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An interval map has a horseshoe for an interval map when two disjoint subintervals are each mapped across a common interval. It is Glendinning-chaotic when one of its positive iterates has such a horseshoe.

Let the points of the three-cycle be $x_1<x_2<x_3$ and put $I_0=[x_1,x_2]$, $I_1=[x_2,x_3]$. There are two possible cyclic orders. If $x_1\mapsto x_2\mapsto x_3\mapsto x_1$, the intermediate value theorem givesfor the interval covering relation. Thus there are two closed covering walks of length two based at $I_1$. In the reverse cyclic order there are instead the arrows $I_0\to I_0$, $I_0\to I_1$ and $I_1\to I_0$, again giving two closed walks of length two. The horseshoe from two closed covering walks therefore shows that $F^2$ has a horseshoe in either case, so $F$ is chaotic.

The Sharkovsky theorem orders the positive integers asand says that a cycle of a given period forces cycles of every period to its right.

Suppose $N=2^{r}q$ with $q>1$ odd. Then $F^{2^r}$ has a $q$-cycle. The Sharkovsky theorem gives that map a six-cycle, and squaring it produces a three-cycle. Hence $F^{2^{r+1}}$ has a three-cycle and an iterate of $F$ has a horseshoe. Thus

A horseshoe contains the symbolic dynamics of the Bernoulli shift. Periodic binary words give cycles of every symbolic period; after translating from an iterate back to $F$, this supplies cycles of many periods that are not powers of two.

For the logistic map, a ten-cycle would imply chaos because $10$ is not a power of two. Hence there is no ten-cycle for $\mu <{\mu }_{\infty }$. A three-cycle forces every period, so a ten-cycle exists for $\mu >1+\sqrt{8}$. The stated facts alone give no conclusion for the intermediate range:

SetTheir covering graph iswith adjacency matrixThe closed walks $I_1\to I_1\to I_1$ and $I_1\to I_0\to I_1$ give a horseshoe from two closed covering walks for $F^2$, so $F$ must be chaotic. Sincecounting cycles in an interval covering graph givesdistinct 3-cycles in the minimum case, attained by the corresponding connect-the-dots interval map.

LetThe covering relations areThus the covering graph has adjacency matrixThe two closed length-three walksgive a horseshoe from two closed covering walks for $F^3$, so $F$ must be chaotic. Moreover,By counting cycles in an interval covering graph, the number of primitive length-three cyclic itineraries isHence $F$ must have at least, and the connect-the-dots realization shows that it need have only, $\boxed{2}$ distinct 3-cycles.