Periodic orbits from nonperiodic orbits on an interval (Q1375843)

It is known [\textit{L. S. Block} and \textit{W. A. Coppel}, Dynamics in one dimension. Lect. Notes Math. 1513. Berlin etc.: Springer-Verlag (1992; Zbl 0746.58007)] that for a continuous function on an interval, the existence of a dense orbit implies the existence of infinitely many periodic orbits with prime periods forming an unbounded set. It is shown that the same conclusion follows from the weaker hypotheses that there is an orbit with infinitely many limit points. Theorem: Let \(f:I\to I\) be a continuous function, where \(I\) is an interval (possibly infinite) of the real line. Assume that there is a point \(x_0\in I\) so that the orbit \(\{ f^n(x_0)\}_{n=1}^{\infty}\) has infinitely many limit points in \(I\). Then \(f\) has periodic orbits of arbitrarily high prime periods. An example of a function with an orbit is given whose limit points are exactly \(\mathbb{Z}^{+}\).