cp's OEIS Frontend

I stipulate that the row lengths are A000041, but this imposes the insertion of a zero as a coefficient of a monomial for the polynomial RT_7 and for RT_8. The number of nonzero coefficients in each higher order polynomial remains to be determined. The monomials of the partition polynomials are arranged in the order (bottom to top) in Abramowitz and Stegun (starting on p. 831, link in A000041).

The analytic interpretation of these coefficients is related to the e.g.f.s of reciprocals of the derivatives (slopes of tangents) of a pair of compositionally inverse e.g.f.s as explicitly shown in the formulas.

With the notation introduced in the formula section, this set of partition polynomials, [RT], is the e.g.f. counterpart to the special Schur expansion coefficients [b], or [K], of A355201 for o.g.f.s. and is conjugate dual to the Lagrange inversion polynomials [L] of A134685.

For example, as shown in the formulas, [RT] = [P][E] = [P][L][P] where [P] is the set of polynomials of A133314, the refined Euler characteristic polynomials of the permutahedra; [E], the set A145271, the refined Eulerian polynomials; and [L], the set A134685, the classic Lagrange inversion polynomials--all related to transformations of e.g.f.s, or Taylor series, for which [RT], [L], and [E] can each be used to give the compositional inverse and [P], the multiplicative inverse, or reciprocal.

On the other hand, as shown in formulas for A355201, [K] = [R][N] = [R][A][R] where [R] is the set A263633 (mod signs), refined Pascal polynomials; [N], the set A134264, the refined Narayana, or noncrossing partition, polynomials; and [A], the set A133437, the refined Euler characteristic polynomials of the associahedra--all related to transformations of o.g.f.s, or power series, for which [K], [A], and [N] can each be used to give the compositional inverse and [R], the multiplicative inverse, or reciprocal. This is related to three pairs of compositionally inverse series--two pairs of Laurent series and one pair of power series.

Number of ways of writing n as a product of primes.

Number of ways of writing n as a sum of distinct powers of 2.

Continued fraction for golden ratio A001622.

Partial sums of A000007 (characteristic function of 0). - Jeremy Gardiner, Sep 08 2002

An example of an infinite sequence of positive integers whose distinct pairwise concatenations are all primes! - Don Reble, Apr 17 2005

Binomial transform of A000007; inverse binomial transform of A000079. - Philippe Deléham, Jul 07 2005

A063524(a(n)) = 1. - Reinhard Zumkeller, Oct 11 2008

For n >= 0, let M(n) be the matrix with first row = (n n+1) and 2nd row = (n+1 n+2). Then a(n) = absolute value of det(M(n)). - K.V.Iyer, Apr 11 2009

The partial sums give the natural numbers (A000027). - Daniel Forgues, May 08 2009

From Enrique Pérez Herrero, Sep 04 2009: (Start)

a(n) is also tau_1(n) where tau_2(n) is A000005.

a(n) is a completely multiplicative arithmetical function.

a(n) is both squarefree and a perfect square. See A005117 and A000290. (End)

Also smallest divisor of n. - Juri-Stepan Gerasimov, Sep 07 2009

Also decimal expansion of 1/9. - Enrique Pérez Herrero, Sep 18 2009; corrected by Klaus Brockhaus, Apr 02 2010

a(n) is also the number of complete graphs on n nodes. - Pablo Chavez (pchavez(AT)cmu.edu), Sep 15 2009

Totally multiplicative sequence with a(p) = 1 for prime p. Totally multiplicative sequence with a(p) = a(p-1) for prime p. - Jaroslav Krizek, Oct 18 2009

n-th prime minus phi(prime(n)); number of divisors of n-th prime minus number of perfect partitions of n-th prime; the number of perfect partitions of n-th prime number; the number of perfect partitions of n-th noncomposite number. - Juri-Stepan Gerasimov, Oct 26 2009

For all n>0, the sequence of limit values for a(n) = n!*Sum_{k>=n} k/(k+1)!. Also, a(n) = n^0. - Harlan J. Brothers, Nov 01 2009

a(n) is also the number of 0-regular graphs on n vertices. - Jason Kimberley, Nov 07 2009

Differences between consecutive n. - Juri-Stepan Gerasimov, Dec 05 2009

From Matthew Vandermast, Oct 31 2010: (Start)

1) When sequence is read as a regular triangular array, T(n,k) is the coefficient of the k-th power in the expansion of (x^(n+1)-1)/(x-1).

2) Sequence can also be read as a uninomial array with rows of length 1, analogous to arrays of binomial, trinomial, etc., coefficients. In a q-nomial array, T(n,k) is the coefficient of the k-th power in the expansion of ((x^q -1)/(x-1))^n, and row n has a sum of q^n and a length of (q-1)*n + 1. (End)

The number of maximal self-avoiding walks from the NW to SW corners of a 2 X n grid.

When considered as a rectangular array, A000012 is a member of the chain of accumulation arrays that includes the multiplication table A003991 of the positive integers. The chain is ... < A185906 < A000007 < A000012 < A003991 < A098358 < A185904 < A185905 < ... (See A144112 for the definition of accumulation array.) - Clark Kimberling, Feb 06 2011

a(n) = A007310(n+1) (Modd 3) := A193680(A007310(n+1)), n>=0. For general Modd n (not to be confused with mod n) see a comment on A203571. The nonnegative members of the three residue classes Modd 3, called [0], [1], and [2], are shown in the array A088520, if there the third row is taken as class [0] after inclusion of 0. - Wolfdieter Lang, Feb 09 2012

Let M = Pascal's triangle without 1's (A014410) and V = a variant of the Bernoulli numbers A027641 but starting [1/2, 1/6, 0, -1/30, ...]. Then M*V = [1, 1, 1, 1, ...]. - Gary W. Adamson, Mar 05 2012

