In 1964, A.N. Sharkovskii published an article in which he introduced a special ordering on the set of positive integers. This ordering has the property that if p ◃ q and a mapping of a closed bounded interval into itself has a point of period p, then it has a point of period q. The least number with respect to this ordering is 3. Thus, if a mapping has a point of period 3, then it has points of any periods. In 1975, the latter result was rediscovered by Li and Yorke, who published the paper “Period Three Implies Chaos.” In the present paper, an exact lower bound for the number of trajectories of a given period for a mapping of a closed bounded interval into itself having a point of period 3 is given. The key point of the reasoning consisted in solution of a combinatorial problem the answer to which is expressed in terms of Lucas numbers. As a consequence, an explicit formula for the number of necklaces of a special type is obtained. We also consider a piecewise linear unimodular mapping of [0, 1] into itself for which it is possible to find points of an arbitrary given period.

Translated title of the contributionОценка числа периодических траекторий данного периода отображений отрезка, числа Люка и ожерелья
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)367-372
Number of pages6
JournalVestnik St. Petersburg University: Mathematics
Volume51
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Oct 2018

    Research areas

  • Lucas numbers, mappings of an interval, number of necklaces, periodical trajectory, Sharkovskii’s ordering

    Scopus subject areas

  • Mathematics(all)

ID: 47784987