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Comments on Classification for involutory real infinite series

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Classification for involutory real infinite series

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Out of curiosity I'm playing around with the concept of involutory functions. An involutory function (involution) is a function whose composition with itself is the identity function (i.e. ${f \circ f} = id$). In other words, involutions are functions that are their own inverses (i.e. $f = f^{-1}$).

Applying this concept to univariate real polynomials; it seems that all involutory polynomials have degree one(!) and belong to one of these two families:

  1. $id$: $id(x) = x$ (the identity function, trivially involutory)
  2. $p_1$: $p_1(x) = {-x + c}$, for some $c \in \mathbb{R}$

One well-known generalization of polynomials are infinite series, so that raises the question: Is there some pretty classification of involutory real infinite series, too?

Clarification in response to a comment: this is about "analytic functions which are involutory within some part of their region of convergence", but ideally from an infinite series perspective. If that perspective doesn't make sense, an explanation as to why it doesn't make sense would be nice.

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1 comment thread

"Real infinite series"? (1 comment)
"Real infinite series"?
Peter Taylor‭ wrote over 1 year ago

What exactly do you mean by "real infinite series"? Without the surrounding context I would interpret it as a function $\mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{R}$, but that can't be involutory unless it's an infinite series of natural numbers, in which case specifying "real" makes no sense. Are you looking for analytic functions which are involutory within some part of their region of convergence?