As a lower triangular array, T is an example of the fundamental generalized factorial matrices of A133314. Multiplying each n-th diagonal by t^n gives M(t) = I/(I-t*S) = I + t*S + (t*S)^2 + ... where S is the shift operator A129184, and T = M(1). The inverse of M(t) is obtained by multiplying the first subdiagonal of T by -t and the other subdiagonals by zero, so A167374 is the inverse of T. Multiplying by t^n/n! gives exp(t*S) with inverse exp(-t*S). - Tom Copeland, Nov 10 2012

The original definition of the meter was one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole. According to that historical definition, the length of one degree of latitude, that is, 60 nautical miles, would be exactly 111111.111... meters. - Jean-François Alcover, Jun 02 2013

Deficiency of 2^n. - Omar E. Pol, Jan 30 2014

Consider n >= 1 nonintersecting spheres each with surface area S. Define point p on sphere S_i to be a "public point" if and only if there exists a point q on sphere S_j, j != i, such that line segment pq INTERSECT S_i = {p} and pq INTERSECT S_j = {q}; otherwise, p is a "private point". The total surface area composed of exactly all private points on all n spheres is a(n)*S = S. ("The Private Planets Problem" in Zeitz.) - Rick L. Shepherd, May 29 2014

For n>0, digital roots of centered 9-gonal numbers (A060544). - Colin Barker, Jan 30 2015

Product of nonzero digits in base-2 representation of n. - Franklin T. Adams-Watters, May 16 2016

Alternating row sums of triangle A104684. - Wolfdieter Lang, Sep 11 2016

A fixed point of the run length transform. - Chai Wah Wu, Oct 21 2016

Length of period of continued fraction for sqrt(A002522) or sqrt(A002496). - A.H.M. Smeets, Oct 10 2017

a(n) is also the determinant of the (n+1) X (n+1) matrix M defined by M(i,j) = binomial(i,j) for 0 <= i,j <= n, since M is a lower triangular matrix with main diagonal all 1's. - Jianing Song, Jul 17 2018

a(n) is also the determinant of the symmetric n X n matrix M defined by M(i,j) = min(i,j) for 1 <= i,j <= n (see Xavier Merlin reference). - Bernard Schott, Dec 05 2018

a(n) is also the determinant of the symmetric n X n matrix M defined by M(i,j) = tau(gcd(i,j)) for 1 <= i,j <= n (see De Koninck & Mercier reference). - Bernard Schott, Dec 08 2020

The leading diagonal of its difference table is the sequence shifted, see Bernstein and Sloane (1995). - N. J. A. Sloane, Jul 04 2015

Also the number of equivalence relations that can be defined on a set of n elements. - Federico Arboleda (federico.arboleda(AT)gmail.com), Mar 09 2005

a(n) = number of nonisomorphic colorings of a map consisting of a row of n+1 adjacent regions. Adjacent regions cannot have the same color. - David W. Wilson, Feb 22 2005

If an integer is squarefree and has n distinct prime factors then a(n) is the number of ways of writing it as a product of its divisors. - Amarnath Murthy, Apr 23 2001

Consider rooted trees of height at most 2. Letting each tree 'grow' into the next generation of n means we produce a new tree for every node which is either the root or at height 1, which gives the Bell numbers. - Jon Perry, Jul 23 2003

Begin with [1,1] and follow the rule that [1,k] -> [1,k+1] and [1,k] k times, e.g., [1,3] is transformed to [1,4], [1,3], [1,3], [1,3]. Then a(n) is the sum of all components: [1,1] = 2; [1,2], [1,1] = 5; [1,3], [1,2], [1,2], [1,2], [1,1] = 15; etc. - Jon Perry, Mar 05 2004

Number of distinct rhyme schemes for a poem of n lines: a rhyme scheme is a string of letters (e.g., 'abba') such that the leftmost letter is always 'a' and no letter may be greater than one more than the greatest letter to its left. Thus 'aac' is not valid since 'c' is more than one greater than 'a'. For example, a(3)=5 because there are 5 rhyme schemes: aaa, aab, aba, abb, abc; also see example by Neven Juric. - Bill Blewett, Mar 23 2004

In other words, number of length-n restricted growth strings (RGS) [s(0),s(1),...,s(n-1)] where s(0)=0 and s(k) <= 1 + max(prefix) for k >= 1, see example (cf. A080337 and A189845). - Joerg Arndt, Apr 30 2011

Number of partitions of {1, ..., n+1} into subsets of nonconsecutive integers, including the partition 1|2|...|n+1. E.g., a(3)=5: there are 5 partitions of {1,2,3,4} into subsets of nonconsecutive integers, namely, 13|24, 13|2|4, 14|2|3, 1|24|3, 1|2|3|4. - Augustine O. Munagi, Mar 20 2005

Triangle (addition) scheme to produce terms, derived from the recurrence, from Oscar Arevalo (loarevalo(AT)sbcglobal.net), May 11 2005:

1

1 2

2 3 5

5 7 10 15

15 20 27 37 52

... [This is Aitken's array A011971]

With P(n) = the number of integer partitions of n, p(i) = the number of parts of the i-th partition of n, d(i) = the number of different parts of the i-th partition of n, p(j,i) = the j-th part of the i-th partition of n, m(i,j) = multiplicity of the j-th part of the i-th partition of n, one has: a(n) = Sum_{i=1..P(n)} (n!/(Product_{j=1..p(i)} p(i,j)!)) * (1/(Product_{j=1..d(i)} m(i,j)!)). - Thomas Wieder, May 18 2005

a(n+1) is the number of binary relations on an n-element set that are both symmetric and transitive. - Justin Witt (justinmwitt(AT)gmail.com), Jul 12 2005

