linear recurrence
A sequence is said to satisfy a general linear recurrence if there are constants and such that
The sequence is called the non-homogeneous partof the recurrence.
If for all then the recurrence is said to be homogeneous.
In this case if and are two solutions to the recurrence,and and are constants, then are also solutions.
If for all then the recurrence is calleda linear recurrence with constant coefficients. Such a recurrencewith for all and is said to be offinite order and the smallest such integer is called theorder of the recurrence. If no such exists, the recurrence issaid to be of infinite order.
For example, the Fibonacci sequence is a linear recurrence with constant coefficients and order 2.
Now suppose that satisfies a homogeneous linear recurrence offinite order . The polynomial is called the companion polynomialof .If we assume that the coefficients come from a field we canwrite
where are the distinct roots of in somesplitting field of containing and arepositive integers.A theorem about such recurrence relations is that
for some polynomials in where .
Now suppose further that all and
let be the largest value of the .
It follows that if then
for some constant .
(to be continued)