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RSolve[eqn,a[n],n]
solves a recurrence equation for a[n].
RSolve[{eqn1,eqn2,…},{a1[n],a2[n],…},n]
solves a system of recurrence equations.
RSolve[eqn,a[n1,n2,…],{n1,n2,…}]
solves a partial recurrence equation.
Details and OptionsGet a "pure function" solution for a:
Substitute the solution into an expression:
Scope (40) Basic Uses (7)Compute the general solution of a first-order difference equation:
Obtain a particular solution by adding an initial condition:
Plot the solution of a first-order difference equation:
Verify the solution of a difference equation by using a in the second argument:
Obtain the general solution of a higher-order difference equation:
Solve a system of difference equations:
Solve a partial difference equation:
Use different names for the arbitrary constants in the general solution:
Linear Difference Equations (7)First-order equation with variable coefficients:
A third-order constant coefficient equation:
Second-order inhomogeneous equation:
Second-order variable coefficient equation in terms of elementary functions:
In general, special functions are required to express solutions:
Higher-order inhomogeneous equation with constant coefficients:
Nonlinear Difference Equations (5)Solutions in terms of trigonometric and hyperbolic functions:
Nonlinear convolution equation:
Systems of Difference Equations (8)Linear system with constant coefficients:
Variable coefficient linear system with a polynomial solution:
Linear constant coefficient difference-algebraic system:
Solve a linear system using vector variables:
Alternatively, define as a VectorSymbol:
Solve a linear system using matrix variables:
Alternatively, define as a MatrixSymbol:
Solve an inhomogeneous linear system of ODEs with constant coefficients:
Partial Difference Equations (3)First-order linear partial difference equation with constant coefficients:
Substitute the function Sin[2k] for the free function C[1]:
Constant coefficient linear equation of orders 2, 3, and 4:
Variable coefficient linear equation:
Q–Difference Equations (6)First-order constant coefficient -difference equation:
Equivalent way of expressing the same equation:
Linear varying coefficient equations:
A linear constant coefficient system of -difference equations:
Functional Difference Equations (4)Find the general solution for an arithmetic difference equation:
Solve an initial value problem for an arithmetic-geometric difference equation:
Solve a linear fractional difference equation:
Make a table of values for the solution:
Solve a geometric power difference equation:
Generalizations & Extensions (1)No boundary condition, gives two generated parameters:
Options (1) GeneratedParameters (1)Use differently named constants:
Applications (11)This models the amount a[n] at year n when the interest r is paid on the principal p only:
Here the interest is paid on the current amount a[n], i.e. compound interest:
Here a[n] denotes the number of moves required in the Tower of Hanoi problem with n disks:
Here a[n] is the number of ways to tile an n×3 space with 2×1 tiles:
The number of comparisons for a binary search problem:
Number of arithmetic operations in the fast Fourier transform:
The integral satisfies the difference equation:
The integral satisfies the difference equation:
The difference equation for the series coefficients of :
The determinant of an n×n tridiagonal matrix with diagonals satisfies:
This models the surface area s[n] in dimension n of a unit sphere:
The volume of the unit ball in dimension n:
Applying Newton's method to , or computing :
Applying the Euler forward method to yields:
Solve the difference equation that describes the complexity of Karatsuba multiplication:
Compare with the complexity of schoolbook multiplication:
Properties & Relations (9)Solutions satisfy their difference and boundary equations:
Difference equation corresponding to Sum:
Difference equation corresponding to Product:
RSolve returns a rule for the solution:
RSolveValue returns an expression for the solution:
RSolve finds a symbolic solution for a difference equation:
RecurrenceTable generates a procedural solution for the same problem:
FindLinearRecurrence finds the minimal linear recurrence for a list:
RSolve finds the sequence satisfying the recurrence:
Use RecurrenceFilter to filter a signal:
Solve the corresponding difference equation using RSolve:
Forecast the next value for a time series based on ARProcess:
Obtain the same result using RSolve:
Use RFixedPoints to find the fixed points for a system of two recurrence equations:
Use RStabilityConditions to analyze the stability of the fixed point:
Solve the system using a fixed point as the initial condition:
Solve the system for given initial conditions:
Possible Issues (5)Results may contain symbolic sums and products:
Capital and capital cannot be used as independent variables:
Replacing them by lowercase or lowercase fixes the issue:
The solution to this difference equation is unique as a sequence:
As a function it is only unique up to a function of period 1:
Boundary value problems may have multiple solutions:
Verify the solution when the equation involves subscripted variables:
Neat Examples (1)Compute the n iterate or composition of a function:
Wolfram Research (2003), RSolve, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/RSolve.html (updated 2025). TextWolfram Research (2003), RSolve, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/RSolve.html (updated 2025).
CMSWolfram Language. 2003. "RSolve." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2025. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/RSolve.html.
APAWolfram Language. (2003). RSolve. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/RSolve.html
BibTeX@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_rsolve, author="Wolfram Research", title="{RSolve}", year="2025", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/RSolve.html}", note=[Accessed: 12-July-2025 ]}
BibLaTeX@online{reference.wolfram_2025_rsolve, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={RSolve}, year={2025}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/RSolve.html}, note=[Accessed: 12-July-2025 ]}
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