If the rule from Jon Perry, Mar 05 2004, is used, then a(n-1) = [number of components used to form a(n)] / 2. - Daniel Kuan (dkcm(AT)yahoo.com), Feb 19 2006

a(n) is the number of functions f from {1,...,n} to {1,...,n,n+1} that satisfy the following two conditions for all x in the domain: (1) f(x) > x; (2) f(x)=n+1 or f(f(x))=n+1. E.g., a(3)=5 because there are exactly five functions that satisfy the two conditions: f1={(1,4),(2,4),(3,4)}, f2={(1,4),(2,3),(3,4)}, f3={(1,3),(2,4),(3,4)}, f4={(1,2),(2,4),(3,4)} and f5={(1,3),(2,3),(3,4)}. - Dennis P. Walsh, Feb 20 2006

Number of asynchronic siteswap patterns of length n which have no zero-throws (i.e., contain no 0's) and whose number of orbits (in the sense given by Allen Knutson) is equal to the number of balls. E.g., for n=4, the condition is satisfied by the following 15 siteswaps: 4444, 4413, 4242, 4134, 4112, 3441, 2424, 1344, 2411, 1313, 1241, 2222, 3131, 1124, 1111. Also number of ways to choose n permutations from identity and cyclic permutations (1 2), (1 2 3), ..., (1 2 3 ... n) so that their composition is identity. For n=3 we get the following five: id o id o id, id o (1 2) o (1 2), (1 2) o id o (1 2), (1 2) o (1 2) o id, (1 2 3) o (1 2 3) o (1 2 3). (To see the bijection, look at Ehrenborg and Readdy paper.) - Antti Karttunen, May 01 2006

a(n) is the number of permutations on [n] in which a 3-2-1 (scattered) pattern occurs only as part of a 3-2-4-1 pattern. Example: a(3) = 5 counts all permutations on [3] except 321. See "Eigensequence for Composition" reference a(n) = number of permutation tableaux of size n (A000142) whose first row contains no 0's. Example: a(3)=5 counts {{}, {}, {}}, {{1}, {}}, {{1}, {0}}, {{1}, {1}}, {{1, 1}}. - David Callan, Oct 07 2006

From Gottfried Helms, Mar 30 2007: (Start)

This sequence is also the first column in the matrix-exponential of the (lower triangular) Pascal-matrix, scaled by exp(-1): PE = exp(P) / exp(1) =

1

1 1

2 2 1

5 6 3 1

15 20 12 4 1

52 75 50 20 5 1

203 312 225 100 30 6 1

877 1421 1092 525 175 42 7 1

First 4 columns are A000110, A033306, A105479, A105480. The general case is mentioned in the two latter entries. PE is also the Hadamard-product Toeplitz(A000110) (X) P:

1

1 1

2 1 1

5 2 1 1

15 5 2 1 1 (X) P

52 15 5 2 1 1

203 52 15 5 2 1 1

877 203 52 15 5 2 1 1

(End)

The terms can also be computed with finite steps and precise integer arithmetic. Instead of exp(P)/exp(1) one can compute A = exp(P - I) where I is the identity-matrix of appropriate dimension since (P-I) is nilpotent to the order of its dimension. Then a(n)=A[n,1] where n is the row-index starting at 1. - Gottfried Helms, Apr 10 2007

When n is prime, a(n) == 2 (mod n), but the converse is not always true. Define a Bell pseudoprime to be a composite number n such that a(n) == 2 (mod n). W. F. Lunnon recently found the Bell pseudoprimes 21361 = 41*521 and C46 = 3*23*16218646893090134590535390526854205539989357 and conjectured that Bell pseudoprimes are extremely scarce. So the second Bell pseudoprime is unlikely to be known with certainty in the near future. I confirmed that 21361 is the first. - David W. Wilson, Aug 04 2007 and Sep 24 2007

This sequence and A000587 form a reciprocal pair under the list partition transform described in A133314. - Tom Copeland, Oct 21 2007

Starting (1, 2, 5, 15, 52, ...), equals row sums and right border of triangle A136789. Also row sums of triangle A136790. - Gary W. Adamson, Jan 21 2008

This is the exponential transform of A000012. - Thomas Wieder, Sep 09 2008

From Abdullahi Umar, Oct 12 2008: (Start)

a(n) is also the number of idempotent order-decreasing full transformations (of an n-chain).

a(n) is also the number of nilpotent partial one-one order-decreasing transformations (of an n-chain).

a(n+1) is also the number of partial one-one order-decreasing transformations (of an n-chain). (End)

From Peter Bala, Oct 19 2008: (Start)

Bell(n) is the number of n-pattern sequences [Cooper & Kennedy]. An n-pattern sequence is a sequence of integers (a_1,...,a_n) such that a_i = i or a_i = a_j for some j < i. For example, Bell(3) = 5 since the 3-pattern sequences are (1,1,1), (1,1,3), (1,2,1), (1,2,2) and (1,2,3).

Bell(n) is the number of sequences of positive integers (N_1,...,N_n) of length n such that N_1 = 1 and N_(i+1) <= 1 + max{j = 1..i} N_j for i >= 1 (see the comment by B. Blewett above). It is interesting to note that if we strengthen the latter condition to N_(i+1) <= 1 + N_i we get the Catalan numbers A000108 instead of the Bell numbers.

