1 Introduction

The stability problem concerning the stability of group homomorphisms of functional equations was originally introduced by Ulam [1] in 1940. The famous Ulam stability problem was partially solved by Hyers [2] for a linear functional equation of Banach spaces. Hyers’ theorem was generalized by Aoki [3] for additive mappings and by Rassias [4] for linear mappings by considering an unbounded Cauchy difference. The paper of Rassias has had a lot of influence in the development of what we call the generalized Hyers-Ulam stability of functional equations. A generalization of Rassias’ theorem was obtained by Gǎvruta [5] by replacing the unbounded Cauchy difference by a general control function in the spirit of Rassias’ approach. Cădariu and Radu [6] applied the fixed point method to the investigation of the Jensen functional equation. They could present a short and simple proof (different from the direct method initiated by Hyers in 1941) for the generalized Hyers-Ulam stability of the Jensen functional and the quadratic functional equations.

The functional equation

f(x+y)+f(xy)=2f(x)+2f(y)
(1.1)

is called a quadratic functional equation. Quadratic functional equations were used to characterize inner product spaces. In particular, every solution of the quadratic equation is said to be a quadratic mapping. The generalized Hyers-Ulam stability problem for the quadratic functional equation (1.1) was proved by Skof [7]. Recently, the stability problem of the radical quadratic functional equations in various spaces was proved in the papers [811].

In 1984, Katsaras [12] defined a fuzzy norm on a linear space to construct a fuzzy vector topological structure on the space. Some mathematicians have defined fuzzy norms on a vector space from various points of view [1316]. Cheng and Mordeson [17] introduced a definition of fuzzy norm on a linear space in such a manner that the corresponding induced fuzzy metric is of the Kramosil and Michálek type [14]. In 2003, Bag and Samanta [18] modified the definition of Cheng and Mordeson by removing a regular condition. Also, they investigated a decomposition theorem of a fuzzy norm into a family to crisp norms and gave some properties of fuzzy norm. The fuzzy stability problems of several functional equations have been extensively investigated by a number of authors and there are many interesting results concerning these problems [17, 1923].

In the sequel, we use the definitions and some basic facts concerning fuzzy Banach spaces given in Bag and Samanta [18].

Definition 1.1 Let X be a real linear space. A function N:X×R[0,1] is called a fuzzy norm on X if, for all x,yX and s,tR, N satisfies the following conditions:

(N1) N(x,t)=0 for all t0;

(N2) x=0 if and only if N(x,t)=1 for all t>0;

(N3) N(cx,t)=N(x,t/|c|) for all cR with c0;

(N4) N(x+y,s+t)min{N(x,s),N(y,t)};

(N5) N(x,) is a nondecreasing function of ℝ and lim t N(x,t)=1;

(N6) for all xX with x0, N(x,) is continuous on ℝ.

The pair (X,N) is called a fuzzy normed linear space.

Example 1.2 Let (X,) be a normed linear space and let α,β>0. Then

N(x,t)={ α t α t + β x , t > 0 , x X ; 0 , t 0 , x X ,

is a fuzzy norm on X.

Definition 1.3 Let (X,N) be a fuzzy normed linear space.

  1. (1)

    A sequence { x n } in X is said to be convergent to a point xX if, for any ϵ>0 and t>0, there exists n 0 Z + such that N( x n x,t)>1ϵ for all n n 0 . In this case, x is called the limit of the sequence { x n }, which is denoted by x= lim n x n .

  2. (2)

    A sequence { x n } in X is called a Cauchy sequence if, for any ϵ>0 and t>0, there exists n 0 Z + such that N( x n + p x n ,t)>1ϵ for all n n 0 and p Z + .

  3. (3)

    If every Cauchy sequence is convergent, then the fuzzy norm is said to be complete and the fuzzy normed linear space is called a fuzzy Banach space.

A mapping f:XY between fuzzy normed linear spaces X and Y is said to be continuous at a point x 0 X if, for any sequence { x n } in X converging to a point x 0 X, the sequence {f( x n )} converges to f( x 0 ). If f:XY is continuous at every point xX, then f is said to be continuous on X.

Example 1.4 Let N:R×R[0,1] be a fuzzy norm on ℝ defined by

N(x,t)={ t t + x , t > 0 ; 0 , t 0 .

