Closed-form solution of a general three-term recurrence relation

Abstract

We present a closed-form solution for n-th term of a general three-term recurrence relation with arbitrary given n-dependent coefficients. The derivation and corresponding proof are based on two approaches, which we develop and describe in detail. First, the recursive-sum theory, which gives the exact solution in a compact finite form using a recursive indexing. Second, the discrete dimensional-convolution procedure, which transforms the solution to the non-recursive expression of n, including a finite number of elementary operations and functions.