Chapter IV - Classical Solution of Linear Difference Equations with Constant Coefficients

Abstract

This chapter presents the classical methods for solving linear difference equations with constant coefficients. It also presents procedures for solving homogeneous equations and particular equations. The first step in the solution procedure is to determine the homogeneous solution. An nth order linear difference equation should contain exactly n terms in its homogeneous solution. For complex pairs of roots, it is convenient to convert the pair to a cosine and a sine term thus eliminating the imaginary aspects of the roots. Roots of multiplicity p contribute exactly p terms that are mutually distinguishable because of their multiplication by successive powers of i from 0 to p — 1.