cp's OEIS Frontend

See A034386 for the second definition of primorial numbers: product of primes in the range 2 to n.

a(n) is the least number N with n distinct prime factors (i.e., omega(N) = n, cf. A001221). - Lekraj Beedassy, Feb 15 2002

Phi(n)/n is a new minimum for each primorial. - Robert G. Wilson v, Jan 10 2004

Smallest number stroked off n times after the n-th sifting process in an Eratosthenes sieve. - Lekraj Beedassy, Mar 31 2005

Apparently each term is a new minimum for phi(x)*sigma(x)/x^2. 6/Pi^2 < sigma(x)*phi(x)/x^2 < 1 for n > 1. - Jud McCranie, Jun 11 2005

Let f be a multiplicative function with f(p) > f(p^k) > 1 (p prime, k > 1), f(p) > f(q) > 1 (p, q prime, p < q). Then the record maxima of f occur at n# for n >= 1. Similarly, if 0 < f(p) < f(p^k) < 1 (p prime, k > 1), 0 < f(p) < f(q) < 1 (p, q prime, p < q), then the record minima of f occur at n# for n >= 1. - David W. Wilson, Oct 23 2006

Wolfe and Hirshberg give ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, 30030, ?, ... as a puzzle.

Records in number of distinct prime divisors. - Artur Jasinski, Apr 06 2008

For n >= 2, the digital roots of a(n) are multiples of 3. - Parthasarathy Nambi, Aug 19 2009 [with corrections by Zak Seidov, Aug 30 2015]

Denominators of the sum of the ratios of consecutive primes (see A094661). - Vladimir Joseph Stephan Orlovsky, Oct 24 2009

Where record values occur in A001221. - Melinda Trang (mewithlinda(AT)yahoo.com), Apr 15 2010

It can be proved that there are at least T prime numbers less than N, where the recursive function T is: T = N - N*Sum_{i = 0..T(sqrt(N))} A005867(i)/A002110(i). This can show for example that at least 0.16*N numbers are primes less than N for 29^2 > N > 23^2. - Ben Paul Thurston, Aug 23 2010

The above comment from Parthasarathy Nambi follows from the observation that digit summing produces a congruent number mod 9, so the digital root of any multiple of 3 is a multiple of 3. prime(n)# is divisible by 3 for n >= 2. - Christian Schulz, Oct 30 2013

The peaks (i.e., local maximums) in a graph of the number of repetitions (i.e., the tally of values) vs. value, as generated by taking the differences of all distinct pairs of odd prime numbers within a contiguous range occur at regular periodic intervals given by the primorial numbers 6 and greater. Larger primorials yield larger (relative) peaks, however the range must be >50% larger than the primorial to be easily observed. Secondary peaks occur at intervals of those "near-primorials" divisible by 6 (e.g., 42). See A259629. Also, periodicity at intervals of 6 and 30 can be observed in the local peaks of all possible sums of two, three or more distinct odd primes within modest contiguous ranges starting from p(2) = 3. - Richard R. Forberg, Jul 01 2015

If a number k and a(n) are coprime and k < (prime(n+1))^b < a(n), where b is an integer, then k has fewer than b prime factors, counting multiplicity (i.e., bigomega(k) < b, cf. A001222). - Isaac Saffold, Dec 03 2017

If n > 0, then a(n) has 2^n unitary divisors (A034444), and a(n) is a record; i.e., if k < a(n) then k has fewer unitary divisors than a(n) has. - Clark Kimberling, Jun 26 2018

Unitary superabundant numbers: numbers k with a record value of the unitary abundancy index, A034448(k)/k > A034448(m)/m for all m < k. - Amiram Eldar, Apr 20 2019

Psi(n)/n is a new maximum for each primorial (psi = A001615) [proof in link: Patrick Sole and Michel Planat, proposition 1 page 2]; compare with comment 2004: Phi(n)/n is a new minimum for each primorial. - Bernard Schott, May 21 2020

The term "primorial" was coined by Harvey Dubner (1987). - Amiram Eldar, Apr 16 2021

a(n)^(1/n) is approximately (n log n)/e. - Charles R Greathouse IV, Jan 03 2023

Subsequence of A267124. - Frank M Jackson, Apr 14 2023

Prime product form of primorial base expansion of n.

