A003667 -id:A003667 - cp's OEIS frontend

A002858 Ulam numbers: a(1) = 1; a(2) = 2; for n>2, a(n) = least number > a(n-1) which is a unique sum of two distinct earlier terms.

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16, 18, 26, 28, 36, 38, 47, 48, 53, 57, 62, 69, 72, 77, 82, 87, 97, 99, 102, 106, 114, 126, 131, 138, 145, 148, 155, 175, 177, 180, 182, 189, 197, 206, 209, 219, 221, 236, 238, 241, 243, 253, 258, 260, 273, 282, 309, 316, 319, 324, 339

Offset: 1

N. J. A. Sloane

Ulam conjectured that this sequence has density 0. However, calculations up to 6.759*10^8 (Jud McCranie) indicate that the density hovers near 0.074.
A plot of the first 3 million terms shows that they lie very close to the straight line 13.51*n, so even if we cannot prove it, we believe we now know how this sequence grows (see the plots in the links below). - N. J. A. Sloane, Sep 27 2006
After a few initial terms, the sequence settles into a regular pattern of dense clumps separated by sparse gaps, with period 21.601584+. This pattern continues up to at least a(n) = 5*10^6. (This comment is just a qualitative statement about the wavelike distribution of Ulam numbers, not meant to imply that every period includes Ulam numbers.) - David W. Wilson
_Don Knuth_ (Sep 26 2006) remarks that a(4952)=64420 and a(4953)=64682 (a gap of more than ten "dense clumps"); and there is a gap of 315 between a(18857) and a(18858).
1,2,3,47 are the only values of x < 6.759*10^8 such that x and x+1 are both Ulam numbers. - Jud McCranie, Jun 08 2001.  This holds through the first 28 billion Ulam numbers - Jud McCranie, Jan 07 2016.
From Jud McCranie on David W. Wilson's illustration, Jun 20 2008: (Start)
The integers are shown from left to right, top to bottom, with a dot where there is an Ulam number. I think his plot is 216 wide. The local density of Ulam numbers goes in waves with a period of 21.6+, so his plot shows ten cycles.
When they are arranged that way you can see the waves. The crests of the density waves don't always have Ulam numbers there but the troughs are practically void of Ulam numbers. I noticed that the ratio of that period (21.6+) to the frequency of Ulam numbers (1 in 13.52) is very close to 8/5. (End)
a(50000000) = 675904508. - Jud McCranie, Feb 29 2012
a(100000000) = 1351856726. - Jud McCranie, Jul 31 2012
a(1000000000) = 13517664323. - Jud McCranie, Aug 28 2015
a(28000000000) = 378485625853 - Philip Gibbs & Jud McCranie, Sep 09 2015
3 (=1+2) and 131 (=62+69) are the only two Ulam numbers in the first 28 billion Ulam numbers that are the sum of two consecutive Ulam numbers. - Jud McCranie, Jan 09 2016
Named after the Polish-American scientist Stanislaw Ulam (1909-1984). - Amiram Eldar, Jun 08 2021

Steven R. Finch, Mathematical Constants, Cambridge, 2003, Section 2.16.2.
Richard K. Guy, Unsolved Problems in Number Theory, C4.
Donald E. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 4A, Section 7.1.3.
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).
James J. Tattersall, Elementary Number Theory in Nine Chapters, Cambridge University Press, 1999, page 116.
Marvin C. Wunderlich, The improbable behavior of Ulam's summation sequence, pp. 249-257 of A. O. L. Atkin and B. J. Birch, editors, Computers in Number Theory. Academic Press, NY, 1971.
David Zeitlin, Ulam's sequence {U_n}, U_1=1, U_2=2, is a complete sequence, Notices Amer. Math. Soc., 22 (No. 7, 1975), Abstract 75T-A267, p. A-707.

