A Note on Completely and Absolutely Monotone Functions

Abstract The solutions of a certain class of first order linear differential equations are shown to be either completely or absolutely monotone depending on the nature of its coefficients. This is a simple theorem which is used to deduce a number of new and interesting results dealing with the complete and absolute monotonicity of functions. In particular, a partial answer is supplied to a question posed by Askey and Pollard: “When is completely monotone?”