Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 July 2007
For a special case of the Sturm-Liouville equation, −(py′)′ + qy = λwy on [0, ∞) with the initial condition y(0) cos α + p(0)y′(0) sin α = 0, α ∈ [0, π), it is shown that, given the spectral derivative for two values of α ∈ [0, π) at a fixed μ = Re{λ} ≥ Λ0, it is possible to uniquely determine . An explicit formula is derived to accomplish this. Further, in a more general case of the Sturm-Liouville problem for μ with both finite and positive, then the following inequality holds