Jud McCranie, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..10000
Richard A. Becker, Plot of residuals a(n) - 13.5167*n for n <= 3000000, postscript file [uses Jud McCranie's values of a(n)].
Richard A. Becker, Plot of residuals a(n) - 13.5167*n for n <= 3000000, pdf file [uses Jud McCranie's values of a(n)].
Thomas Bloom, Problem 342, Erdős Problems.
Henning Fernau and Kshitij Gajjar, The Space Complexity of Sum Labelling, arXiv:2107.12973 [cs.DS], 2021.
Steven R. Finch, Ulam s-Additive Sequences. [From Steven Finch, Apr 20 2019]
Steven R. Finch, Stolarsky-Harborth Constant.
Steven R. Finch, Stolarsky-Harborth Constant. [From the Wayback machine]
Philip Gibbs, An Efficient Way to Compute Ulam Numbers.
Philip Gibbs, A Conjecture for Ulam Sequences.
Philip Gibbs and Judson McCranie, The Ulam Numbers up to One Trillion, (2017).
Shyam Sunder Gupta, Ulam Numbers. In: Exploring the Beauty of Fascinating Numbers. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Singapore, (2025).
Alois P. Heinz, Ulam spiral of Ulam numbers.
Donald E. Knuth, Downloadable programs
Noah Kravitz and Stefan Steinerberger, Ulam Sequences and Ulam Sets, arXiv:1705.01883 [math.CO], 2017.
Borys Kuca, Structures in Additive Sequences, arXiv:1804.09594 [math.NT], 2018. See p. 3.
Jud McCranie, Density 10^2 to 10^12
Jud McCranie, Density 10^4 to 10^12
Jud McCranie, Density 10^6 to 10^12
J. W. Moon, R. K. Guy, and N. J. A. Sloane, Correspondence, 1973.
Ed Pegg, Jr., Graph of 10^6 terms of a(n) - 13.5*n.
Popular Computing (Calabasas, CA), Sieves: Problem 43, Vol. 2 (No. 13, Apr 1974), pp. 6-7. This is Sieve #8. [Annotated and scanned copy]
R. Queneau, Sur les suites s-additives, J. Combin. Theory, A12 (1972), 31-71.
Bernardo Recamán, Questions on a sequence of Ulam, Amer. Math. Monthly, Vol. 80, No. 8 (1973), pp. 919-920.
Ivano Salvo and Agnese Pacifico, Computing Integer Sequences: Filtering vs Generation (Functional Pearl), arXiv:1807.11792 [cs.PL], 2018.
James Schmerl and Eugene Spiegel, The regularity of some 1-additive sequences, J. Combin. Theory. Ser. A, Vol. 66, No. 1 (1994), pp. 172-175. Math. Rev. 95h:11010.
Arseniy Sheydvasser, The Ulam Sequence of the Integer Polynomial Ring, arXiv:1910.00109 [math.NT], 2019.
N. J. A. Sloane, Handwritten notes on Self-Generating Sequences, 1970 (note that A1148 has now become A005282).
Arseniy (Senia) Sheydvasser, The Ulam Sequence of Linear Integer Polynomials, J. Int. Seq., Vol. 24 (2021), Article 21.10.8.
Stefan Steinerberger, A hidden signal in the Ulam sequence, Research Report YALEU/DCS/TR-1508, Yale University, 2015.
Stefan Steinerberger, A hidden signal in the Ulam sequence, Figure 2 from Research Report YALEU/DCS/TR-1508, Yale University, 2015.
Stefan Steinerberger, The Ulam Sequence, blog post, April 12, 2016.
Stanislaw M. Ulam, On some mathematical problems connected with patterns of growth of figures, pp. 215-224 of R. E. Bellman, ed., Mathematical Problems in the Biological Sciences, Proc. Sympos. Applied Math., Vol. 14, Amer. Math. Soc., 1962 [Annotated scanned copy]
Stanislaw Ulam, Combinatorial analysis in infinite sets and some physical theories, SIAM Rev., Vol. 6, No. 4 (1964), pp. 343-355. Reprinted in Selected Papers, MIT Press, see p. 393.
Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Ulam Sequence.
Wikipedia, Ulam number.
David W. Wilson, Plot of initial terms, showing their quasiperiodicity as vertical bars. The image width was chosen to include approximately 10 periods. For an explanation of this picture, see Comments above.
Robert G. Wilson v, Letter to N. J. A. Sloane, Sep. 1992.
David Zeitlin, Ulam's sequence {U_n}, U_1=1, U_2=2, is a complete sequence, Notices Amer. Math. Soc., 22 (No. 7, 1975), Abstract 75T-A267, p. A-707. (Annotated scanned copy)
Index entries for Ulam numbers

Cf. A002859 (version beginning 1,3), A054540, A003667, A001857, A007300, A117140, A214603.
First differences: A072832, A072540.
Cf. A080287, A080288, A004280 (if distinct removed from definition).
Cf. A199016, A199017, A033629, A274522.
See also the density plots in A080573 and A285884.

