Sharkovskiĭ's theorem holds for some discontinuous functions (Q4811296)

Let \(\triangleright\) denote the Sharkovskij's ordering on the set of natural numbers: \(3\triangleright 5\triangleright 7\triangleright \ldots \triangleright 2\cdot 3\triangleright 2\cdot 5\triangleright 2\cdot 7\triangleright\ldots \triangleright 2^2\cdot 3\triangleright 2^2\cdot 5\triangleright 2^2\cdot 7\triangleright\ldots\triangleright 2^4\triangleright 2^3\triangleright 2^2\triangleright 2\triangleright 1\). The famous theorem of Sharkovskij says that for every continuous map \(f\colon {\mathbb R}\to {\mathbb R}\), if \(f\) has a point of prime period \(P\) and \(P\triangleright Q\), then \(f\) has also a point of prime period \(Q\). The nice proof of this theorem given by Block, Guckenheimer, Misiurewicz and Young can be found in [\textit{R. L.~Devaney}, ``An introduction to chaotic dynamical systems'' (1986; Zbl 0632.58005)]. In the paper under review the author modifies those proof and shows that the same result holds for all functions \(f: {\mathbb R}\to {\mathbb R}\) with connected \(G_{\delta}\) graph. It is well known that each Darboux Baire 1 function (in particular, each derivative) has connected \(G_{\delta}\) graph, so Sharkovskij's ordering is valid for all \(DB_1\) functions. This solves the problem posed by \textit{K. R. Kellum} [Real Anal. Exch. 14, No. 2, 420--422 (1989; Zbl 0683.26004)]. The presented result seems to be close to optimal because there are known examples of Darboux functions with \(G_{\delta}\) graph for which the Sharkovskij's ordering is not valid. Another interesting and very usefull result of the paper is the extension of the itinerary lemma on the class of all connectivity \(G_{\delta}\) functions.