Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2009
Recent work has shown that the solutions of the second-kind integral equation arising from a difference kernel can be expressed in terms of two particular solutions of the equation. This paper establishes analogous results for a wider class of integral operators, which includes the special case of those arising from difference kernels, where the solution of the general case is generated by a finite number of particular cases. The generalisation is achieved by reducing the problem to one of finite rank. Certain non-compact operators, including those arising from Cauchy singular kernels, are amenable to this approach.