a002858 n = a002858_list !! (n-1)
a002858_list = 1 : 2 : ulam 2 2 a002858_list
ulam :: Int -> Integer -> [Integer] -> [Integer]
ulam n u us = u' : ulam (n + 1) u' us where
   u' = f 0 (u+1) us'
   f 2 z _                         = f 0 (z + 1) us'
   f e z (v:vs) | z - v <= v       = if e == 1 then z else f 0 (z + 1) us'
                | z - v `elem` us' = f (e + 1) z vs
                | otherwise        = f e z vs
   us' = take n us
-- Reinhard Zumkeller, Nov 03 2011

function isUlam(u, n, h, i, r)
    h == 2 && return false
    ur = u[r]; ui = u[i]
    ur <= ui && return h == 1
    if ur + ui > n
        r -= 1
    elseif ur + ui < n
        i += 1
    else
        h += 1; i += 1; r -= 1
    end
    isUlam(u, n, h, i, r)
end
function UlamList(len)
    u = Array{Int, 1}(undef, len)
    u[1] = 1; u[2] = 2; i = 2; n = 2
    while i < len
        n += 1
        if isUlam(u, n, 0, 1, i)
            i += 1
            u[i] = n
        end
    end
    return u
end
println(UlamList(59)) # Peter Luschny, Apr 07 2019

UlamList := proc(len) local isUlam, nextUlam, behead; behead := u -> u[2..numelems(u)]; isUlam := proc(n, h, u, r) local hu, tu, hr, tr; hu := u[1]; hr := r[1]; if h = 2 then return false fi; if hr <= hu then return evalb(h = 1) fi; if (hr + hu) = n then tu := behead(u); tr := behead(r); return isUlam(n, h+1, tu, tr) fi; if (hr + hu) < n then tu := behead(u): return isUlam(n, h, tu, r) fi; tr := behead(r); isUlam(n, h, u, tr) end: nextUlam := proc(n, u, r) if isUlam(n, 0, u, r) then if nops(u) = len-1 then return [op(u), n] fi; nextUlam(n+1, [op(u), n], [n, op(r)]) else nextUlam(n+1, u, r) fi end: nextUlam(3, [1, 2], [2, 1]) end:
UlamList(59); # Peter Luschny, Apr 05 2019

Ulam4Compiled = Compile[{{nmax, _Integer}, {init, _Integer, 1}, {s, _Integer}}, Module[{ulamhash = Table[0, {nmax}], ulam = init}, ulamhash[[ulam]] = 1; Do[ If[Quotient[Plus @@ ulamhash[[i - ulam]], 2] == s, AppendTo[ulam, i]; ulamhash[[i]] = 1], {i, Last[init] + 1, nmax}]; ulam]]; ulams = Ulam4Compiled[355, {1, 2}, 1]
(* Second program: *)
ulams = {1, 2}; Do[AppendTo[ulams, n = Last[ulams]; While[n++; Length[DeleteCases[Intersection[ulams, n - ulams], n/2, 1, 1]] != 2]; n], {100}]; ulams (* Jean-François Alcover, Sep 08 2011 *)
findUlams[s_List, j_Integer] := Block[{k = s[[-1]] + 1, ss = Plus @@@ Subsets[s, {j}]}, While[ Count[ss, k] != 1, k++]; Append[s, k]]; ulams = Nest[findUlams[#, 2] &, {1, 2}, 70] (* Robert G. Wilson v, Jul 05 2014 *)

aupto(N)= my(seen=vector(N), U=[]); seen[1]=seen[2]=1; for(i=1,N, if(1==seen[i], for(j=1,#U, my(sum=i+U[j]); if(sum>N, break); seen[sum]++); U=concat(U,i))); U \\ Ruud H.G. van Tol, Dec 29 2022

def isUlam(n, h, u, r):
    if h == 2: return False
    hu = u[0]; hr = r[0]
    if hr <= hu: return h == 1
    if hr + hu > n: r = r[1:]
    elif hr + hu < n: u = u[1:]
    else: h += 1; r = r[1:]; u = u[1:]
    return isUlam(n, h, u, r)
def UlamList(length):
    u = [1, 2]; r = [2, 1]; n = 2
    while len(u) < length:
        n += 1
        if isUlam(n, 0, u[:], r[:]):
            u.append(n); r.insert(0, n)
    return u
print(UlamList(59)) # Peter Luschny, Apr 06 2019

More terms from Jud McCranie

A007300 a(1)=2, a(2)=5; for n >= 3, a(n) is smallest number which is uniquely of the form a(j) + a(k) with 1 <= j < k < n.

