Solutions of the difference equation \(x_{n+1}=x_nx_{n - 1} - 1\) (Q1957583)

Summary: Our goal in this paper is to investigate the long-term behavior of solutions of the following difference equation: \(x_{n+1}=x_{n}x_{n - 1} - 1, n=0,1,2,\dots ,\) where the initial conditions \(x_{ - 1}\) and \(x_{0}\) are real numbers. We examine the boundedness of solutions, periodicity of solutions, and existence of unbounded solutions and how these behaviors depend on initial conditions.