cp's OEIS Frontend

(k^prime(n) - k)/prime(n) == 0 (mod 6*a(n)) for all k>=0.

It seems that the numerator of F(n) is the numerator of (B(n-1) + 1/n), where B(k) is the k-th Bernoulli number; if so, for n > 2, the numerator of F(n) is A174341(n-1). How to prove it?

Conjecture: for n > 1, a(n) = 1 if and only if n is prime.

Is this conjecture equivalent to the Agoh-Giuga conjecture?

Theorem 1. If p is prime, then a(p) = 1. Proof. a(2) = 1, so let p be an odd prime. By the von Staudt-Clausen theorem, if k is even, then B(k) = A(k) - Sum_{prime q, q-1 | k} 1/q, where A(k) is an integer and the sum is over all primes q such that q-1 divides k. Thus B(k) = N(k)/D(k) with D(k) = Product_{prime q, q-1 | k} q. Now let k = p-1. Then N(p-1)/D(p-1) = B(p-1) = A(p-1) - 1/p - Sum_{prime q < p, q-1 | p-1} 1/q (*). Add 1/p to both sides of (*) and multiply by p*D(p-1) to get p*N(p-1) + D(p-1) = p*D(p-1)*(A(p-1) - Sum_{prime q < p, q-1 | p-1} 1/q) (**). Now p | D(p-1), so p^2 | p*D(p-1) in (**). The denominators on the right side of (**) are all of the form q < p. Therefore, p^2 divides both sides of (**). Hence F(p) = N(p-1)/p + D(p-1)/p^2 is an integer, so a(p) = 1. - Jonathan Sondow, Jul 14 2019

Conjecture: composite numbers n such that a(n) is squarefree are only the Carmichael numbers A002997. Cf. A309235. - Thomas Ordowski, Jul 15 2019

Conjecture checked up to n = 101101. - Amiram Eldar, Jul 16 2019

Theorem 2. If n is a prime or a Carmichael number, then a(n) = A326690(n) = denominator of (Sum_{prime p | n} 1/p - 1/n). The proof is a generalization of that of Theorem 1. (Note that Theorem 2 implies Theorem 1, since if n is prime, then (Sum_{prime p | n} 1/p - 1/n) = 1/n - 1/n = 0/1, so a(p) = A326690(n) = 1.) For n a prime or a Carmichael number, an application of Theorem 2 is computing a(n) without calculating Bernoulli(n-1) which may be huge; see A309268 and A326690. - Jonathan Sondow, Jul 19 2019

The values of F(n) when n is prime are A327033. - Jonathan Sondow, Aug 16 2019

Divisibility through terms of A008578 is a consequence of the Staudt-Clausen theorem.

(Vaguely similar divisibility properties are considered in A165248 and A165943.)

The first 250 entries are all different. Is this true in general?

Would sorting the entries yield the full A090801?

a(n) > 1 is the largest number k such that x*y^p == y*x^p (mod k) for all integers x and y, where p = prime(n). Example: x*y^19 == y*x^19 (mod 798). - Michel Lagneau, Apr 19 2012

Comment from Herbert Kociemba, May 29 2020: (Start)

For each n there is exactly one member of the sequence whose factorization has prime(n) as its largest prime factor, namely a(n). From this we conclude:

1. All elements of the sequence are different.

2. Not all denominators of Bernoulli numbers appear in this sequence. For example the denominator of B(20), 330=2*3*5*11 never appears because the unique sequence element with largest prime divisor 11=prime(5) is a(5)=2*3*11. (End)

See A366488 for further information.

See A366488 for further information.