H2 Mathematics Recurrence Relations

Just what is so important about recurrence relations? In honesty my lecture notes doesn’t place much emphasis on this topic. The questions and examples provided seemed rather manageable, however whenever I encounter actual recurrence relation problems, they are always being posed in vastly different styles.

What exactly do I need to know about recurrence relations?

The SEAB syllabus simple states: sequence generated by a simple recurrence relation of the form X(n+1)=f(Xn), which in itself is rather vague.

Student X

You are not alone in feeling that recurrence has been simply swept under the carpet. There are essentially two kinds of recurrence relation(s) problems.

1. You shall be exploring the possible convergence of a particular series, and must therefore also appreciate (typically) the underlying fundamental inequalities linking any term and the one adjacent to it.

See my main site: http://www.whitegroupmaths.com/2010/02/recurrent-series.html (Q1, 2, 3 and 5)

2. You will be required to perform a back to front reduction process to discover the nth term of a series given the mathematical relationship between two generic terms and the value of the very first term.

(See the same page: Q7, 10)

Hope this helps. Peace.

Best Regards,

Mr Koh