Exercise · ZW-HOMOGENEOUS-LINEAR-RECURRENCE-003 · ★☆☆ Basic

What are the roots of the characteristic equation of \(a_n=5a_{n-1}-6a_{n-2}\)?

Choose one option.

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  • B. 2 and 3

Explanation

The equation is \(r^2-5r+6=0\), which factors as \((r-2)(r-3)=0\).

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Review the concept: Homogeneous linear recurrence

A homogeneous linear recurrence of order \(k\) expresses each term \(a_n\) as a combination of the previous \(k\) terms with constant coefficients \(c_1,\dots,c_k\), with no independent term.

\[a_n=c_1a_{n-1}+c_2a_{n-2}+\cdots+c_ka_{n-k},\quad c_k\neq0\]

More practice problems: homogeneous linear recurrence

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