A002022 In the pile of coconuts problem, the number of coconuts that remain to be shared equally at the end of the process.

0, 6, 240, 1020, 78120, 279930, 40353600, 134217720, 31381059600, 99999999990, 34522712143920, 106993205379060, 51185893014090744, 155568095557812210, 98526125335693359360, 295147905179352825840, 239072435685151324847136

Offset: 2

Author

N. J. A. Sloane

Keywords

• nonn
• easy
• nice

Comments

See A002021 for further description of the problem.

References

• N. J. A. Sloane, A Handbook of Integer Sequences, Academic Press, 1973 (includes this sequence).
• N. J. A. Sloane and Simon Plouffe, The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, Academic Press, 1995 (includes this sequence).

Links

• T. D. Noe, Table of n, a(n) for n = 2..100
• Anonymous, The Monkey and the Coconuts (with FormulaOne program)
• Santo D'Agostino, "The Coconut Problem"; Updated With Solution, May 2011.
• R. S. Underwood and Robert E. Moritz, Problem 3242, Amer. Math. Monthly, 35 (1928), 47-48.

Crossrefs

Cf. A002021, A006091.

Programs

Maple

f := proc(n) if n mod 2 = 1 then RETURN((n-1)^n-(n-1)) else RETURN((n-1)^(n+1)-(n-1)) fi; end:

Mathematica

Rest[Table[If[OddQ[n],(n-1)^n-(n-1),(n-1)^(n+1)-(n-1)],{n,30}]] (* Harvey P. Dale, Oct 21 2011 *)

Extensions

Formula and more terms from James Sellers, Feb 10 2000

Detail added to the name by Peter Munn, Jun 16 2023