(End)

Equals the eigensequence of Pascal's triangle, A007318; and starting with offset 1, = row sums of triangles A074664 and A152431. - Gary W. Adamson, Dec 04 2008

The entries f(i, j) in the exponential of the infinite lower-triangular matrix of binomial coefficients b(i, j) are f(i, j) = b(i, j) e a(i - j). - David Pasino, Dec 04 2008

Equals lim_{k->oo} A071919^k. - Gary W. Adamson, Jan 02 2009

Equals A154107 convolved with A014182, where A014182 = expansion of exp(1-x-exp(-x)), the eigensequence of A007318^(-1). Starting with offset 1 = A154108 convolved with (1,2,3,...) = row sums of triangle A154109. - Gary W. Adamson, Jan 04 2009

Repeated iterates of (binomial transform of [1,0,0,0,...]) will converge upon (1, 2, 5, 15, 52, ...) when each result is prefaced with a "1"; such that the final result is the fixed limit: (binomial transform of [1,1,2,5,15,...]) = (1,2,5,15,52,...). - Gary W. Adamson, Jan 14 2009

From Karol A. Penson, May 03 2009: (Start)

Relation between the Bell numbers B(n) and the n-th derivative of 1/Gamma(1+x) evaluated at x=1:

a) produce a number of such derivatives through seq(subs(x=1, simplify((d^n/dx^n)GAMMA(1+x)^(-1))), n=1..5);

b) leave them expressed in terms of digamma (Psi(k)) and polygamma (Psi(k,n)) functions and unevaluated;

Examples of such expressions, for n=1..5, are:

n=1: -Psi(1),

n=2: -(-Psi(1)^2 + Psi(1,1)),

n=3: -Psi(1)^3 + 3*Psi(1)*Psi(1,1) - Psi(2,1),

n=4: -(-Psi(1)^4 + 6*Psi(1)^2*Psi(1,1) - 3*Psi(1,1)^2 - 4*Psi(1)*Psi(2,1) + Psi(3, 1)),

n=5: -Psi(1)^5 + 10*Psi(1)^3*Psi(1,1) - 15*Psi(1)*Psi(1,1)^2 - 10*Psi(1)^2*Psi(2,1) + 10*Psi(1,1)*Psi(2,1) + 5*Psi(1)*Psi(3,1) - Psi(4,1);

c) for a given n, read off the sum of absolute values of coefficients of every term involving digamma or polygamma functions.

This sum is equal to B(n). Examples: B(1)=1, B(2)=1+1=2, B(3)=1+3+1=5, B(4)=1+6+3+4+1=15, B(5)=1+10+15+10+10+5+1=52;

d) Observe that this decomposition of the Bell number B(n) apparently does not involve the Stirling numbers of the second kind explicitly.

(End)

The numbers given above by Penson lead to the multinomial coefficients A036040. - Johannes W. Meijer, Aug 14 2009

Column 1 of A162663. - Franklin T. Adams-Watters, Jul 09 2009

Asymptotic expansions (0!+1!+2!+...+(n-1)!)/(n-1)! = a(0) + a(1)/n + a(2)/n^2 + ... and (0!+1!+2!+...+n!)/n! = 1 + a(0)/n + a(1)/n^2 + a(2)/n^3 + .... - Michael Somos, Jun 28 2009

Starting with offset 1 = row sums of triangle A165194. - Gary W. Adamson, Sep 06 2009

a(n+1) = A165196(2^n); where A165196 begins: (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 12, 14, 15, ...). such that A165196(2^3) = 15 = A000110(4). - Gary W. Adamson, Sep 06 2009

The divergent series g(x=1,m) = 1^m*1! - 2^m*2! + 3^m*3! - 4^m*4! + ..., m >= -1, which for m=-1 dates back to Euler, is related to the Bell numbers. We discovered that g(x=1,m) = (-1)^m * (A040027(m) - A000110(m+1) * A073003). We observe that A073003 is Gompertz's constant and that A040027 was published by Gould, see for more information A163940. - Johannes W. Meijer, Oct 16 2009

a(n) = E(X^n), i.e., the n-th moment about the origin of a random variable X that has a Poisson distribution with (rate) parameter, lambda = 1. - Geoffrey Critzer, Nov 30 2009

Let A000110 = S(x), then S(x) = A(x)/A(x^2) when A(x) = A173110; or (1, 1, 2, 5, 15, 52, ...) = (1, 1, 3, 6, 20, 60, ...) / (1, 0, 1, 0, 3, 0, 6, 0, 20, ...). - Gary W. Adamson, Feb 09 2010

The Bell numbers serve as the upper limit for the number of distinct homomorphic images from any given finite universal algebra. Every algebra homomorphism is determined by its kernel, which must be a congruence relation. As the number of possible congruence relations with respect to a finite universal algebra must be a subset of its possible equivalence classes (given by the Bell numbers), it follows naturally. - Max Sills, Jun 01 2010

For a proof of the o.g.f. given in the R. Stephan comment see, e.g., the W. Lang link under A071919. - Wolfdieter Lang, Jun 23 2010

Let B(x) = (1 + x + 2x^2 + 5x^3 + ...). Then B(x) is satisfied by A(x)/A(x^2) where A(x) = polcoeff A173110: (1 + x + 3x^2 + 6x^3 + 20x^4 + 60x^5 + ...) = B(x) * B(x^2) * B(x^4) * B(x^8) * .... - Gary W. Adamson, Jul 08 2010

Consider a set of A000217(n) balls of n colors in which, for each integer k = 1 to n, exactly one color appears in the set a total of k times. (Each ball has exactly one color and is indistinguishable from other balls of the same color.) a(n+1) equals the number of ways to choose 0 or more balls of each color without choosing any two colors the same positive number of times. (See related comments for A000108, A008277, A016098.) - Matthew Vandermast, Nov 22 2010

A binary counter with faulty bits starts at value 0 and attempts to increment by 1 at each step. Each bit that should toggle may or may not do so. a(n) is the number of ways that the counter can have the value 0 after n steps. E.g., for n=3, the 5 trajectories are 0,0,0,0; 0,1,0,0; 0,1,1,0; 0,0,1,0; 0,1,3,0. - David Scambler, Jan 24 2011

