Unbounded solutions of the difference equation \(x_{n} = x_{n-l}x_{n-k} - 1\) (Q642715)

Summary: The following difference equation \(x_n = x_{n-l}x_{n-k} - 1, n \in \mathbb N_0\), where \(k, l \in \mathbb N, k < l, \text{gcd}(k, l) = 1\), and the initial values \(x_{-l}, \dots, x_{-2}, x_{-1}\) are real numbers, has been investigated so far only for some particular values of \(k\) and \(l\). To get any general result on the equation is turned out as a not so easy problem. In this paper, we give the first result on the behaviour of solutions of the difference equation of general character, by describing the long-term behavior of the solutions of the equation for all values of parameters \(k\) and \(l\), where the initial values satisfy the following condition \(\text{min}\{x_{-l}, \dots, x_{-2}, x_{-1}\}>\frac{1+\sqrt5}{2}\).