Solving an integration equation with unknown kernel

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The forum discussion centers on solving a nonstandard integral equation involving an unknown kernel. The equation is defined as h(t) = ∫(F(t+x)^K)f(x)dx, where h(t) is a known cumulative distribution function, F is a functional of the unknown density function f, and K is a positive integer. The solution f must be positive, integrated to 1, and have an expectation of zero. The complexity arises from the unknown kernel F(t+x), which depends solely on f.

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I am pondering over how to solve the following (seemingly nonstandard) integral equation.

Let h(t) be a known function which is non-negative, strictly increasing and satisfies that h(t) → 0 as t→-∞ and h(t)→1 as t→∞. Indeed, h(t) can be viewed as a cumulative distribution function for a continuous random variable.

Let K be a given positive integer. The problem is to find the function f(x) satisfying that

h(t) = ∫(F(t+x)^K)f(x)dx

where the integral is taken from -∞ to ∞, F is a functional of f and satisfies F(y)=∫f(x)dx where the integral is taken from -∞ to y. The function f to be solved is positive with support on the whole real line and is integrated to 1 over its support. Indeed, f is viewed as a density of a continuous random variable whose cumulative distribution function is F. There is a location constraint on the solution f that should satisfy that ∫xf(x)dx=0. Namely, the expectation of the random variable with density f should be zero.

The integral equation seems nonstandard since the kernel F(t+x) is unknown though it depends only on f.

Could anyone suggest how to deal with this problem ?

Thank you very much !
 
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dragon_chen said:
I am pondering over how to solve the following (seemingly nonstandard) integral equation.

What does the corresponding differential equation say? (I'm not implying that this is a good hint, I'm just curious.)
 

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