Sturm–Liouville problems with indefinite weights and Everitt's inequality

Abstract

It is shown that spectral properties of Sturm–Liouville eigenvalue problems with indefinite weights are related to integral inequalities studied by Everitt. A result of Beals on indefinite problems leads to a sufficient condition for the validity of such an inequality. A Baire category argument is used to show that, in general, the inequality under consideration does not hold.