No Bell number is divisible by 8, and no Bell number is congruent to 6 modulo 8; see Theorem 6.4 and Table 1.7 in Lunnon, Pleasants and Stephens. - Jon Perry, Feb 07 2011, clarified by Eric Rowland, Mar 26 2014

a(n+1) is the number of (symmetric) positive semidefinite n X n 0-1 matrices. These correspond to equivalence relations on {1,...,n+1}, where matrix element M[i,j] = 1 if and only if i and j are equivalent to each other but not to n+1. - Robert Israel, Mar 16 2011

a(n) is the number of monotonic-labeled forests on n vertices with rooted trees of height less than 2. We note that a labeled rooted tree is monotonic-labeled if the label of any parent vertex is greater than the label of any offspring vertex. See link "Counting forests with Stirling and Bell numbers". - Dennis P. Walsh, Nov 11 2011

a(n) = D^n(exp(x)) evaluated at x = 0, where D is the operator (1+x)*d/dx. Cf. A000772 and A094198. - Peter Bala, Nov 25 2011

B(n) counts the length n+1 rhyme schemes without repetitions. E.g., for n=2 there are 5 rhyme schemes of length 3 (aaa, aab, aba, abb, abc), and the 2 without repetitions are aba, abc. This is basically O. Munagi's result that the Bell numbers count partitions into subsets of nonconsecutive integers (see comment above dated Mar 20 2005). - Eric Bach, Jan 13 2012

Right and left borders and row sums of A212431 = A000110 or a shifted variant. - Gary W. Adamson, Jun 21 2012

Number of maps f: [n] -> [n] where f(x) <= x and f(f(x)) = f(x) (projections). - Joerg Arndt, Jan 04 2013

Permutations of [n] avoiding any given one of the 8 dashed patterns in the equivalence classes (i) 1-23, 3-21, 12-3, 32-1, and (ii) 1-32, 3-12, 21-3, 23-1. (See Claesson 2001 reference.) - David Callan, Oct 03 2013

Conjecture: No a(n) has the form x^m with m > 1 and x > 1. - Zhi-Wei Sun, Dec 02 2013

Sum_{n>=0} a(n)/n! = e^(e-1) = 5.57494152476..., see A234473. - Richard R. Forberg, Dec 26 2013 (This is the e.g.f. for x=1. - Wolfdieter Lang, Feb 02 2015)

Sum_{j=0..n} binomial(n,j)*a(j) = (1/e)*Sum_{k>=0} (k+1)^n/k! = (1/e) Sum_{k=1..oo} k^(n+1)/k! = a(n+1), n >= 0, using the Dobinski formula. See the comment by Gary W. Adamson, Dec 04 2008 on the Pascal eigensequence. - Wolfdieter Lang, Feb 02 2015

In fact it is not really an eigensequence of the Pascal matrix; rather the Pascal matrix acts on the sequence as a shift. It is an eigensequence (the unique eigensequence with eigenvalue 1) of the matrix derived from the Pascal matrix by adding at the top the row [1, 0, 0, 0 ...]. The binomial sum formula may be derived from the definition in terms of partitions: label any element X of a set S of N elements, and let X(k) be the number of subsets of S containing X with k elements. Since each subset has a unique coset, the number of partitions p(N) of S is given by p(N) = Sum_{k=1..N} (X(k) p(N-k)); trivially X(k) = N-1 choose k-1. - Mason Bogue, Mar 20 2015

a(n) is the number of ways to nest n matryoshkas (Russian nesting dolls): we may identify {1, 2, ..., n} with dolls of ascending sizes and the sets of a set partition with stacks of dolls. - Carlo Sanna, Oct 17 2015

Number of permutations of [n] where the initial elements of consecutive runs of increasing elements are in decreasing order. a(4) = 15: `1234, `2`134, `23`14, `234`1, `24`13, `3`124, `3`2`14, `3`24`1, `34`12, `34`2`1, `4`123, `4`2`13, `4`23`1, `4`3`12, `4`3`2`1. - Alois P. Heinz, Apr 27 2016

Taking with alternating signs, the Bell numbers are the coefficients in the asymptotic expansion (Ramanujan): (-1)^n*(A000166(n) - n!/exp(1)) ~ 1/n - 2/n^2 + 5/n^3 - 15/n^4 + 52/n^5 - 203/n^6 + O(1/n^7). - Vladimir Reshetnikov, Nov 10 2016

Number of treeshelves avoiding pattern T231. See A278677 for definitions and examples. - Sergey Kirgizov, Dec 24 2016

Presumably this satisfies Benford's law, although the results in Hürlimann (2009) do not make this clear. - N. J. A. Sloane, Feb 09 2017

a(n) = Sum(# of standard immaculate tableaux of shape m, m is a composition of n), where this sum is over all integer compositions m of n > 0. This formula is easily seen to hold by identifying standard immaculate tableaux of size n with set partitions of { 1, 2, ..., n }. For example, if we sum over integer compositions of 4 lexicographically, we see that 1+1+2+1+3+3+3+1 = 15 = A000110(4). - John M. Campbell, Jul 17 2017

a(n) is also the number of independent vertex sets (and vertex covers) in the (n-1)-triangular honeycomb bishop graph. - Eric W. Weisstein, Aug 10 2017

Even-numbered entries represent the numbers of configurations of identity and non-identity for alleles of a gene in n diploid individuals with distinguishable maternal and paternal alleles. - Noah A Rosenberg, Jan 28 2019

Number of partial equivalence relations (PERs) on a set with n elements (offset=1), i.e., number of symmetric, transitive (not necessarily reflexive) relations. The idea is to add a dummy element D to the set, and then take equivalence relations on the result; anything equivalent to D is then removed for the partial equivalence relation. - David Spivak, Feb 06 2019

Number of words of length n+1 with no repeated letters, when letters are unlabeled. - Thomas Anton, Mar 14 2019

