Non-existence of measurable solutions of certain functional equations via probabilistic approaches

Abstract

This paper deals with functional equations in the form of $f(x) + g(y) = h(x,y)$ where $h$ is given and $f$ and $g$ are unknown. We will show that if $h$ is a Borel measurable function associated with characterizations of the uniform or Cauchy distributions, then there is no measurable solutions of the equation. Our proof uses a characterization of the Dirac measure and it is also applicable to the arctan equation.