[Math] Finding a sequence satisfying this recurrence relation

recurrence-relationssequences-and-series

I just don't even know where to start with this,

Find a sequence $(x_n)$ satisfying the recurrence relation:

$2x_n$$_+$$_2$ = $3x_n$$_+$$_1$ + $8x_n$ + $3x_n$$_-$$_1$ Where n is a natural number and

$x_0$ = -1,
$x_1$ = 3 and
$x_2$ = 3

Thanks in advance!

Best Answer

Let $2x_{n+2} = 3 \, x_{n+1} + 8 \, x_{n} + 3 \, x_{n-1}$, with $x_{0} = -1, x_{1} = 3$ and $x_{2} = 3$ for which letting $x_{n} = p^{n}$ the equation $$2 \, p^{3} - 3 \, p^{2} - 8 \, p - 3 = 0$$ is obtained. This equation can be factored to $(p-3)(p+1)(2p+1) = 0$ and leads to the roots $p \in \{ 3, -1, -1/2 \}$. From this the general form of $x_{n}$ is $$x_{n} = a_{0} \, 3^{n} + a_{1} \, (-1)^{n} + a_{2} \, \left( - \frac{1}{2} \right)^{n}.$$ Applying the initial conditions yields: \begin{align} -1 &= a_{0} + a_{1} + a_{2} \\ 3 &= 3 \, a_{0} - a_{1} - \frac{a_{2}}{2} \\ 3 &= 9 \, a_{0} + a_{1} + \frac{a_{2}}{4} \end{align} which leads to $a_{0} = \frac{1}{2}$, $a_{1} = - \frac{3}{2}$, $a_{2} = 0$. The resulting sequence is generated by \begin{align} x_{n} = \frac{3}{2} \, \left( 3^{n-1} + (-1)^{n-1} \right) \end{align}

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