Sequence is a permutation of A048103. It maps the smallest prime not dividing n to the smallest prime dividing n, that is, A020639(a(n)) = A053669(n) holds for all n >= 1.

The sequence satisfies the exponential function identity, a(x + y) = a(x) * a(y), whenever A329041(x,y) = 1, that is, when adding x and y together will not generate any carries in the primorial base. Examples of such pairs of x and y are A328841(n) & A328842(n), and also A328770(n) (when added with itself). - Antti Karttunen, Oct 31 2019

From Antti Karttunen, Feb 18 2022: (Start)

The conjecture given in A327969 asks whether applying this function together with the arithmetic derivative (A003415) in some combination or another can eventually transform every positive integer into zero.

Another related open question asks whether there are any other numbers than n=6 such that when starting from that n and by iterating with A003415, one eventually reaches a(n). See comments in A351088.

This sequence is used in A351255 to list the terms of A099308 in a different order, by the increasing exponents of the successive primes in their prime factorization. (End)

From Bill McEachen, Oct 15 2022: (Start)

From inspection, the least significant decimal digits of a(n) terms form continuous chains of 30 as follows. For n == i (mod 30), i=0..5, there are 6 ordered elements of these 8 {1,2,3,6,9,8,7,4}. Then for n == i (mod 30), i=6..29, there are 12 repeated pairs = {5,0}.

Moreover, when the individual elements of any of the possible groups of 6 are transformed via (7*digit) (mod 10), the result matches one of the other 7 groupings (not all 7 may be seen). As example, {1,2,3,6,9,8} transforms to {7,4,1,2,3,6}. (End)

The least significant digit of a(n) in base 4 is given by A353486, and in base 6 by A358840. - Antti Karttunen, Oct 25 2022, Feb 17 2024

A permutation of the squarefree numbers A005117. The missing positive numbers are in A013929. - Alois P. Heinz, Sep 06 2014

From Antti Karttunen, Apr 18 & 19 2017: (Start)

Because a(n) toggles the parity of n there are neither fixed points nor any cycles of odd length.

Conjecture: there are no finite cycles of any length. My grounds for this conjecture: any finite cycle in this sequence, if such cycles exist at all, must have at least one member that occurs somewhere in A285319, the terms that seem already to be quite rare. Moreover, any such a number n should satisfy in addition to A019565(n) < n also that A048675^{k}(n) is squarefree, not just for k=0, 1 but for all k >= 0. As there is on average a probability of only 6/(Pi^2) = 0.6079... that any further term encountered on the trajectory of A048675 is squarefree, the total chance that all of them would be squarefree (which is required from the elements of A019565-cycles) is soon minuscule, especially as A048675 is not very tightly bounded (many trajectories seem to skyrocket, at least initially). I am also assuming that usually there is no significant correlation between the binary expansions of n and A048675(n) (apart from their least significant bits), or, for that matter, between their prime factorizations.

See also the slightly stronger conjecture in A285320, which implies that there would neither be any two-way infinite cycles.

If either of the conjectures is false (there are cycles), then certainly neither sequence A285332 nor its inverse A285331 can be a permutation of natural numbers. (End)

The conjecture made in A087207 (see also A288569) implies the two conjectures mentioned above. A further constraint for cycles is that in any A019565-trajectory which starts from a squarefree number (A005117), every other term is of the form 4k+2, while every other term is of the form 6k+3. - Antti Karttunen, Jun 18 2017

The sequence satisfies the exponential function identity, a(x + y) = a(x) * a(y), whenever x and y do not have a 1-bit in the same position, i.e., when A004198(x,y) = 0. See also A283475. - Antti Karttunen, Oct 31 2019

The above identity becomes unconditional if binary exclusive OR, A003987(.,.), is substituted for addition, and A059897(.,.), a multiplicative equivalent of A003987, is substituted for multiplication. This gives us a(A003987(x,y)) = A059897(a(x), a(y)). - Peter Munn, Nov 18 2019

Also the Heinz number of the binary indices of n, where the Heinz number of a sequence (y_1,...,y_k) is prime(y_1)*...*prime(y_k), and a number's binary indices (A048793) are the positions of 1's in its reversed binary expansion. - Gus Wiseman, Dec 28 2022