Original entry on oeis.org

2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 19, 23, 27, 29, 35, 37, 41, 43, 45, 49, 51, 55, 61, 67, 69, 71, 79, 83, 85, 87, 89, 95, 99, 107, 109, 119, 131, 133, 135, 137, 139, 141, 145, 149, 153, 155, 161, 163, 167, 169, 171, 175, 177, 181, 187, 193, 195, 197, 205, 209, 211, 213, 215

Offset: 1

N. J. A. Sloane, Mira Bernstein

An Ulam-type sequence - see A002858 for many further references, comments, etc.
I have a note saying that this is periodic mod 126. Is that correct? - N. J. A. Sloane, Apr 29 2006
Comments from Joshua Zucker, May 24 2006: "Concerning the conjecture about periodicity mod 126. Out of the first 300 terms, only the 2 and 12 are even. But if you neglect those first 6 terms, mod 2 they're all odd, mod 9 it goes: 0 4 6 1 7 4 6 8 7 2 4 6 8 5 0 8 1 2 5 7 0 2 4 6 1 5 0 2 8 1 5 7 which appears to repeat indefinitely and mod 7 it goes: 0 2 6 1 3 0 2 6 5 4 6 1 2 6 1 3 5 4 1 2 4 0 5 0 2 4 6 1 5 2 6 1 which also appears to repeat indefinitely.
"So it seems as though neglecting the first few terms, it is indeed periodic mod 126 with period 32. In fact it appears that after the first few terms, a(n+32) = a(n) + 126. But this is only based on the first few hundred terms and is not proved!
"The Mathworld link cites a proof that sequences of this type (2,n) have only two even terms and another proof that sequences with only finitely many even terms must eventually have periodic first differences. So I think the period 32 difference of 126 conjecture may be proved in those references."
Given that the sequence of first differences is periodic with period 32 after the first 6 terms (3,2,2,2,1,1), the repeating digits being p=(2,4,4,4,2,6,2,4,2,2,4,2,4,6,6,2,2,8,4,2,2,2,6,4,8,2,10,12,2,2,2,2), one can calculate the n-th term (n>6) as a(n)=13+floor((n-7)/32)*S(32)+S(n-7 mod 32) where S(k)=sum(p(i),i=1..k): (S(k);k=0..32)=(0, 2, 6, 10, 14, 16, 22, 24, 28, 30, 32, 36, 38, 42, 48, 54, 56, 58, 66, 70, 72, 74, 76, 82, 86, 94, 96, 106, 118, 120, 122, 124, 126). - M. F. Hasler, Nov 25 2007

R. K. Guy, Unsolved Problems in Number Theory, Section C4.
N. J. A. Sloane and Simon Plouffe, The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, Academic Press, 1995 (includes this sequence).

T. D. Noe, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..1000
J. Cassaigne and S. R. Finch, A class of 1-additive sequences and additive recurrences, Experimental Mathematics, Volume 4 (1995).
S. R. Finch, Patterns in 1-additive sequences, Experimental Mathematics 1 (1992), 57-63.
S. R. Finch, On the regularity of certain 1-additive sequences, J. Combin. Theory, A60 (1992), 123-130.
Steven R. Finch, Are 0-Additive Sequences Always Regular?, Am. Math. Monthly 99 (7) (1992) 671-673.
S. Finch, Letter to N. J. A. Sloane, Apr. 1994
R. K. Guy, s-Additive sequences, Preprint, 1994. (Annotated scanned copy)
Project Euler, Problem 167: Investigating Ulam Sequences.
R. Queneau, Sur les suites s-additives, J. Combin. Theory, A12 (1972), 31-71.
Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Ulam Sequence
Wikipedia, Ulam number
Index entries for Ulam numbers
Index entries for linear recurrences with constant coefficients, signature (1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, -1).

Cf. A100729, A003666, A003667, A006844.

Cf. A003664.

a007300 n = a007300_list !! (n-1)
a007300_list = 2 : 5 : ulam 2 5 a007300_list
-- Function ulam as defined in A002858.
-- Reinhard Zumkeller, Nov 03 2011

