Determine all sequences of prime numbers for which there exists an integer such that the recurrence relation
holds for all positive integers .
Solution
The sequence can be any constant sequence where is a prime.
The recurrence relation can be rewritten as
Since the characteristic equation has roots , we have
for some constants .
Furthermore, as there are at most possibilities for the remainders of the pair modulo , and the remainders of the subsequent terms are uniquely determined by these, the sequence must be periodic modulo . Thus, there are infinitely many terms which are congruent to modulo . Since they are primes, they must be .
If , the term dominates the expression for , and so the sequence is eventually strictly increasing (if ) or decreasing (if ). This contradicts our observation. Thus, we must have . Similarly, if , the term now dominates the expression for , which again implies for all sufficiently large . Thus, we must have . It follows that is a constant.
Conversely, if the sequence is , where is a prime, we can take so that the recurrence relation holds.