We consider real sequences $(f_n)$ that satisfy a linear recurrence with constant coefficients. We show that the density of the positivity set of such a sequence always exists. In the special case where the sequence has no positive dominating characteristic root, we establish that the density is positive. Furthermore, we determine the values that can occur as density of such a positivity set, both for the special case just mentioned and in general.
We present some necessary and/or sufficient conditions for the positivity problem of three-term recurrence sequences. As applications we show the positivity of diagonal Taylor coefficients of some rational functions in a unified approach. We also establish a criterion for the positivity and log-convexity of such sequences.
We consider two decision problems for linear recurrence sequences (LRS) over the integers, namely the Positivity Problem (are all terms of a given LRS positive?) and the Ultimate Positivity Problem} (are all but finitely many terms of a given LRS positive?). We show decidability of both problems for LRS of order 5 or less, with complexity in the Counting Hierarchy for Positivity, and in polynomial time for Ultimate Positivity. Moreover, we show by way of hardness that extending the decidability of either problem to LRS of order 6 would entail major breakthroughs in analytic number theory, more…
We exhibit a lower-triangular matrix of polynomials $T(a,c,d,e,f,g)$ in six indeterminates that appears empirically to be coefficientwise totally positive, and which includes as a special case the Eulerian triangle. We prove the coefficientwise total positivity of $T(a,c,0,e,0,0)$, which includes the reversed Stirling subset triangle.
We give a simplified presentation of some results about recurrences of certain sequences of binomial sums in terms of (generalized) Fibonacci and Lucas polynomials.
Due to some results by John P. D Angelo and Dusty Grundmeier about CR- mappings the main results of my 2001 paper about recurrences for some sequences of binomial sums can be simplified.
Labeled infinite trees provide combinatorial interpretations for many integer sequences generated by nested recurrence relations. Typically, such sequences are monotone increasing. Several of these sequences also have straightforward descriptions in terms of how often each value in the sequence occurs. In this paper, we generalize the most classical examples to a larger family of sequences parametrized by linear recurrence relations. Each of our sequences can be constructed in three different ways: via a nested recurrence relation, from labeled infinite trees, or by using Zeckendorf-like strin…
We consider the following question: Which real sequences (a(n)) that satisfy a linear recurrence with constant coefficients are positive for sufficiently large n? We show that the answer is negative for both (a(n)) and (-a(n)), if the dominating characteristic roots in the representation of a(n) as a generalized power sum comprise either two pairs of conjugate complex roots or one negative real root and one pair of conjugate complex roots. The proof uses results from Diophantine approximation and the geometry of numbers. Concerning the case of a real positive dominating root we show what the a…
We recast homogeneous linear recurrence sequences with fixed coefficients in terms of partial Bell polynomials, and use their properties to obtain various combinatorial identities and multifold convolution formulas. Our approach relies on a basis of sequences that can be obtained as the INVERT transform of the coefficients of the given recurrence relation. For such a basis sequence $(y_n)$ with generating function $Y(t)$, and for any positive integer $r$, we give a formula for the convolved sequence generated by $Y(t)^r$ and prove that it satisfies an elegant recurrence relation.
We propose a new definition of effective formulas for problems in enumerative combinatorics. We outline the proof of the fact that every linear recurrence sequence of integers has such a formula. It follows from a lower bound that can be deduced from the Skolem-Mahler-Lech theorem and the Subspace Theorem. We will give details of this deduction that is due to P. Corvaja in the full version of this extended abstract.
Nested recurrence relations are highly sensitive to their initial conditions. The best-known nested recurrence, the Hofstadter $Q$-recurrence, generates sequences displaying a wide variety of behaviors. Most famous among these is the Hofstadter $Q$-sequence, which appears to be structured at a macro level and chaotic at a micro level. Other choices of initial conditions can lead to more predictable solutions, frequently interleavings of simple sequences. Previous work has focused on the form of a desired solution and on describing an initial condition that generates such a solution. In this pa…
In this paper we present a method to pass from a recurrence relation having constant coefficients (in short, a C-recurrence) to a finite succession rule defining the same number sequence. We recall that succession rules are a recently studied tool for the enumeration of combinatorial objects related to the ECO method. We also discuss the applicability of our method as a test for the positivity of a number sequence.
The Hofstadter Q-sequence, with its simple definition, has defied all attempts at analyzing its behavior. Defined by a simple nested recurrence and an initial condition, the sequence looks approximately linear, though with a lot of noise. But, nobody even knows whether the sequence is infinite. In the years since Hofstadter published his sequence, various people have found variants with predictable behavior. Oftentimes, the resulting sequence looks complicated but provably grows linearly. Other times, the sequences are eventually linear recurrent. Proofs describing the behaviors of both types …
Recently, a new generalization of Pascal's triangle, the so-called hyperbolic Pascal triangles were introduced. The mathematical background goes back to the regular mosaics in the hyperbolic plane. In this article, we investigate the paths in the hyperbolic Pascal triangle corresponding to the regular mosaic $\{4,5\}$, in which the binary recursive sequences $f_{n}=αf_{n-1}\pm f_{n-2}$ are represented ($α\in\mathbb{N}^+$).