A007300:=n->if n<7 then [2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12][n] else floor((n-7)/32)*126+[13, 15, 19, 23, 27, 29, 35, 37, 41, 43, 45, 49, 51, 55, 61, 67, 69, 71, 79, 83, 85, 87, 89, 95, 99, 107, 109, 119, 131, 133, 135, 137][modp(n-7,32)+1] fi; # M. F. Hasler, Nov 25 2007

theList = {2,5}; Print[2]; Print[5]; For[i=1,i <= 500,i++, count=0; For[j=1,j <= Length[theList]-1,j++, For[k=j+1,k <= Length[theList],k++, If[theList[[j]]+theList[[k]] == i,count++ ]; ]; ]; If[count == 1, Print[i]; theList = Append[theList,i]; ]; ]; (* Sam Handler (sam_5_5_5_0(AT)yahoo.com), Aug 08 2006 *)
Nest[Append[#, SelectFirst[Union@ Select[Tally@ Map[Total, Select[Permutations[#, {2}], #1 < #2 & @@ # &]], Last@ # == 1 &][[All, 1]], Function[k, FreeQ[#, k]]]] &, {2, 5}, 59] (* Michael De Vlieger, Nov 16 2017 *)

For n > 6, a(n+32) = a(n) + 126. - T. D. Noe, Jan 21 2008

More terms from Joshua Zucker, May 24 2006

More terms from Sam Handler (sam_5_5_5_0(AT)yahoo.com), Aug 08 2006

A135737 Ulam type (1-additive) sequences u[1]=2, u[2]=2n+1, u[k+1] is least unique sum u[i]+u[j]>u[k], 1<=i

Original entry on oeis.org

2, 3, 2, 5, 5, 2, 7, 7, 7, 2, 8, 9, 9, 9, 2, 9, 11, 11, 11, 11, 2, 13, 12, 13, 13, 13, 13, 2, 14, 13, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15, 2, 18, 15, 16, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 2, 19, 19, 17, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 2, 24, 23, 19, 20, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 2, 25, 27, 21, 21, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23

Offset: 1

M. F. Hasler, Nov 26 2007

Any of the sequences u=U(2,2n+1) has u[1]=2 and u[n+4]=4n+4; in between these there are the odd numbers 2n+1,...,4n-3. For n>1 there are no other even terms and the sequence of first differences becomes periodic for k>=t (transient phase), such that u[k] = u[k-floor((k-t)/p)*p] + floor((k-t)/p)*d, where p is the period (cf. A100729) and d the fundamental difference (cf. A100730). See the cross-references, especially A002858, for more information.

			The sequence contains the terms of the table T[n,k] = U(2,2n+1)[k], read by antidiagonals: a[1]=T[1,1]=2, a[2]=T[1,2]=3, a[3]=T[2,1]=2, a[4]=T[1,3]=5,...
n=1: U(2,3)= 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9,13,14...
n=2: U(2,5)= 2, 5, 7, 9,11,12,...
n=3: U(2,7)= 2, 7, 9,11,13,...
n=4: U(2,9)= 2, 9,11,...

M. F. Hasler, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..1000, Apr 10 2025
Project Euler, Problem 167: Investigating Ulam sequences

Cf. A001857 = U(2, 3) = row 1, A007300 = U(2, 5) = row 2, A003668 = U(2, 7) = row 3; A100729-A100730 (period).
Cf. A002858 = U(1, 2): this would be row 0, with u[1], u[2] exchanged.
See also: A002859 = U(1, 3), A003666 = U(1, 4), A003667 = U(1, 5).

ulam(a,b,Nmax=30,i)=a=[a,b]; b=[a[1]+b]; for( k=3,Nmax, i=1; while(( i<#b && b[i]==b[i+1] && i+=2 ) || ( i>1 && b[i]==b[i-1] && i++),); a=concat(a,b[i]); b=vecsort(concat(vecextract(b,Str("^..",i)),vector(k-1,j,a[k]+a[j]))); i=0; for(j=1,#b-2, if( b[j]==b[j+2], i+=1<A135737(Nmax=100)=local(T=vector(sqrtint(Nmax*2)+1,n, ulam(2,2*n+1, sqrtint(Nmax*2)+2-n)),i,j); vector(Nmax,k,if(j>1,T[i++ ][j-- ],j=i+1;T[i=1][j]))

cp's OEIS Frontend

A002858 Ulam numbers: a(1) = 1; a(2) = 2; for n>2, a(n) = least number > a(n-1) which is a unique sum of two distinct earlier terms.

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A007300 a(1)=2, a(2)=5; for n >= 3, a(n) is smallest number which is uniquely of the form a(j) + a(k) with 1 <= j < k < n.

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A135737 Ulam type (1-additive) sequences u[1]=2, u[2]=2n+1, u[k+1] is least unique sum u[i]+u[j]>u[k], 1<=i

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A078425 Primes in "Ulam's Prime sequence". A prime is in the sequence iff p+1 can be expressed in exactly 1 way as the sum of 2 previous distinct primes.

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