Existence of positive solutions and \(1/c\)-global attractivity of a nonlinear delay difference equation with variable coefficients (Q5952867)

The authors consider the delay difference equation \[ x_{n+1}-x_{n}= r_{n}x_{n}\frac{1-x_{n-l_{n}}}{1-cx_{n-l_{n}}}, \quad n\geq 0, \tag \(*\) \] where \(r_{n}\geq 0\), \(l_{n}>0\), \(\{n-l_{n}\}_{n\geq 0}\), is nondecreasing, \(n-l_{n}\to\infty\) as \(n\to\infty\), \(c\in[0,1)\). Let \(\delta_{0}\) be a unique positive solution of the equation \(1+x=(c+x)e^{x}\) and \(l=\min_{n\geq 0}(n-l_{n})>0\). The main results of the paper present the following conditions on existence of positive solutions and attractivity. If \(\sum_{i=n-l}^{n}r_{i}\leq\delta_{0}\) for \(n\geq l\), \(x_{-l},\ldots,x_{-1}\in(0,e^{\delta_{0}})\) and \(x_{0}\in(0,1)\), then every solution of equation (\(*\)) satisfies \(0<x_{n}<e^{\delta_{0}}\) for \(n\geq 0\). If \(\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}r_{i}=\infty\) and \(\limsup_{n\to\infty}\sum_{i=n-l_{n}}^{n}r_{i}\leq 1-c\), then the equilibrium point \(x_{n}=1\) of (\(*\)) is \(1/c\)-global attractive, i.e., \(\lim_{n\to\infty}x_{n}=1\) for \(0<x_{n}<1/c\).