Zeckendorf's theorem states that any positive integer can be written uniquely as a sum of non-adjacent Fibonacci numbers; this result has been generalized to many recurrence relations, especially those arising from linear recurrences with leading term positive. We investigate legal decompositions arising from two new sequences: the $(s,b)$-Generacci sequence and the Fibonacci Quilt sequence. Both satisfy recurrence relations with leading term zero, and thus previous results and techniques do not apply. These sequences exhibit drastically different behavior. We show that the $(s,b)$-Generacci s…
Pisot sequences (sequences $a_n$ with initial terms $a_0=x, a_1=y$, and defined for $n>1$ by $a_n= \lfloor a_{n-1}^2/a_{n-2} + \frac{1}{2} \rfloor$) often satisfy linear recurrences with constant coefficients that are valid for all $n \geq 0$, but there are also cautionary examples where there is a linear recurrence that is valid for an initial range of values of $n$ but fails to be satisfied beyond that point, providing further illustrations of Richard Guy's celebrated "Strong Law of Small Numbers". In this paper we present a decision algorithm, fully implemented in an accompanying Maple prog…
We give recurrence relations for any family of generalized Appell polynomials unifying so some known recurrences of many classical sequences of polynomials. Our main tool to get our goal is the Riordan group. We use the product of Riordan matrices to interpret some relationships between different families of polynomials. Moreover using the Hadamard product of series we get a general recurrence relation for the polynomial sequences associated to the so called generalized umbral calculus.
In this paper we find closed form for the generating function of powers of any non-degenerate second-order recurrence sequence, completing a study begun by Carlitz and Riordan in 1962. Moreover, we generalize a theorem of Horadam on partial sums involving such sequences. Also, we find closed forms for weighted (by binomial coefficients) partial sums of powers of any non-degenerate second-order recurrence sequences. As corollaries we give some known and seemingly unknown identities and derive some very interesting congruence relations involving Fibonacci and Lucas sequences.
We exhibit a three parameter infinite family of quadratic recurrence relations inspired by the well known Somos sequences. For one infinite subfamily we prove that the recurrence generates an infinite sequence of integers by showing that the same sequence is generated by a linear recurrence (with suitable initial conditions). We also give conjectured relations among the three parameters so that the quadratic recurrences generate sequences of integers.
We prove that the uniform recurrence of morphic sequences is decidable. For this we show that the number of derived sequences of uniformly recurrent morphic sequences is bounded. As a corollary we obtain that uniformly recurrent morphic sequences are primitive substitutive sequences.
By practicing the philosophy of our beloved late master, Marco Schutzenberger, to whose memory this article is dedicated, we give an insightful bijective proof of the three-term recurrence satisfied by the Hipparchus-Schroeder numbers 1,1,3,11,45,197,903, ...
We prove solution uniqueness for the genus one Canham variational problem arising in the shape prediction of biomembranes. The proof builds on a result of Yu and Chen that reduces the variational problem to proving non-negativity of a sequence defined by a linear recurrence relation with polynomial coefficients. We combine rigorous numeric analytic continuation of D-finite functions with classic bounds from singularity analysis to derive an effective index where the asymptotic behaviour of the sequence, which is positive, dominates the sequence behaviour. Positivity of the finite number of rem…
The Kolakoski sequence $S$ is the unique element of $\left\lbrace 1,2 \right\rbrace^ω$ starting with 1 and coinciding with its own run length encoding. We use the parity of the lengths of particular subclasses of initial words of $S$ as a unifying tool to address the links between the main open questions - recurrence, mirror/reversal invariance and asymptotic density of digits. In particular we prove that recurrence implies reversal invariance, and give sufficient conditions which would imply that the density of 1s is $\frac{1}{2}$.
We show that any graph polynomial from a wide class of graph polynomials yields a recurrence relation on an infinite class of families of graphs. The recurrence relations we obtain have coefficients which themselves satisfy linear recurrence relations. We give explicit applications to the Tutte polynomial and the independence polynomial. Furthermore, we get that for any sequence $a_{n}$ satisfying a linear recurrence with constant coefficients, the sub-sequence corresponding to square indices $a_{n^{2}}$ and related sub-sequences satisfy recurrences with recurrent coefficients.
We explore a family of nested recurrence relations with arbitrary levels of nesting, which have an interpretation in terms of fixed points of morphisms over a countably infinite alphabet. Recurrences in this family are related to a number of well-known sequences, including Hofstadter's G sequence and the Conolly and Tanny sequences. For a recurrence a(n) in this family with only finitely terms, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the limit a(n)/n to exist.
