Sparse matrices describing iterations of integer-valued functions

Abstract: We consider iterations of integer-valued functions

p h i

, which have no fixed points in the domain of positive integers. We define a local function

p h i_{n}

, which is a sub-function of

p h i

being restricted to the subdomain

0, ..., n

. The iterations of

p h i_{n}

can be described by a certain

n i m e s n

sparse matrix

M_{n}

and its powers. The determinant of the related

n i m e s n

matrix

h a t M_{n} = I - M_{n}

, where

I

is the identity matrix, acts as an indicator, whether the iterations of the local function

p h i_{n}

enter a cycle or not. If

p h i_{n}

has no cycle, then

d e t h a t M_{n} = 1

and the structure of the inverse

h a t M_{n}^{- 1}

can be characterized. Subsequently, we give applications to compute the inverse

h a t M_{n}^{- 1}

for some special functions. At the end, we discuss the results in connection with the

3 x + 1

and related problems.

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