Then (R,N) is a fuzzy Banach space.

In this paper, we establish the generalized Hyers-Ulam stability problem of a radical quadratic functional equation f( x 2 + y 2 )=f(x)+f(y) in fuzzy Banach spaces via the direct and fixed point methods.

2 Fuzzy stability of the radical quadratic functional equations

In this section, we study a fuzzy version of the generalized Hyers-Ulam stability of functional equation which approximate uniformly a radical quadratic mapping in fuzzy Banach spaces.

2.1 The direct method

Theorem 2.1 Let {1,1} be fixed, (Y,N) be a fuzzy Banach space and ϕ: R 2 [0,) be a mapping such that

Φ(x,y):= n = 1 2 1 2 n ϕ ( 2 n 2 x , 2 n 2 y ) +ϕ ( 2 n + 1 2 x , 0 ) <
(2.1)

for all x,yR. Suppose that f:RY is a mapping with f(0)=0 such that, for all t>0,

lim t N ( f ( x 2 + y 2 ) f ( x ) f ( y ) , t ϕ ( x , y ) ) =1
(2.2)

uniformly on R 2 . Then there exists a unique quadratic mapping Q:RY such that, if there exist δ>0 and α>0 such that

N ( f ( x 2 + y 2 ) f ( x ) f ( y ) , δ ϕ ( x , y ) ) α
(2.3)

for all x,yR, then

N ( f ( x ) Q ( x ) , δ 2 Φ ( x , x ) ) α
(2.4)

for all xR. Furthermore, the quadratic mapping Q:RY is a unique mapping such that, for all t>0,

N ( f ( x ) Q ( x ) , t Φ ( x , x ) ) =1
(2.5)

uniformly on ℝ.

Proof Assume that =1. For any ϵ>0, by (2.2), we can find some t 0 >0 such that

N ( f ( x 2 + y 2 ) f ( x ) f ( y ) , t ϕ ( x , y ) ) 1ϵ
(2.6)

for all x,yR and t t 0 . Replacing x and y by x + y 2 and x y 2 in (2.6), respectively, we have

N ( f ( x 2 + y 2 ) f ( x + y 2 ) f ( x y 2 ) , t ϕ ( x + y 2 , x y 2 ) ) 1ϵ
(2.7)

for all x,yR and t t 0 . It follows from (2.6), (2.7), and (N4) that

N ( f ( x ) + f ( y ) f ( x + y 2 ) f ( x y 2 ) , t ( ϕ ( x , y ) + ϕ ( x + y 2 , x y 2 ) ) ) 1ϵ
(2.8)

for all x,yR and t t 0 . Letting y=x in (2.8), we have

N ( 2 f ( x ) f ( 2 1 2 x ) , t ϕ ˆ ( x , x ) ) 1ϵ
(2.9)

for all xR and t t 0 , where ϕ ˆ (x,x)=ϕ(x,x)+ϕ( 2 1 2 x,0). By induction on n, we have

N ( 2 n f ( x ) f ( 2 n 2 x ) , t k = 0 n 1 2 n k 1 ϕ ˆ ( 2 k 2 x , 2 k 2 x ) ) 1ϵ
(2.10)

for all xR, t t 0 and n Z + . Let t= t 0 . Replacing n and x by p and 2 n 2 x in (2.10), respectively, we have

N ( f ( 2 n 2 x ) 2 n f ( 2 n + p 2 x ) 2 n + p , t 0 2 n + p k = 0 p 1 2 p k 1 ϕ ˆ ( 2 n + k 2 x , 2 n + k 2 x ) ) 1ϵ
(2.11)

for all n0 and p>0. It follows from (2.1) and the equality

k = 0 p 1 1 2 n + k + 1 ϕ ˆ ( 2 n + k 2 x , 2 n + k 2 x ) = 1 2 k = n n + p 1 1 2 k ϕ ˆ ( 2 k 2 x , 2 k 2 x )