A positive linear recurrence sequence (PLRS) is a sequence defined by a homogeneous linear recurrence relation with positive coefficients and a particular set of initial conditions. A sequence of positive integers is \emph{complete} if every positive integer is a sum of distinct terms of the sequence. One consequence of Zeckendorf's theorem is that the sequence of Fibonacci numbers is complete. Previous work has established a generalized Zeckendorf's theorem for all PLRS's. We consider PLRS's and want to classify them as complete or not. We study how completeness is affected by modifying the r…
We study recurrence, and multiple recurrence, properties along the $k$-th powers of a given set of integers. We show that the property of recurrence for some given values of $k$ does not give any constraint on the recurrence for the other powers. This is motivated by similar results in number theory concerning additive basis of natural numbers. Moreover, motivated by a result of Kamae and Mendès-France, that links single recurrence with uniform distribution properties of sequences, we look for an analogous result dealing with higher order recurrence and make a related conjecture.
The skew of a binary string is the difference between the number of zeroes and the number of ones, while the length of the string is the sum of these two numbers. We consider certain suffixes of the lexicographically-least de Bruijn sequence at natural breakpoints of the binary string. We show that the skew and length of these suffixes are enumerated by sequences generalizing the Fibonacci and Lucas numbers, respectively.
We describe the combinatorics that arise in summing a double recursion formula for the enumeration of connected Feynman graphs in quantum field theory. In one index the problem is more tractable and yields concise formulas which are combinatorially interesting on their own. In the other index, one of these sums is Sloane's sequence A001865.
We show that the Catalan-Schroeder convolution recurrences and their higher order generalizations can be solved using Riordan arrays and the Catalan numbers. We investigate the Hankel transforms of many of the recurrence solutions, and indicate that Somos $4$ sequences often arise. We exhibit relations between recurrences, Riordan arrays, elliptic curves and Somos $4$ sequences. We furthermore indicate how one can associate a family of orthogonal polynomials to a point on an elliptic curve, whose moments are related to recurrence solutions.
We derive the necessary and sufficient condition, for a given Polynomial Recurrence Sequence to converge to a given target rational K. By converge, we mean that the Nth term of the sequence, is equal to K, as N tends to positive infinity. The basic idea of our approach is to construct a univariate polynomial equation in x, whose coefficients correspond to the terms of the Sequence. The approach then obtains the condition by analyzing five cases that cover all possible real values of x. The condition can be evaluated within time that is a polynomial function of the size of the description of th…
We introduce the "moment rank" and "unitary rank" of numerical sequences, close relatives of linear-recursive order. We show that both parameters can be characterized by a broad set of criteria involving moments of measures, types of recurrence relations, Hankel matrix factorizations, Waring rank, analytic properties of generating functions, and algebraic properties of polynomial ideals. In the process, we solve the "complex finite-atomic" and "integral finite-atomic" moment problems: which sequences arise as the moments of a finite-atomic complex-/integer-valued measures on $\mathbb{C}$?
A sequence of positive integers is complete if every positive integer is a sum of distinct terms. A positive linear recurrence sequence (PLRS) is a sequence defined by a homogeneous linear recurrence relation with nonnegative coefficients of the form $H_{n+1} = c_1 H_n + \cdots + c_L H_{n-L+1}$ and a particular set of initial conditions. We seek to classify various PLRS's by completeness. With results on how completeness is affected by modifying the recurrence coefficients of a PLRS, we completely characterize completeness of several families of PLRS's as well as conjecturing criteria for more…
Wall published a paper in 1960 on the Fibonacci sequence where he derived many results concerning the period and prime power divisibility modulo m. His periodicity results have been generalized to second order linear recurrences. Here we study the sequences generated by such recurrences, with starting values of {0,1}: among other things, we derive new prime power divisibility results, derive the period by new methods, establish new identities, show derivations involving powers of matrices generated by these general recurrences, etc.
We give a characterization of common zeros of a sequence of univariate polynomials $W_n(z)$ defined by a recurrence of order two with polynomial coefficients, and with $W_0(z)=1$. Real common zeros for such polynomials with real coefficients are studied further. This paper contributes to the study of root distribution of recursive polynomial sequences.
Let $V(k)$ denote the waiting time, the number of trials needed to get a consecutive $k$ ones. We propose recurrence algorithms for the probability distribution function (pdf) and the probability generating function (pgf) of $V(k)$ in sequences of independent and Markov dependent Bernoulli trials using generalized Fibonacci sequences of order $k$. Maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) methods for the probability distributions are presented in both cases with simulation examples.
We consider a family of nonlinear rational recurrences of odd order which was introduced by Heideman and Hogan. All of these recurrences have the Laurent property, implying that for a particular choice of initial data (all initial values set to 1) they generate an integer sequence. For these particular sequences, Heideman and Hogan gave a direct proof of integrality by showing that the terms of the sequence also satisfy a linear recurrence relation with constant coefficients. Here we present an analogous result for the general solution of each of these recurrences.
The paper contains a combinatorial theorem (the sequence of Newton polygons of a reccurent sequence of polynomials is quasi-linear) and two applications of it in classical and quantum topology, namely in the behavior of the $A$-polynomial and a fixed quantum invariant (such as the Jones polynomial) under filling. Our combinatorial theorem, which complements results of Calegari-Walker \cite{CW} and the author \cite{Ga4}, occupies the bulk of the paper and its proof requires the Lech-Mahler-Skolem theorem of $p$-adic analytic number theory combined with basic principles in polyhedral and tropica…
