Variations on the proximate order

Abstract: The concept of proximate order is widely used in the theories of entire, meromorphic, subharmonic and plurisubharmonic functions. We give a general interpretation of this concept as a proximate growth function relative to a model growth function. If a function is the proximate growth function with respect to the identity function on the positive semi-axis, then the logarithm of this function is the classical proximate order. Our definition uses only one condition. This form of definition is also new for the classical proximate order.