ON A SYSTEM OF SEQUENCES DEFINED BY

A RECURRENCE RELATION

Shiro Ando
College of Engineering, Hosei University, Koganei-shi, Tokyo 184, Japan
(Submitted November 1993)

1. INTRODUCTION
Sequences defined by recurrence relations have been studied in many papers. Some of these
studies treated the system of sequences defined by a recurrence relation. For instance, Lucas [6]
studied the second-order case; Shannon and Horadam [8] dealt with the third-order recurrence
relations.
The purpose of this note is to summarize some properties of the system of m sequences
{%,«} (where k = 1,2,..., m) defined by the recurrence relation
U
k,n ~ P\Uk,n-l +
PlUk,n-2 + ' *' + PmUk,n-n (1)

with initial conditions

u
Kn = Sk,n+\ (where k = 1,2,...,m; n = 0,1,..., m-1), (2)

where the right-hand side stands for Kronecker's delta.

We will first write down the fundamental relations, and then consider the calculation of uk n.
Finally, we will deal with some applications.

2. FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONS
A few leading terms for each of these sequences can be found in the following table:

n 0 1 2 • 777-1 777 777 + 1 777 + 2

k
1 1 0 0 • 0 Pm ~PA Pm{Py+Pi)
2 0 1 0 • 0 Ki-i Pm +
*\Pm-l Pm-x{Pi+P2) + P,Pm

m-\ 0 •• 0 1 0 Pt Pi+PA P2(P?+P2) + PA + P4

m 0 •• 0 0 1 pt p1+p? P 1 (if+P 2 ) + iJP2+P3

Now, the fundamental relations

U
l,n+1 =
PmUm,n> Uk,n+l ~ Uk-l,n +
Pfn-k-lUm,n (^0T k = 2,...,m) (3)

can be established easily by induction.

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Using the matrices

U
\,n (0 0 0 pm
U
2,n 1 0 ... 0 Ki-i
Un and T
U
m-\,n 0 ... 1 0 p7,
0 1
\ U
m,n J
1° Pi

these relations can be written as

U„+l = TU„ (4)
which gives us
Un-1 U0, T -(Un,Un+l,Un+2,...,Un+m_l). (5)
The generating functions
Gk(x) = uK0+uKlx + uK2x2 + '-+uKnxn + '" (where£ = l,2,...,/w)
for these sequences are given by
Gk(x) = xk-lHk(x)/H0(x), (6)

where Hk(x) = l-P^-P^2 Pm.kxm~k for k = 0,1,...,m-1 and Hm(x) = 1.

3. CALCULATION OF TERMS
From the generating function (6), we can easily determine the formula for umn, which is
n
_ D U ... D

s=l rl+r2 + ---+rs=n

!<>-<m(/=l, 2,...,.?)

where the summation runs over all the decompositions of n into the integers not exceeding rn.
Following the method of Shannon and Horadam [7], it is easy to see that
[tjm] [f3/3] [t
[t22/2]
/2] / , , , . . , , x,
u
m,m+n-l~
Z-I I
Za La La t \i \ v I 1 2 r
m ?

w-*»
/m =o , 3 =o / 2 =o

where tm =n, and tk=tk+l-(k + l)ik+l for k = m-l,...,2,1.

If the coefficients Pl,P2,...,Pm are given numerically, we have an 0(m2 log n) algorithm for
computing Un by using (4) and (5). To see this, examine Er [2] or Gries and Levin [4].
In the case of Pm ^ 0, we can also define ukn and Un for negative values of n by using the
recurrence relation (1) in the opposite direction. Formulas (4) and (5) are also valid for negative
n and, in fact,
r
Qm i o ... 0}
rl = Qn-x
Q
o i ... o
0 0 2 1
K& ° ° - °
280 [JUNE-JULY
 ON A SYSTEM OF SEQUENCES DEFINED BY A RECURRENCE RELATION

where Qx = Pm l and Qk = -Pk^Pm l for it = 2,3,..., m. Thus, we have a similar algorithm for com-
puting Un when n is negative.
Following the ideas of Barakat [1] who used 2 x 2 matrices, we obtain similar formulas for
the mxm matrices.

