) dt ≤ G1 (t) dt + M1 (2) (k − 1)! p (t) g A1 e−u dudt
T∗ T∗ k=1 T∗ α(t)−k
Z∞


≤ 2M g A1 e−u du
α(T ∗ )
n−1
X Z∞ Zv
k−1

+2M1 (2) (k − 1)! g A1 e−u dudv
k=1 α(T ∗ )v−k
Z∞ n−1
X Z∞
−u

k−1

≤ 2M g A1 e du + 2M1 (2) k! g A1 e−u du
k=1
α(T ∗ ) α(T ∗ )−(k+1)

Z∞ Z∞ n−1
X Z∞
−u

k−1

D (t) dt ≤ 2M g e du + 2M1 (2) k! g e−u du < ∞.
T∗ 0 k=1 0 (36)

Since
   
Zt Zt
   
p (t) exp  λn−1 (s) ds exp − Gn−1 (s) ds − G1 (t)
δ(t) δ(t)
 
Zt
 
= p (t) exp  λn−1 (s) ds − D (t) , t ≥ tn ,
δ(t)
 Oscillation of solutions 113

it follows from (29) that

 
Zt
 
λ (t) ≥ p (t) exp  λn−1 (s) ds − D (t) , t ≥ tn , (37)
δ(t)

or
 
Zt
 1 
λ (t) ≥ p (t) exp  pn (t) λn−1 (s) ds − D (t) , t ≥ tn .
pn (t)
δ(t)

ln (γ + 1)
One can easily show that eγx ≥ x + for all x ≥ 0 and γ > 0, and so
γ
for t ≥ tn ,
Zt
pn (t) λ (t) − p (t) λn−1 (s) ds ≥ p (t) ln (pn (t) + 1) − pn (t) D (t) .
δ(t)
(38)

For N > δ −n (T ∗ ) , we have

ZN ZN Zt
pn (t) λ (t) dt − p (t) λn−1 (s) dsdt
T∗ T∗ δ(t)

ZN ZN
≥ p (t) ln (pn (t) + 1) dt − pn (t) D (t) dt. (39)
T∗ T∗

Let


δ 1 (t) = δ (t) , δ k+1 (t) = δ δ k (t) , k = 1, 2, , ..., n.
Then by interchanging the order of integration, we have

ZN Zt Z )
δ(N δ −1
Z (t)
p (t) λn−1 (s) dsdt ≥ λn−1 (t) p (s) dsdt
T∗ δ(t) T∗ t

Z )
δ(N Zt
= p (t) p1 (t) λn−2 (s) dsdt
T∗ δ(t)

δ 2Z(N ) δ −1
Z (t)
≥ λn−2 (t) p (s) p1 (s) dsdt
T∗ t
114 Elmetwally M. Elabbasy, Taher S. Hassan and Samir H. Saker

δ 2Z(N ) Zt
= p (t) p2 (t) λn−3 (s) dsdt
T∗ δ(t)
..........
δ nZ(N )

≥ λ (t) pn (t) dt.

T∗

From this and (39) we have

ZN ZN ZN
pn (t) λ (t) dt ≥ p (t) ln (pn (t) + 1) dt − pn (t) D (t) dt, (40)
δ n (N ) T∗ T∗

which together with (20) yields

ZN ZN ZN
n n
2 λ (t) dt ≥ p (t) ln (pn (t) + 1) dt − 2 D (t) dt,
δ n (N ) T∗ T∗

or
ZN ZN
x (δ n (N ))
ln ≥ 2−n p (t) ln (pn (t) + 1) dt − D (t) dt. (41)
x (N )
T∗ T∗

In view of (15) and (36) , we have

x (δ n (N ))
lim = ∞. (42)
N →∞ x (N )
On the other hand, (21) implies that



x (δ n (N )) x δ 1 (N ) x δ 2 (N ) x (δ n (N ))
= . ... ≤ M n.
x (N ) x (N ) x (δ 1 (N )) x (δ n−1 (N ))
This contradicts (42) and completes the proof. 

Remark 3. From Lemma 3 we have

δ −1
Z (t) Zt
k−1 k−1
lim inf pk (t) ≤ (2) lim inf p (s) ds ≤ (2) lim inf p (s) ds.
t→∞ t→∞ t→∞
t τ (t)

As a result, by Theorem 2 we have

 Oscillation of solutions 115

Corollary 1. Assume that (2) , (3), (4) , and (H) hold, and that there exists a
positive integer n such that
lim inf pn (t) > 0.
t→∞

Then every solution of (1) oscillates.

Example 1. Consider the neutral delay differential equation

   0
5
x (t) − + sin t x (t − π) + f (t, x (τ (t))) = 0, t ≥ 3, (43)
2
where
1
τ (t) = t − 1 and f (t, u) = [exp 3 (sin t − 1) + |u|] 3 u.
Let
1
p (t) = exp (sin t) − 0.1 and g (u) = e2 |u| 3 .
It is easy to see that assumption (H) holds. Clearly
Zt
1
lim inf p (s) ds < ,
t→∞ e
t−1

Z∞
p (t) ln (p1 (t) + 1) dt
0
t+1 
Z∞ Z
≥ exp (sin t − 1) ln  exp (sin s) ds dt
0 t

By Jensen’s inequality,
t+1 
Z∞ Z Z∞ Z
t+1

p (t) ln  p (s) ds + 1 dt ≥ exp (sin t − 1) sin sdsdt

0 t 0 t
Z∞  
2 sin 2−1 1
= exp (sin t) sin t + dt.
e 2
0

On the other hand, it is easy to see that

Zt
exp (sin s) cos sds
0
116 Elmetwally M. Elabbasy, Taher S. Hassan and Samir H. Saker

is bounded and
Z2π
exp (sin t) sin tdt > 0.
0
Thus
Z∞
p (t) ln (p1 (t) + 1) dt = ∞.
0

By Theorem 2 every solution of (43) oscillates.

Note that most of the results that has been given in [3, 11] required the
condition
that 0 ≤ q (t) ≤ 1, which cannot be applied on (43) since q (t) =
5
2 + sin t > 1.

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Elmetwally M. Elabbasy received his BS (1973) from Mansoura University and MSC
(1977) from Ain Shams University Egypt. He got his Ph. D. (1980) from Wales, UK.
His subject interest is oscillation theory of differential and difference equations and their
applications and also the nonlinear dynamical systems. Now he is teaching in Department
of Mathematics, Mansoura University.
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University, Mansoura, 35516,
Egypt
e-mail: [email protected]
118 Elmetwally M. Elabbasy, Taher S. Hassan and Samir H. Saker

Taher S. Hassan received his BS (1997) and MSC (2003) from Mansoura University,
Egypt. His subject interest is oscillation theory of functional differential equations. Now
he is teaching in Department of Mathematics, Mansoura University.
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University, Mansoura, 35516,
Egypt
e-mail: [email protected]

Samir H. Saker received his BS (1993) and MSC (1997) from Mansoura University, Egypt
and he got his Ph. D. from Adam Mickiewiz University, Poland (2002). His research interest
focus on the oscillation theory of differential, difference equations and their applications
and oscillation of dynamic equations on time scales which unify the oscillation of differential
and difference equations. Now he is teaching in Department of Department of Mathematics,
Mansoura University.
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University, Mansoura, 35516,
Egypt
e-mail: [email protected]