On the Characterization of Preinvex Functions

In Refs. [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 258:287–308, [2001]; J. Math. Anal. Appl. 256:229–241, [2001]], Yang and Li presented a characterization of preinvex functions and semistrictly preinvex functions under a certain set of conditions. In this note, we show that the same results or even more general ones can be obtained under weaker assumptions; we also give a characterization of strictly preinvex functions under mild conditions. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 70671064 and 60673177, and the Education Department Foundation of Zhejiang Province Grant 20070306. The authors thank Professor F. Giannessi for valuable comments on the original version of this paper.