that, for any δ>0, there exists some n 0 Z + such that

t 0 2 k = n n + p 1 1 2 k ϕ ˆ ( 2 k 2 x , 2 k 2 x ) <δ

for all n n 0 and p>0. Now, it follows from (2.11) that

N ( f ( 2 n 2 x ) 2 n f ( 2 n + p 2 x ) 2 n + p , δ ) N ( f ( 2 n 2 x ) 2 n f ( 2 n + p 2 x ) 2 n + p , t 0 2 n + p k = 0 p 1 2 p k 1 ϕ ˆ ( 2 n + k 2 x , 2 n + k 2 x ) ) 1 ϵ
(2.12)

for all n n 0 and p>0. Thus the sequence { f ( 2 n 2 x ) 2 n } is a Cauchy sequence in a fuzzy Banach space and so it converges to some Q(x)Y. We can define a mapping Q:RY by

Q(x)= lim n f ( 2 n 2 x ) 2 n ,

that is, lim n N( f ( 2 n 2 x ) 2 n Q(x),t)=1 for all xR and t>0. Let x,yR, t>0 and 0<ϵ<1. Since lim n 1 2 n ϕ ˆ ( 2 n 2 x, 2 n 2 y)=0, there exists n 1 Z + with n 1 > n 0 such that

t 0 ϕ ˆ ( 2 n 2 x , 2 n 2 y ) < 2 n t 4

for all n n 1 . Then, by (N4), we have

N ( Q ( x 2 + y 2 ) Q ( x ) Q ( y ) , t ) min { N ( Q ( x + y ) 1 2 n f ( 2 n x 2 + 2 n y 2 ) , t 4 ) , N ( Q ( x ) 1 2 n f ( 2 n 2 x ) , t 4 ) , N ( Q ( y ) 1 2 n f ( 2 n 2 y ) , t 4 ) , N ( f ( 2 n x 2 + 2 n y 2 ) f ( 2 n 2 x ) f ( 2 n 2 y ) , 2 n t 4 ) }
(2.13)

for all n n 1 . Since the first three terms on the right-hand side of the above inequality tend to 1 as n and

N ( f ( 2 n x 2 + 2 n y 2 ) f ( 2 n 2 x ) f ( 2 n 2 y ) , t 0 ϕ ˆ ( 2 n 2 , 2 n 2 y ) ) 1ϵ,

we have

N ( Q ( x 2 + y 2 ) Q ( x ) Q ( y ) , t ) 1ϵ

for all x,yR, t>0 and 0<ϵ<1. It follows from (N2) that Q( x 2 + y 2 )=Q(x)+Q(y) for all x,yR. This means that Q is a quadratic mapping [10].

Now, suppose that (2.3) holds for some δ>0 and α>0. Then assume that

ψ n (x,y)= k = 0 n 1 1 2 k + 1 ϕ ˆ ( 2 k 2 x , 2 k 2 y )

for all x,yR. For all xR, by a similar method to the beginning of the proof, we have

N ( 2 n f ( x ) f ( 2 n 2 x ) , δ k = 0 n 1 2 n k 1 ϕ ˆ ( 2 k 2 x , 2 k 2 x ) ) α
(2.14)

for all n Z + . Let t>0. Then we have

N ( f ( x ) Q ( x ) , δ ψ n ( x , x ) + t ) min { N ( f ( x ) f ( 2 n 2 x ) 2 n , δ ψ n ( x , x ) ) , N ( f ( 2 n 2 x ) 2 n Q ( x ) , t ) } .
(2.15)

Combining (2.14) and (2.15) and using the fact lim n N( f ( 2 n 2 x ) 2 n Q(x),t)=1, we obtain

N ( f ( x ) Q ( x ) , δ ψ n ( x , x ) + t ) α
(2.16)

for large enough n Z + . It follows from the continuity of the function N(f(x)Q(x),) that

N ( f ( x ) Q ( x ) , δ 2 Φ ( x , x ) + t ) α.

Letting t0, we conclude (2.5).

