The discrete hungry Lotka–Volterra system and a new algorithm for computing matrix eigenvalues

Abstract

The discrete hungry Lotka–Volterra (dhLV) system is a generalization of the discrete Lotka–Volterra (dLV) system which stands for a prey–predator model in mathematical biology. In this paper, we show that (1) some invariants exist which are expressed by dhLV variables and are independent from the discrete time and (2) a dhLV variable converges to some positive constant or zero as the discrete time becomes sufficiently large. Some characteristic polynomial is then factorized with the help of the dhLV system. The asymptotic behaviour of the dhLV system enables us to design an algorithm for computing complex eigenvalues of a certain band matrix.