6 research outputs found
Nested recursions with ceiling function solutions
Consider a nested, non-homogeneous recursion R(n) defined by R(n) =
\sum_{i=1}^k R(n-s_i-\sum_{j=1}^{p_i} R(n-a_ij)) + nu, with c initial
conditions R(1) = xi_1 > 0,R(2)=xi_2 > 0, ..., R(c)=xi_c > 0, where the
parameters are integers satisfying k > 0, p_i > 0 and a_ij > 0. We develop an
algorithm to answer the following question: for an arbitrary rational number
r/q, is there any set of values for k, p_i, s_i, a_ij and nu such that the
ceiling function ceiling{rn/q} is the unique solution generated by R(n) with
appropriate initial conditions? We apply this algorithm to explore those
ceiling functions that appear as solutions to R(n). The pattern that emerges
from this empirical investigation leads us to the following general result:
every ceiling function of the form ceiling{n/q}$ is the solution of infinitely
many such recursions. Further, the empirical evidence suggests that the
converse conjecture is true: if ceiling{rn/q} is the solution generated by any
recursion R(n) of the form above, then r=1. We also use our ceiling function
methodology to derive the first known connection between the recursion R(n) and
a natural generalization of Conway's recursion.Comment: Published in Journal of Difference Equations and Applications, 2010.
11 pages, 1 tabl
Solving Non-homogeneous Nested Recursions Using Trees
The solutions to certain nested recursions, such as Conolly's C(n) =
C(n-C(n-1))+C(n-1-C(n-2)), with initial conditions C(1)=1, C(2)=2, have a
well-established combinatorial interpretation in terms of counting leaves in an
infinite binary tree. This tree-based interpretation, which has a natural
generalization to a k-term nested recursion of this type, only applies to
homogeneous recursions, and only solves each recursion for one set of initial
conditions determined by the tree. In this paper, we extend the tree-based
interpretation to solve a non-homogeneous version of the k-term recursion that
includes a constant term. To do so we introduce a tree-grafting methodology
that inserts copies of a finite tree into the infinite k-ary tree associated
with the solution of the corresponding homogeneous k-term recursion. This
technique can also be used to solve the given non-homogeneous recursion with
various sets of initial conditions.Comment: 14 page