Next, assume that there exists another quadratic mapping T which satisfies (2.5). For any ϵ>0, by applying (2.5) for the mappings Q and T, we can find some t 0 >0 such that

N ( f ( x ) Q ( x ) , t 2 Φ ( x , x ) ) 1ϵ,N ( f ( x ) T ( x ) , t 2 Φ ( x , x ) ) 1ϵ

for all xR and t t 0 . Fix xR and c>0. Then we find some n 0 Z + such that

t 0 k = n 1 2 k ϕ ˆ ( 2 k 2 x , 2 k 2 y ) < c 2

for all x,yR and n n 0 . It follows from

k = n 1 2 k ϕ ˆ ( 2 k 2 x , 2 k 2 y ) = 1 2 n k = n 1 2 k n ϕ ˆ ( 2 k n ( 2 n 2 x ) , 2 k n ( 2 n 2 y ) ) = 1 2 n m = 0 1 2 m ϕ ˆ ( 2 m ( 2 n 2 x ) , 2 m ( 2 n 2 y ) ) = 1 2 n Φ ( 2 n 2 x , 2 n 2 y )

that

N ( Q ( x ) T ( x ) , c ) min { N ( f ( 2 n 2 x ) 2 n Q ( x ) , c 2 ) , N ( T ( x ) f ( 2 n 2 x ) 2 n , c 2 ) } = min { N ( f ( 2 n 2 x ) Q ( 2 n 2 x ) , 2 n 1 c ) , N ( T ( 2 n 2 x ) f ( 2 n 2 x ) , 2 n 1 c ) } min { N ( f ( 2 n 2 x ) Q ( 2 n 2 x ) , 2 n t 0 k = n 1 2 k ϕ ˆ ( 2 k 2 x , 2 k 2 x ) ) , N ( T ( 2 n 2 x ) f ( 2 n 2 x ) , 2 n t 0 k = n 1 2 k ϕ ˆ ( 2 k 2 x , 2 k 2 x ) ) } min { N ( f ( 2 n 2 x ) Q ( 2 n 2 x ) , t 0 Φ ( 2 n 2 x , 2 n 2 x ) ) , N ( T ( 2 n 2 x ) f ( 2 n 2 x ) , t 0 Φ ( 2 n 2 x , 2 n 2 x ) ) } 1 ϵ

for all x,yR and c>0. Thus we have N(Q(x)T(x),c)=1 for all c>0 and so Q(x)=T(x) for all xR.

For the case =1, we can state the proof in the same method as in the first case. In the case, the mapping Q is defined by Q(x)= lim n 2 n f( 2 n 2 x). This completes the proof. □

Corollary 2.2 Let (Y,N) be a fuzzy Banach space, θ and pR with p<2 be positive real numbers. Suppose that f:RY is a mapping with f(0)=0 such that, for all t>0,

lim t N ( f ( x 2 + y 2 ) f ( x ) f ( y ) , t θ ( | x | p + | y | p ) ) =1
(2.17)

uniformly on ℝ. Then the limit Q(x)= lim n f ( 2 n 2 x ) 2 n exists for all xX and there exists a unique quadratic mapping Q:RY such that

lim t N ( f ( x ) Q ( x ) , 2 ( 2 + 2 p 2 ) 2 2 p 2 θ | x | p t ) =1
(2.18)

uniformly on ℝ.

Proof The proof follows from Theorem 2.1 by taking ϕ(x,y)=θ(|x | p +|y | p ) for all x,yR. □

Corollary 2.3 Let (Y,N) be a fuzzy Banach space and ψ:[0,)[0,) be a mapping such that, for all s,t>0,

  1. (a)

    ψ(ts)=ψ(t)ψ(s);

  2. (b)

    ψ( 2 )<2.

Suppose that f:RY is a mapping with f(0)=0 such that, for all t>0,

lim t N ( f ( x 2 + y 2 ) f ( x ) f ( y ) , t θ ( ψ ( | x | ) + ψ ( | y | ) ) ) =1
(2.19)

uniformly on R 2 , where θ>0 is fixed. Then the limit Q(x)= lim n f ( 2 n 2 x ) 2 n exists for all xR and defines a quadratic mapping Q:RY such that, for all t>0,

lim t N ( f ( x ) Q ( x ) , 2 ( 2 + ψ ( 2 ) ) 2 ψ ( 2 ) θ ψ ( | x | ) t ) =1
(2.20)

uniformly on ℝ.

