English

In search of Robbins stability

Number Theory 2007-05-23 v2 Combinatorics

Abstract

We speculate on whether a certain p-adic stability phenomenon, observed by David Robbins empirically for Dodgson condensation, appears in other nonlinear recurrence relations that "unexpectedly" produce integer or nearly-integer sequences. We exhibit an example (number friezes) where this phenomenon provably occurs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0409535,
  title  = {In search of Robbins stability},
  author = {Kiran S. Kedlaya and James G. Propp},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0409535},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

10 pages; to appear in the David Robbins memorial issue of Advances in Applied Mathematics

R2 v1 2026-07-22T17:10:20.820Z