I have the following non-homogenous recurrence relation and I'm trying to solve it using characteristics roots method :
$a_n = 10a_{n-1} -37a_{n-2} + 60a_{n-3} -36a_{n-4} +4$ for $n \ge4$ and $ a_3 = a_2 = a_1 = a_0 = 1$
I found the particular solution p =1 and I'm trying to solve the homogenous equation when $a_n = r^n$ but it will be an equation of the fourth order !!My question is whether this is the right path or there's any shortcut to solve this problem?
We have $$(a_n+1)-10(a_{n-1}+1)+37(a_{n-2}+1)-60(a_{n-3}+1)+36(a_{n-4}+1)=0$$
Set $a_n+1=b_n$ and use this
Use generating functions. Define $A(z) = \sum_{n \ge 0} a_n z^n$, write the recurrence without subtractions in indices: $$ a_{n + 4} = 10 a_{n + 3} - 37 a_{n + 2} + 60 a_{n + 1} - 36 a_n + 4 $$ Multiply by $z^n$, sum over $n \ge 0$ and recognize sums like: $$ \sum_{n \ge 0} a_{n + k} z^n = \frac{A(z) - a_0 - a_1 z - \ldots - a_{k - 1} z^{k - 1}}{z^k} $$ to get: $$ \frac{A(z) - 1 - z - z^2 - z^3}{z^4} = 10 \frac{A(z) - 1 - z - z^2}{z^3} - 37 \frac{A(z) - 1 - z}{z^2} + 60 \frac{A(z) - 1}{z} - 36 A(z) + 4 \frac{1}{1 - z} $$ Surprisingly it turns out that: $$ A(z) = \frac{1}{1 - z} $$ so that $$ a_n = 1 $$
maxima did the heavy lifting.
