Indices and periods of incline matrices (Q1434391)

Power sequences of incline matrices are studied in detail. Inclines are additively idempotent semirings in which products are less than or equal to factors; they generalize Boolean algebras, fuzzy algebras and distributive lattices. Thus the Boolean matrices, the fuzzy matrices and the lattice matrices are prototypical examples of incline matrices (i.e. matrices over an incline L). The least positive integers \(k\) and \(d\) such that \(A^{k}=A^{k+d}\) are called the index and period of the matrix \(A\in L^{n\times n}\) and they are denoted by \(i(A)\) and \(p(A)\). The existence of the indices of the incline matrices is investigated and it is shown that an incline matrix has index if and only if there exist two positive integers \(p\) and \(r\) such that \(p<r\) and \(A^{p}\leq A^{r}\). In this case the estimate \(i(A)\leq p+(n-1)(r-p)\) is provided, as well as the fact that \(p(A)\) divides \(r-p\). Some estimates of the periods of the incline matrices are given. It is proved that if \(A\in L^{n\times n}\) has index, then \(p(A)| [n]\) where \([n]\) denotes the least common multiple of the integers \(1,2,\dots,n\). It is shown that the set of the periods of incline matrices with indices is not bounded, namely for any positive integer \(m\) there exist a positive integer \(n\) and a matrix \(A\in L^{n\times n}\) such that \(A\) has index and \(p(A)\geq n^{m}\). An algorithm is proposed for the determination of the index and of the period of incline matrices with index. An equivalent condition and some sufficient conditions for the convergence in finite steps of incline matrices are obtained. This convergence is connected with the stability of the orbits of incline matrices and a theorem of \textit{D. Nauck} and \textit{R. Kruse} [A neuro-fuzzy method to learn fuzzy classification rules from data. Fuzzy Sets and Systems 89, No. 3, 277--288 (1997)] is corrected. The results of the present paper generalize and develop some previous results concerning Boolean, fuzzy and lattice matrices.