Named by Becker and Riordan (1948) after the Scottish-American mathematician and writer Eric Temple Bell (1883 - 1960). - Amiram Eldar, Dec 04 2020

Also the number of partitions of {1,2,...,n+1} with at most one n+1 singleton. E.g., a(3)=5: {13|24, 12|34, 123|4, 14|23, 1234}. - Yuchun Ji, Dec 21 2020

a(n) is the number of sigma algebras on the set of n elements. Note that each sigma algebra is generated by a partition of the set. For example, the sigma algebra generated by the partition {{1}, {2}, {3,4}} is {{}, {1}, {2}, {1,2}, {3,4}, {1,3,4}, {2,3,4}, {1,2,3,4}}. - Jianing Song, Apr 01 2021

a(n) is the number of P_3-free graphs on n labeled nodes. - M. Eren Kesim, Jun 04 2021

a(n) is the number of functions X:([n] choose 2) -> {+,-} such that for any ordered 3-tuple abc we have X(ab)X(ac)X(bc) not in {+-+,++-,-++}. - Robert Lauff, Dec 09 2022

From Manfred Boergens, Mar 11 2025: (Start)

The partitions in the definition can be described as disjoint covers of the set. "Covers" in general give rise to the following amendments:

For disjoint covers which may include one empty set see A186021.

For arbitrary (including non-disjoint) covers see A003465.

For arbitrary (including non-disjoint) covers which may include one empty set see A000371. (End)

Sometimes also called lambda numbers.

Also denominators of continued fraction convergents to sqrt(2): 1, 3/2, 7/5, 17/12, 41/29, 99/70, 239/169, 577/408, 1393/985, 3363/2378, 8119/5741, 19601/13860, 47321/33461, 114243/80782, ... = A001333/A000129.

Number of lattice paths from (0,0) to the line x=n-1 consisting of U=(1,1), D=(1,-1) and H=(2,0) steps (i.e., left factors of Grand Schroeder paths); for example, a(3)=5, counting the paths H, UD, UU, DU and DD. - Emeric Deutsch, Oct 27 2002

a(2*n) with b(2*n) := A001333(2*n), n >= 1, give all (positive integer) solutions to Pell equation b^2 - 2*a^2 = +1 (see Emerson reference). a(2*n+1) with b(2*n+1) := A001333(2*n+1), n >= 0, give all (positive integer) solutions to Pell equation b^2 - 2*a^2 = -1.

Bisection: a(2*n+1) = T(2*n+1, sqrt(2))/sqrt(2) = A001653(n), n >= 0 and a(2*n) = 2*S(n-1,6) = 2*A001109(n), n >= 0, with T(n,x), resp. S(n,x), Chebyshev's polynomials of the first, resp. second kind. S(-1,x)=0. See A053120, resp. A049310. - Wolfdieter Lang, Jan 10 2003

Consider the mapping f(a/b) = (a + 2b)/(a + b). Taking a = b = 1 to start with and carrying out this mapping repeatedly on each new (reduced) rational number gives the following sequence 1/1, 3/2, 7/5, 17/12, 41/29, ... converging to 2^(1/2). Sequence contains the denominators. - Amarnath Murthy, Mar 22 2003

This is also the Horadam sequence (0,1,1,2). Limit_{n->oo} a(n)/a(n-1) = sqrt(2) + 1 = A014176. - Ross La Haye, Aug 18 2003

Number of 132-avoiding two-stack sortable permutations.

From Herbert Kociemba, Jun 02 2004: (Start)

For n > 0, the number of (s(0), s(1), ..., s(n)) such that 0 < s(i) < 4 and |s(i) - s(i-1)| <= 1 for i = 1,2,...,n, s(0) = 2, s(n) = 3.

Number of (s(0), s(1), ..., s(n)) such that 0 < s(i) < 4 and |s(i) - s(i-1)| <= 1 for i = 1,2,...,n, s(0) = 1, s(n) = 2. (End)

Counts walks of length n from a vertex of a triangle to another vertex to which a loop has been added. - Mario Catalani (mario.catalani(AT)unito.it), Jul 23 2004

Apart from initial terms, Pisot sequence P(2,5). See A008776 for definition of Pisot sequences. - David W. Wilson

Sums of antidiagonals of A038207 [Pascal's triangle squared]. - Ross La Haye, Oct 28 2004

The Pell primality test is "If N is an odd prime, then P(N)-Kronecker(2,N) is divisible by N". "Most" composite numbers fail this test, so it makes a useful pseudoprimality test. The odd composite numbers which are Pell pseudoprimes (i.e., that pass the above test) are in A099011. - Jack Brennen, Nov 13 2004

a(n) = sum of n-th row of triangle in A008288 = A094706(n) + A000079(n). - Reinhard Zumkeller, Dec 03 2004

Pell trapezoids (cf. A084158); for n > 0, A001109(n) = (a(n-1) + a(n+1))*a(n)/2; e.g., 1189 = (12+70)*29/2. - Charlie Marion, Apr 01 2006

(0!a(1), 1!a(2), 2!a(3), 3!a(4), ...) and (1,-2,-2,0,0,0,...) form a reciprocal pair under the list partition transform and associated operations described in A133314. - Tom Copeland, Oct 29 2007

Let C = (sqrt(2)+1) = 2.414213562..., then for n > 1, C^n = a(n)*(1/C) + a(n+1). Example: C^3 = 14.0710678... = 5*(0.414213562...) + 12. Let X = the 2 X 2 matrix [0, 1; 1, 2]; then X^n * [1, 0] = [a(n-1), a(n); a(n), a(n+1)]. a(n) = numerator of n-th convergent to (sqrt(2)-1) = 0.414213562... = [2, 2, 2, ...], the convergents being [1/2, 2/5, 5/12, ...]. - Gary W. Adamson, Dec 21 2007