Proof The proof follows from Theorem 2.1 by taking ϕ(x,y)=θ(ψ(|x|)+ψ(|y|)) for all x,yR. □

2.2 The fixed point method

Recall that a mapping d: X 2 [0,+] is called a generalized metric on a nonempty set X if

  1. (1)

    d(x,y)=0 if and only if x=y;

  2. (2)

    d(x,y)=d(y,x);

  3. (3)

    d(x,z)d(x,y)+d(y,z) for all x,y,zX.

A set X with the generalized metric d is called a generalized metric space.

In [24], Diaz and Margolis proved the following fixed point theorem, which plays an important role for the main results in this section.

Theorem 2.4 [24]

Suppose that (Ω,d) is a complete generalized metric space and T:ΩΩ is a strictly contractive mapping with Lipshitz constant L. Then, for any xΩ, either d( T n x, T n + 1 x)= for all n0 or there exists a positive integer n 0 such that

  1. (1)

    d( T n x, T n + 1 x)< for all n n 0 ;

  2. (2)

    the sequence { T n x} is convergent to a fixed point y of T;

  3. (3)

    y is the unique fixed point of T in the set Λ={yΩ:d( T n 0 x,y)<};

  4. (4)

    d(y, y ) 1 1 L d(y,Ty) for all yΛ.

Theorem 2.5 Let (Y,N) be a fuzzy Banach space and ϕ: R 2 [0,) be a mapping such that there exists L<1 with

ϕ ( 2 1 2 x , 2 1 2 y ) 2Lϕ(x,y)
(2.21)

for all x,yR. If f:RY is a mapping with f(0)=0 and

N ( f ( x 2 + y 2 ) f ( x ) f ( y ) , t ) t t + ϕ ( x , y )
(2.22)

for all x,yR and t>0, then the limit Q(x)= lim n 1 2 n f( 2 n 2 x) exists for all xR and a unique quadratic mapping Q:RY satisfies the inequality

N ( f ( x ) Q ( x ) , t ) ( 1 L ) t ( 1 L ) t + ϕ ˆ ( x , x )
(2.23)

for all xR, where ϕ ˆ (x,x)=ϕ(x,x)+ϕ( 2 1 2 x,0).

Proof Letting x and y by x + y 2 and x y 2 in (2.22), respectively, we have

N ( f ( x 2 + y 2 ) f ( x + y 2 ) f ( x y 2 ) , t ) t t + ϕ ( x + y 2 , x y 2 )
(2.24)

for all x,yR and t t 0 . It follows from (2.22), (2.24), and (N4) that

N ( f ( x ) + f ( y ) f ( x + y 2 ) f ( x y 2 ) , 2 t ) min { N ( f ( x ) + f ( y ) f ( x 2 + y 2 ) , t ) , N ( f ( x 2 + y 2 ) f ( x + y 2 ) f ( x y 2 ) , t ) } min { t t + ϕ ( x , y ) , t t + ϕ ( x + y 2 , x y 2 ) } t t + ϕ ( x , y ) + ϕ ( x + y 2 , x y 2 )
(2.25)

for all x,yR and t t 0 . Letting y=x in (2.25), we have

N ( f ( x ) 1 2 f ( 2 1 2 x ) , t ) t t + ϕ ˆ ( x , x )
(2.26)

for all xR and t t 0 , where ϕ ˆ (x,y)=ϕ(x,y)+ϕ( 2 1 2 x,0).

Let Ω be a set of all mapping from ℝ to and introduce a generalized metric on Ω as follows:

d(g,h)=inf { μ [ 0 , ) : N ( g ( x ) h ( x ) , μ t ) t t + ϕ ˆ ( x , x ) , x R , t > 0 } .

It is easy to show that (Ω,d) is a generalized complete metric space [25]. We consider the mapping T:ΩΩ defined by

Tg(x)= 1 2 g ( 2 1 2 x )

for all gΩ and xR. Let g,hΩ such that d(g,h)μ. Then we have

N ( T g ( x ) T h ( x ) , t μ L ) =N ( g ( 2 1 2 x ) h ( 2 1 2 x ) , 2 t μ L ) t t + ϕ ˆ ( x , x )

for all xR, and so

d(Tg,Th)Ld(g,h)

for all g,hΩ. This means that T is a strictly contractive self-mapping of Ω with the Lipschitz constant L.

