A classification of the solutions of a difference equation according to their behavior at infinity (Q1114870)

The authors study the space of solutions of the difference equation \[ p_ n(t)\Delta \{...\Delta [p_ 1(t)\Delta (p_ 0(t)y(t))]...\}+p(t)y(t)=0. \] Most of the results are motivated by the papers of \textit{U. Elias} [Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh Sect. A 83, 25-38 (1979; Zbl 0407.34042) and ibid. 100, 53-66 (1985; Zbl 0613.34042)] for similar differential equations. By analyzing some intrinsic properties of the nontrivial solutions of the equation involving some behavior of them at infinity, the authors obtain a decomposition of the solution space into \(n+1\) nonempty disjoint sets, each of which is determined by the number of sign changes in the sequence involving solutions. Several examples are presented to illustrate the results.