Are there any other numbers besides n=12 for which n=a(n) ? - Ctibor O. Zizka, Oct 08 2008

The sequence is a morphism from (N*,*) into (N,+), cf. formula. Up to n=1023, the digit sum A007953(a(n)) equals Omega(n) = A001222(n). This holds whenever A051903(n)<10. Restricted to these n, the sequence is also injective. However, when n is a multiple of 2^10, 3^10, 5^10 etc, then a(n) is equal to some a(m) with mM. F. Hasler, Nov 16 2008

This has been called the "Exponential Prime Power Representation" of n by W. Nissen in a post to the sci.math newsgroup (where probably some more sophisticated convention for representing digits > 10 would be used). - M. F. Hasler, Jul 03 2016

From Antti Karttunen, Nov 17 2016: (Start)

This is a filter-sequence for decimal base: a(n) = the least number with the same prime signature as A054842(n).

This sequence can be used for filtering certain base-10 related sequences, because it matches only with any such sequence b that can be computed as b(n) = f(A054842(n)), where f(n) is any function that depends only on the prime signature of n (some of these are listed under the index entry for "sequences computed from exponents in ...").

Matching in this context means that the sequence a matches with the sequence b iff for all i, j: a(i) = a(j) => b(i) = b(j). In other words, iff the sequence b partitions the natural numbers to the same or coarser equivalence classes (as/than the sequence a) by the distinct values it obtains.

Any such sequence should match where the result is computed from the nonzero decimal digits of n, but does not depend on their order. These include for example, A007953 (digital sum and any of its variants), A010888 (digital root of n) and A051801 (product of the nonzero digits of n). As of Nov 11 2016, there were a couple of hundred such sequences that seemed to match with this one. These are given at the "List of sequences whose equivalence classes ..." link.

(End)

A permutation of the cubefree numbers (A004709). - Rémy Sigrist, Jul 18 2022

These are cubefree numbers organized by the highest factor. By converting to a different base, we avoid the row-by-row triangular entry used in the analogous squarefree A339195. - Gordon Hamilton, Aug 13 2025

Previous name: Numbers k such that there exists a solution to (p_m ^ a_m)*(p_m-1 ^ a_m-1)*...*(3^a_1)*(2^a_0) = (B^m)*a_m + (B^m-1)*a_m-1 + ... + (B^1)*a_1 + (B^0)*a_0 where k = (p_m ^ a_m)*(p_m-1 ^ a_m-1)*...*(3^a_1)*(2^a_0); a_m >= 1; a_(i= 0; p_0, p_1, ..., p_m are prime numbers; a_0, a_1, ..., a_m, B are integers.

B is the base in which we can express k as Sum_{i=0..m} B^i * a_i. B may also be seen as the variable in a polynomial, and k is then also an encoding of the polynomial (defined by the product of primes formula).

For k = (2^r)*3 we have B = (2^r)*3 - r.

A167221(n) is the smallest positive integer that yields a solution for k = a(n).

Negative B's can be obtained when the polynomial is an even function. This happens for instance when for k = 10, 100, 3125, ... - Michel Marcus, Aug 10 2022

From Peter Munn, Aug 13 2022: (Start)

Positive integers k such that k is a fixed point of a completely additive function f_B:N+ -> Z, B > 0, where f_B(prime(i+1)) = B^i for all i >= 0. Equivalently, since row B of A104244 is f_B, {a(n)} lists the columns of A104244 that contain their own column number.

If we require B to be negative instead, the sequence appears to start 10, 100, 3125, 1799875, 65610000, ... . Of these, 1799875 = 5^3 * 7 * 11^2 * 17 is the only k with only negative solutions (B = -11); the solutions for 65610000 are {4049, -4051}.

(End)

If p is the (k+1)-th prime and p is congruent to 1 modulo k, then p^p is a term with p^((p-1)/k) a solution for B. The list of such primes starts 3, 5, 7, 31, 97, 101, 331, ... . I suspect this list is infinite, meaning the greatest prime factor of the terms would be unbounded. - Peter Munn, Aug 15 2022