Sharp conditions for the oscillation of delay difference equations

Abstract

Suppose that {pn} is a nonnegative sequence of real numbers and let k be a positive integer. We prove that limn→∞inf [1k∑i=n−kn−1pi]>kk(k+1)k+1 is a sufficient condition for the oscillation of all solutions of the delay difference equation An+1−An+pnAn−k=0,   n=0,1,2,…. This result is sharp in that the lower bound kk/(k+1)k+1 in the condition cannot be improved. Some results on difference inequalities and the existence of positive solutions are also presented.