It follows from (2.26) that d(f,Tf)1<. Now, it follows from Theorem 2.4 that the sequence { T n f} converges to a unique fixed point Q of T. So there exists a fixed point Q of T in Ω such that

Q(x)= lim n 1 2 n f ( 2 n 2 x )
(2.27)

for all xR since lim n d( T n ,Q)=0. Again, using the fixed point method, since Q is the unique fixed point of T in Ω ={gΩ:d(f,g)<}, we have

d(f,Q) 1 1 L d(f,Tf) 1 1 L ,

which gives

N ( f ( x ) Q ( x ) , t ) ( 1 L ) t ( 1 L ) t + ϕ ˆ ( x , x )

for all xR and t>0. Further, we have

N ( Q ( x 2 + y 2 ) Q ( x ) Q ( y ) , t ) lim n N ( f ( 2 n x 2 + 2 n y 2 ) f ( 2 n 2 x ) f ( 2 n 2 y ) , 2 n t ) lim n t t + L n ϕ ˆ ( x , y ) = 1
(2.28)

for all x,yR and t>0. It follows from (N2) and N(Q( x 2 + y 2 )Q(x)Q(y),t)1 that Q( x 2 + y 2 )=Q(x)+Q(y) for all x,yR. This means that Q is a quadratic mapping on ℝ. This completes the proof. □

Theorem 2.6 Let (Y,N) be a fuzzy Banach space and ϕ: R 2 [0,) be a mapping such that there exists L<1 with

ϕ ( x 2 , y 2 ) L 2 ϕ(x,y)
(2.29)

for all x,yR. If f:RY is a mapping with f(0)=0 and (2.22), then the limit Q(x)= lim n 2 n f( x 2 n 2 ) exists for all xR and there exists a unique quadratic mapping Q:RY satisfying the inequality

N ( f ( x ) Q ( x ) , t ) ( 1 L ) t ( 1 L ) t + L ϕ ˆ ( x , x )
(2.30)

for all xR and t>0, where ϕ ˆ (x,x)=ϕ(x,x)+ϕ( 2 1 2 x,0).

Proof It follows from (2.26) that

N ( f ( x ) 2 f ( x 2 ) , L t ) t t + ϕ ˆ ( x , x )
(2.31)

for all xR and t t 0 , where ϕ ˆ (x,y)=ϕ(x,y)+ϕ( 2 1 2 x,0). Let Ω and d be as in the proof of Theorem 2.5. Then (Ω,d) becomes a generalized complete metric space and we consider the mapping T:ΩΩ defined by

(Tg)(x)=2g ( x 2 ) ,

xR. So, we have d(Tg,Th)Ld(g,h) for all g,hΩ. It follows from Theorem 2.4 that there exists a unique mapping Q:RY in the set {gΩ:d(f,g)<} which is a unique fixed point of T such that

Q(x)= lim n 2 n f ( x 2 n 2 )

for all xR. Also, from (2.31) we have d(f,Tf)L. So, we can conclude that

d(f,Q) 1 1 L d(f,Tf) L 1 L ,

which implies the inequality (2.30). The remaining assertion goes through in a similar way to the corresponding part of Theorem 2.4. This completes the proof. □

Corollary 2.7 Let (Y,N) be a fuzzy Banach space and θ, p2 be positive real numbers. Suppose that f:RY is a mapping with f(0)=0 such that, for all t>0,

N ( f ( x 2 + y 2 ) f ( x ) f ( y ) , t ) t t + θ ( | x | p + | y | p )
(2.32)

uniformly on ℝ. Then there exists a unique quadratic mapping Q:RY such that

N ( f ( x ) Q ( x ) , t ) { ( 2 2 p 2 ) t ( 2 2 p 2 ) t + 2 ( 2 + 2 p 2 ) θ | x | p , p < 2 , ( 2 2 p 2 ) t ( 2 2 p 2 ) t + 2 p 2 ( 2 + 2 p 2 ) θ | x | p , p > 2 ,
(2.33)

uniformly on ℝ.

Proof Taking ϕ(x,y)=θ(|x | p +|y | p ) for all x,yR and choosing L= 2 p 2 , we have the desired result. □

Remark 2.8 The radical quadratic functional equation f( x 2 + y 2 )=f(x)+f(y) is not stable for p=2 [11].