Theorem 1: Let X be an m x m matrix that has the characteristic equation

r-p1r-l---pm_lx-pm = o. (?)
Then we have
X^u^X^+u^X-^-. + u^X + u^E, (8)
where the coefficients are defined by (1) and (2).If X is regular, then Pm & 0, so that (8) is valid
even for negative values of n.
Proof: For n = 0,1,..., m -1, (8) is valid by (2). On the other hand, we have
Xm = PlXm-1 + P2Xm-2 + -- + Pm_lX + PmE (9)
by (7). Using this equality, we complete the proof for positive n by induction. To prove (8) for
negative n, we use (1) and (9) in the opposite direction.
Next, we consider the evaluation of some series related to the sequences {uk „}.

Theorem 2: Let
f(x) = c0+clx + c2x2 + -- (10)
be a function defined by the power series in x that has the radius of convergence R with
R>max\Ai\, (11)
\<i<m

where Ar, /l 2 ,..., Aw are the roots of the characteristic equation

<p(A) = T-P1T-1 Pm_lA-Pm = 0
of the difference equations given in (1). For the sequences {ukn} defined by (1) and (2), we
consider the series
A = f > A , „ (* = l,...,w). (12)
n=Q

If all the Xt 's are distinct, fk has the representation

m p •
A = H r * Z / ( ^ ) 7 5 j T (* = l>2,...,m), (13)
where p0i'= 1, &ndph , stands for the elementary symmetric polynomial of degree h in A^ >^2, ...,
Ai_hAi+h...,Am,fovi<h<m-l.
Proof: Using (8) for X = T as defined in (4), we have
oo m m

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If we compare this formula with Sylvester's formula (see Frazer et al. [3])

f(T) = f f(A \ (T-*& • • • (J-X^EXT- XME) - (T- XmE)

JK }
tiJKi) (A/-A1)-a-A/_1)(2,.-^.+1)-(/l,.-AJ '

we have (13), since the minimal polynomial of T is of degree m in this case.

Applying this formula for m = 2 and m = 3 to the functions ex, sin x, cosx, sinh x, and so on,
we obtain many of the formulas shown in [1], [7], [8], and [9].
If Aj = Xu the formula for fk corresponding to (13) will be given by taking the limit as /In-
tends to Xi in (13).
For the sequence {un} satisfying the same recurrence as (1) with initial conditions un - an for
k = 0,l,...,m-l, we have
oo m

«=0 k=\

which can also be calculated directly from the general solution.

J. Z. and J. S. Lee [5] applied this latter method to a function f(x) that had a geometric pro-
gression for its coefficients in order to characterize some 5-power fractions.

REFERENCES
1. R. Barakat. "The Matrix Operator ex and the Lucas Polynomials." J Math, and Phys. 43
(1964):332-35.
2. M. C. Er. "The Matrices of Fibonacci Numbers." 77?<? Fibonacci Quarterly 22.2 (1984):
134-39.
3. R. A. Frazer, W. J. Duncan, & A. R. Collar. Elementary Matrices. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1938.
4. D. Gries & G. Levin. "Computing Fibonacci Numbers (and Similarly Defined Functions) in
Log Time." Information Processing Letters 11 (1980):68-69.
5. J. Z. Lee & J. S. Lee. "A Complete Characterization of 5-Power Series of General n-bonacci
Numbers." The Fibonacci Quarterly 25.1 (1987):72-75.
6. E. Lucas. Theorie des nombres. Paris: Albert Blanchard, 1958.
7. S. Pethe. "On Sequences Having Third-Order Recurrence Relations." In Fibonacci Num-
bers and Their Applications, pp. 185-92. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1986.
8. A. G Shannon & A. F. Horadam. "Some Properties of Third-Order Recurrence Relations."
The Fibonacci Quarterly 10.2 (1972): 135-45.
9. J. E. Walton. "Lucas Polynomials and Certain Circular Functions of Matrices." The Fibo-
nacci Quarterly 14.1 (1976):83-87.
AMS Classification Number: 11B37

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