A = sqrt(2) = 2/2 + 2/5 + 2/(5*29) + 2/(29*169) + 2/(169*985) + ...; B = ((5/2) - sqrt(2)) = 2/2 + 2/(2*12) + 2/(12*70) + 2/(70*408) + 2/(408*2378) + ...; A+B = 5/2. C = 1/2 = 2/(1*5) + 2/(2*12) + 2/(5*29) + 2/(12*70) + 2/(29*169) + ... - Gary W. Adamson, Mar 16 2008

From Clark Kimberling, Aug 27 2008: (Start)

Related convergents (numerator/denominator):

lower principal convergents: A002315/A001653

upper principal convergents: A001541/A001542

intermediate convergents: A052542/A001333

lower intermediate convergents: A005319/A001541

upper intermediate convergents: A075870/A002315

principal and intermediate convergents: A143607/A002965

lower principal and intermediate convergents: A143608/A079496

upper principal and intermediate convergents: A143609/A084068. (End)

Equals row sums of triangle A143808 starting with offset 1. - Gary W. Adamson, Sep 01 2008

Binomial transform of the sequence:= 0,1,0,2,0,4,0,8,0,16,..., powers of 2 alternating with zeros. - Philippe Deléham, Oct 28 2008

a(n) is also the sum of the n-th row of the triangle formed by starting with the top two rows of Pascal's triangle and then each next row has a 1 at both ends and the interior values are the sum of the three numbers in the triangle above that position. - Patrick Costello (pat.costello(AT)eku.edu), Dec 07 2008

Starting with offset 1 = eigensequence of triangle A135387 (an infinite lower triangular matrix with (2,2,2,...) in the main diagonal and (1,1,1,...) in the subdiagonal). - Gary W. Adamson, Dec 29 2008

Starting with offset 1 = row sums of triangle A153345. - Gary W. Adamson, Dec 24 2008

From Charlie Marion, Jan 07 2009: (Start)

In general, denominators, a(k,n) and numerators, b(k,n), of continued fraction convergents to sqrt((k+1)/k) may be found as follows:

let a(k,0) = 1, a(k,1) = 2k; for n > 0, a(k,2n) = 2*a(k,2n-1) + a(k,2n-2)

and a(k,2n+1) = (2k)*a(k,2n) + a(k,2n-1);

let b(k,0) = 1, b(k,1) = 2k+1; for n > 0, b(k,2n) = 2*b(k,2n-1) + b(k,2n-2)

and b(k,2n+1) = (2k)*b(k,2n) + b(k,2n-1).

For example, the convergents to sqrt(2/1) start 1/1, 3/2, 7/5, 17/12, 41/29.

In general, if a(k,n) and b(k,n) are the denominators and numerators, respectively, of continued fraction convergents to sqrt((k+1)/k) as defined above, then

k*a(k,2n)^2 - a(k,2n-1)*a(k,2n+1) = k = k*a(k,2n-2)*a(k,2n) - a(k,2n-1)^2 and

b(k,2n-1)*b(k,2n+1) - k*b(k,2n)^2 = k+1 = b(k,2n-1)^2 - k*b(k,2n-2)*b(k,2n);

for example, if k=1 and n=3, then a(1,n) = a(n+1) and

1*a(1,6)^2 - a(1,5)*a(1,7) = 1*169^2 - 70*408 = 1;

1*a(1,4)*a(1,6) - a(1,5)^2 = 1*29*169 - 70^2 = 1;

b(1,5)*b(1,7) - 1*b(1,6)^2 = 99*577 - 1*239^2 = 2;

b(1,5)^2 - 1*b(1,4)*b(1,6) = 99^2 - 1*41*239 = 2.

Cf. A001333, A142238, A142239, A153313, A153314, A153315, A153316, A153317, A153318.

(End)

Starting with offset 1 = row sums of triangle A155002, equivalent to the statement that the Fibonacci sequence convolved with the Pell sequence prefaced with a "1": (1, 1, 2, 5, 12, 29, ...) = (1, 2, 5, 12, 29, ...). - Gary W. Adamson, Jan 18 2009

It appears that P(p) == 8^((p-1)/2) (mod p), p = prime; analogous to [Schroeder, p. 90]: Fp == 5^((p-1)/2) (mod p). Example: Given P(11) = 5741, == 8^5 (mod 11). Given P(17) = 11336689, == 8^8 (mod 17) since 17 divides (8^8 - P(17)). - Gary W. Adamson, Feb 21 2009

Equals eigensequence of triangle A154325. - Gary W. Adamson, Feb 12 2009

Another combinatorial interpretation of a(n-1) arises from a simple tiling scenario. Namely, a(n-1) gives the number of ways of tiling a 1 X n rectangle with indistinguishable 1 X 2 rectangles and 1 X 1 squares that come in two varieties, say, A and B. For example, with C representing the 1 X 2 rectangle, we obtain a(4)=12 from AAA, AAB, ABA, BAA, ABB, BAB, BBA, BBB, AC, BC, CA and CB. - Martin Griffiths, Apr 25 2009

a(n+1) = 2*a(n) + a(n-1), a(1)=1, a(2)=2 was used by Theon from Smyrna. - Sture Sjöstedt, May 29 2009

The n-th Pell number counts the perfect matchings of the edge-labeled graph C_2 x P_(n-1), or equivalently, the number of domino tilings of a 2 X (n-1) cylindrical grid. - Sarah-Marie Belcastro, Jul 04 2009

As a fraction: 1/79 = 0.0126582278481... or 1/9799 = 0.000102051229...(1/119 and 1/10199 for sequence in reverse). - Mark Dols, May 18 2010

Limit_{n->oo} (a(n)/a(n-1) - a(n-1)/a(n)) tends to 2.0. Example: a(7)/a(6) - a(6)/a(7) = 169/70 - 70/169 = 2.0000845... - Gary W. Adamson, Jul 16 2010

