Arithmetic functions over rings with zero divisors.
The classical system of functional equations (n ∈ ℕ) with s ∈ ℂ, investigated for instance by Artin (1931), Yoder (1975), Kubert (1979), and Milnor (1983), is extended to (n ∈ ℕ) with complex valued sequences . This leads to new results on the periodic integrable and the aperiodic continuous solutions F:ℝ₊ → ℂ interrelating the theory of functional equations and the theory of arithmetic functions.
For each natural number we determine the average order of the elements in a cyclic group of order . We show that more than half of the contribution to comes from the primitive elements of order . It is therefore of interest to study also the function . We determine the mean behavior of , , , and also consider these functions in the multiplicative groups of finite fields.
The authors examine the frequency distribution of second-order recurrence sequences that are not -regular, for an odd prime , and apply their results to compute bounds for the frequencies of -singular elements of -regular second-order recurrences modulo powers of the prime . The authors’ results have application to the -stability of second-order recurrence sequences.