No label defined (Q4946869)

This note is an interesting generalization of series and continued fractions. If \(a_n>0\), \(n\in\mathbb{N}\), and \(f:\mathbb{R}_+\to\mathbb{R}_+\) is a continuous bijection, then \[ f\langle a_n\rangle= f\bigl(a_1+ f(a_2+\dots) \bigr) \tag{1} \] is called a continued operation. If \(f(x)=x\), \(x\geq 0\), we obtain the series with positive terms \[ \langle a_n\rangle^{+1}= a_1+a_2 +\cdots; \] if \(f(x)= x^{-1}\), \(x>0\), we obtain the continued fractions \[ \langle a_n\rangle^{-1}= {1\over a_0+ {1\over a_1+ \cdots}}; \] if \(f(x)=\sqrt x\), \(x\geq 0\), we obtain the continuous square roots \[ \sqrt{a_1+\sqrt{a_2+\cdots}}. \] If we denote \[ P_n=f \Bigl(a_0+ f\biggl(a_1+f \bigl(a_2+ \cdots+ f(a_n)\bigr) \biggr)\Bigr), \quad n\in \mathbb{N}, \tag{2} \] and call it a partial operation of order \(n\), then the convergence of the sequence (2) is equivalent with the condition that (2) is bounded if \(f\) is strictly increasing, respectively to the condition \(\lim_n(P_{n+1}-P_n)=0\) if \(f\) is strictly decreasing. The method of the authors is to transform the continued operation (1) into a difference equation \[ x_k=f(a_k+x_{k+1}) \Leftrightarrow x_{k+1}= f^{-1}(x_k) -a_k,\quad k\in \mathbb{N} \] where \[ x_k=f \biggl(a_k+ f\bigl(a_{k+1}+ f(a_{k+2}+ \dots)\bigr) \biggr) >0, \quad k\in\mathbb{N}. \tag{3} \] Then (1) does exist if and only if (2) converges in \(\mathbb{R}\) or if and only if (3) converges in \(\mathbb{R}\). If (1) converges, the authors obtain an explicit representation of the corresponding solution of \(y_{k+1}= f^{-1}(y_k)- a_k\), \(k\in\mathbb{N}\), namely, \(x_k=f\langle a_{k+1} \rangle\), \(k\in\mathbb{N}\). The difference equation considered can be seen as describing the law of growth of some quantity, say a population, where the sequence \((a_n)_n\) describes the external influences. Positivity of a solution means that the population will never die out.