Characterization of the Bernoulli polynomials via the Raabe functional equation.

The purpose of the present paper is to show that in certain classes of real (or complex) functions, Bernoulli polynomials are essentially the only ones satisfying the Raabe functional equation. For the class of real 1-periodic functions which are expandable as Fourier series, we point out new solutions of the Raabe functional equation, not related to Bernoulli polynomials. Furthermore, we will give for the considered classes various proofs, making the mathematical content of the paper quite rich. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]