Decreasing solutions and convex solutions of the polynomial-like iterative equation ✩

In this paper we prove the existence and uniqueness of decreasing solutions for the polynomial-like iterative equation so as to answer Problem 2 in [J. Zhang, L. Yang,W. Zhang, Some advances on functional equations, Adv. Math. (China) 24 (1995) 385–405] (or Problem 3 in [W. Zhang, J.A. Baker, Continuous solutions of a polynomial-like iterative equation with variable coefficients, Ann. Polon. Math. 73 (2000) 29–36]). Furthermore, we completely investigate increasing convex (or concave) solutions and decreasing convex (or concave) solutions of this equation so that the results obtained in [W. Zhang, K. Nikodem, B. Xu, Convex solutions of polynomial-like iterative equations, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 315 (2006) 29–40] are improved. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.