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57 votes
0 answers
3k views

On the first sequence without triple in arithmetic progression

In this Numberphile video (from 3:36 to 7:41), Neil Sloane explains an amazing sequence: It is the lexicographically first among the sequences of positive integers without triple in arithmetic ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
26 votes
4 answers
2k views

For $x$ irrational, is $a_{n} =\sum_{k=1}^{n}(-1)^{⌊kx⌋}$ unbounded?

For $x$ irrational, define $a_{n} :=\sum_{k=1}^{n}(-1)^{⌊kx⌋}$. Can you prove that $\left\{a_n\right\}$ is unbounded? I feel that it is not easy to treat every irrational $x$. I have asked in S.E. ...
Chennes's user avatar
  • 385
25 votes
2 answers
2k views

Do these rational sequences always reach an integer?

This post comes from the suggestion of Joel Moreira in a comment on An alternative to continued fraction and applications (itself inspired by the Numberphile video 2.920050977316 and Fridman, ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
22 votes
2 answers
1k views

$x_1 = 2$, $x_{n + 1} = {{x_n(x_n + 1)}\over2}$, what can we say about $x_n \text{ mod }2$?

This question was asked on MathStackexchange here, but there was no answer, so I am asking it here. Let$$x_1 = 2, \quad x_{n + 1} = {{x_n(x_n + 1)}\over2}.$$What can we say about the behavior of $x_n ...
user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
882 views

Do infinitely nested radicals have any applications?

There is a simple necessary and sufficient condition for a continued radical of the form $\sqrt{a_1 + \sqrt{a_2 + \dotsc}}$ to converge (where all terms $a_1, a_2$ etc. are nonnegative). Namely, that ...
wlad's user avatar
  • 4,943
9 votes
0 answers
225 views

On the first sequence without collinear triple

Let $u_n$ be the sequence lexicographically first among the sequences of nonnegative integers with graphs without collinear three points (as for $a_n=n^2$ or $b_n=2^n$). It is a variation of that one. ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
340 views

Does $x_0=1/3$ lead to periodicity in the logistic map $x_{k+1}=4x_k(1-x_k)$?

Does $x_0=1/3$ lead to periodicity in the logistic map $x_{k+1}=4x_k(1-x_k)$? I believe it does not, but this is equivalent to proving that $(2\pi)^{-1}\arcsin(\sqrt{1/3})$ is irrational. I am ...
Vincent Granville's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
2k views

5n+1 sequence starting at 7

Consider the following variant of the Collatz function: $f:\mathbb N\rightarrow\mathbb N$ is defined by \begin{equation} f(n):=\begin{cases} n/2 & \text{if $n$ is even}\\ 5n+1 & \...
Riemann's user avatar
  • 654
8 votes
0 answers
197 views

The condition on $\alpha$ that $\alpha^n$ is convergent modulo 1

We consider numbers $\alpha\in \mathbb{R}$ with $|\alpha|>1$. Is there any result about a characterization of those $\alpha$ so that $\{\alpha^n\}_{n\in \mathbb{N}}$ is convergent modulo 1? I ...
ililiil's user avatar
  • 661
7 votes
1 answer
4k views

Beyond Collatz: A $5n+1$ conjecture? [closed]

Let $$x_{n+1} = \begin{cases} x_n/2 &;\text{if } x_n \equiv 0 \pmod{2}\\ k\,x_n+1 &; \text{if } x_n\equiv 1 \pmod{2} \end{cases}$$ and $k=3$ and $x_n\in\Bbb N$. Collatz conjectured for this ...
al-Hwarizmi's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
429 views

Dynamics of a curious bijection of $\mathbb N$

The two sequences A48680 and A48679 of the OEIS define two mutually inverse bijections on the set of all strictly positive natural numbers given (for the comfort of the reader) as follows: Given an ...
Roland Bacher's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
84 views

Coarse well-distributedness/equidistribution of Pell sequence prefixes

I am interested in the distributedness or "mixing" behavior of certain linear recurrences modulo powers of $2$. In particular, consider the Pell sequence (https://oeis.org/A000129), modulo $...
gtm's user avatar
  • 11