Kettenwurzeln und Kettenoperationen. (Continued roots and continued operations) (Q2640071)

Infinite series have been considered, studied and used for a few centuries, and continued fractions for at least 150 years. Continued roots have occurred in special cases here and there, and were apparently first examined systematically by \textit{W. S. Sizer} in 1986 (square roots only) [cf. Math. Mag. 59, 23-27 (1986; Zbl 0608.40002)]. All of these are special cases of sequences generated by iterations of the type \(P_ 1=f(p_ 1)\), \(P_ 2=f(p_ 1+f(p_ 2))\), \(P_ 3=f(p_ 1+f(p_ 2+f(p_ 3))),...\), where f is a function and \(\{p_ n\}\) is a sequence, and until the present paper it seems that no such generalization has been considered. The author assumes \(p_ n>0\) and \(f(x)>0\) for \(x>0\). A shorter proof of Sizer's convergence criterion for continued square roots is given, more general continued roots are examined and a simple necessary and sufficient condition for convergence is derived. For decreasing f, particularly for \(f(x)=x^{-\alpha}\) \((\alpha >0)\), slightly less satisfactory results are obtained. Special attention is given to constant sequences, \(p_ n=p\) for all n, and a class of divergent examples is given. Some connections to dynamical systems are noted.