A nice functional equation

Algebra Level 3

A function is defined for all values of x {x} such that: f {f} ( x {x} ) = f {f} ( x + 1 {x+1} ) + f {f} ( x 1 {x-1} ) and the first two values, f {f} ( 1 {1} ) and f {f} ( 2 {2} ) are arbitrarily chosen (they can take any value). What is the sum of all the possible fundamental periods of the function? [i.e. 1,2,3,1,2,3.... has a cycle of 3) ? (For example, if the function can have cycles of period 1,2 and 3, then the sum would be 6)


The answer is 7.

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1 solution

Bill Bell
Oct 14, 2015

Calculate the first 12 terms of the series generated by the recurrence, for arbitrary initial values of f ( 1 ) f \left( 1 \right) and f ( 2 ) f \left( 2 \right) , called a a and b b respectively. I used the Python sympy symbolic algebra library.

If the initial two terms are zero then all terms are zero. Otherwise, the cycle is of length six.

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