In connection with the translation equation
(T)![](//static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS0008414X00000304/resource/name/S0008414X00000304_eq1.gif?pub-status=live)
three differential equations arise together with a differential initial condition. They are satisfied by the differentiable solutions of (T) and of the initial condition
(I)![](//static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS0008414X00000304/resource/name/S0008414X00000304_eq2.gif?pub-status=live)
These equations are attributed in [9] to E. Jabotinsky who seems to have been the first who treated these equations in connection with the theory of analytic iteration (see [6], cf. [7, 8], but see also [1, 2, 3]).
Gronau (see [9]) asked whether, conversely, it is true that all solutions of each of these “Jabotinsky differential equations”, possibly with some further initial conditions added, are also solutions of the translation equation. In this paper we give counter examples but also partial positive answers to these questions. First we show how one obtains the Jabotinsky equations from (T) and (I).