Powers of tridiagonal matrices with constant diagonals (Q2378714)

The entries of positive integer powers \(q\) of an \(n \times n\) complex tridiagonal Toeplitz (constant diagonals) matrix \(A_n = \text{tridiag}_n(a_1,a_0,a_{-1})\), where \(a_1 a_{-1} \neq 0\), are studied. An eigenvalue decomposition of the matrix \(A_n\) is presented and then a general expression for the powers of the entries \(A^q_n\) for all \(q,n \in {\mathbb N}\) in terms of the Chebyshev polynomials of the second kind is derived. From these new results the expression given by \textit{J. Rimas} [Appl. Math. Comput. 186, No.~1, 872--878 (2007; Zbl 1113.65307)] for the powers of entries of the real skew-symmetric tridiagonal matrix \(\text{tridiag}_n(-1,0,1)\) with \(n \in {\mathbb N}\) can be deduced. Finally, a numerical example is given.