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Quadruples in the four-number game with large termination times |
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| Authors: | Wen-Chyuan Yueh Sui Sun Cheng |
| Institution: | Department of Computing and Mathematical Sciences , Oxford Polytechnic , Oxford, England |
| Abstract: | The discrete dynamical system of absolute differences defined by the map Ψ(x 1, x 2, x 3, x 4) = (| x 2 - x 1 |, | x 1 - x 1|, |x 1 - x 1 |, |x 1 - x 4 |) has been studied by many authors and one of the interesting questions is how to locate quadruples which converge to the fixed point (0, 0, 0, 0) in large numbers of steps. An elementary method is offered for obtaining such quadruples. The method is also able to find quadruples that will not converge to (0, 0, 0, 0). |
| Keywords: | image of mathematics post-primary students second-level mathematics education factors of influence questionnaire theoretical model |