Numbers k such that 2*k^2 +- 1 is a square. - Vincenzo Librandi, Jul 18 2010

Starting (1, 2, 5, ...) = INVERTi transform of A006190: (1, 3, 10, 33, 109, ...). - Gary W. Adamson, Aug 06 2010

[u,v] = [a(n), a(n-1)] generates all Pythagorean triples [u^2-v^2, 2uv, u^2+v^2] whose legs differ by 1. - James R. Buddenhagen, Aug 14 2010

An elephant sequence, see A175654. For the corner squares six A[5] vectors, with decimal values between 21 and 336, lead to this sequence (without the leading 0). For the central square these vectors lead to the companion sequence A078057. - Johannes W. Meijer, Aug 15 2010

Let the 2 X 2 square matrix A=[2, 1; 1, 0] then a(n) = the (1,1) element of A^(n-1). - Carmine Suriano, Jan 14 2011

Define a t-circle to be a first-quadrant circle tangent to the x- and y-axes. Such a circle has coordinates equal to its radius. Let C(0) be the t-circle with radius 1. Then for n > 0, define C(n) to be the next larger t-circle which is tangent to C(n - 1). C(n) has radius A001333(2n) + a(2n)*sqrt(2) and each of the coordinates of its point of intersection with C(n + 1) is a(2n + 1) + (A001333(2n + 1)*sqrt(2))/2. See similar Comments for A001109 and A001653, Sep 14 2005. - Charlie Marion, Jan 18 2012

A001333 and A000129 give the diagonal numbers described by Theon from Smyrna. - Sture Sjöstedt, Oct 20 2012

Pell numbers could also be called "silver Fibonacci numbers", since, for n >= 1, F(n+1) = ceiling(phi*F(n)), if n is even and F(n+1) = floor(phi*F(n)), if n is odd, where phi is the golden ratio, while a(n+1) = ceiling(delta*a(n)), if n is even and a(n+1) = floor(delta*a(n)), if n is odd, where delta = delta_S = 1+sqrt(2) is the silver ratio. - Vladimir Shevelev, Feb 22 2013

a(n) is the number of compositions (ordered partitions) of n-1 into two sorts of 1's and one sort of 2's. Example: the a(3)=5 compositions of 3-1=2 are 1+1, 1+1', 1'+1, 1'+1', and 2. - Bob Selcoe, Jun 21 2013

Between every two consecutive squares of a 1 X n array there is a flap that can be folded over one of the two squares. Two flaps can be lowered over the same square in 2 ways, depending on which one is on top. The n-th Pell number counts the ways n-1 flaps can be lowered. For example, a sideway representation for the case n = 3 squares and 2 flaps is \\., .//, \./, ./., .\., where . is an empty square. - Jean M. Morales, Sep 18 2013

Define a(-n) to be a(n) for n odd and -a(n) for n even. Then a(n) = A005319(k)*(a(n-2k+1) - a(n-2k)) + a(n-4k) = A075870(k)*(a(n-2k+2) - a(n-2k+1)) - a(n-4k+2). - Charlie Marion, Nov 26 2013

An alternative formulation of the combinatorial tiling interpretation listed above: Except for n=0, a(n-1) is the number of ways of partial tiling a 1 X n board with 1 X 1 squares and 1 X 2 dominoes. - Matthew Lehman, Dec 25 2013

Define a(-n) to be a(n) for n odd and -a(n) for n even. Then a(n) = A077444(k)*a(n-2k+1) + a(n-4k+2). This formula generalizes the formula used to define this sequence. - Charlie Marion, Jan 30 2014

a(n-1) is the top left entry of the n-th power of any of the 3 X 3 matrices [0, 1, 1; 1, 1, 1; 0, 1, 1], [0, 1, 1; 0, 1, 1; 1, 1, 1], [0, 1, 0; 1, 1, 1; 1, 1, 1] or [0, 0, 1; 1, 1, 1; 1, 1, 1]. - R. J. Mathar, Feb 03 2014

a(n+1) counts closed walks on K2 containing two loops on the other vertex. Equivalently the (1,1) entry of A^(n+1) where the adjacency matrix of digraph is A=(0,1;1,2). - David Neil McGrath, Oct 28 2014

For n >= 1, a(n) equals the number of ternary words of length n-1 avoiding runs of zeros of odd lengths. - Milan Janjic, Jan 28 2015

This is a divisibility sequence (i.e., if n|m then a(n)|a(m)). - Tom Edgar, Jan 28 2015

A strong divisibility sequence, that is, gcd(a(n), a(m)) = a(gcd(n, m)) for all positive integers n and m. - Michael Somos, Jan 03 2017

a(n) is the number of compositions (ordered partitions) of n-1 into two kinds of parts, n and n', when the order of the 1 does not matter, or equivalently, when the order of the 1' does not matter. Example: When the order of the 1 does not matter, the a(3)=5 compositions of 3-1=2 are 1+1, 1+1'=1+1, 1'+1', 2 and 2'. (Contrast with entry from Bob Selcoe dated Jun 21 2013.) - Gregory L. Simay, Sep 07 2017

Number of weak orderings R on {1,...,n} that are weakly single-peaked w.r.t. the total ordering 1 < ... < n and for which {1,...,n} has exactly one minimal element for the weak ordering R. - J. Devillet, Sep 28 2017

Also the number of matchings in the (n-1)-centipede graph. - Eric W. Weisstein, Sep 30 2017

Let A(r,n) be the total number of ordered arrangements of an n+r tiling of r red squares and white tiles of total length n, where the individual tile lengths can range from 1 to n. A(r,0) corresponds to a tiling of r red squares only, and so A(r,0)=1. Let A_1(r,n) = Sum_{j=0..n} A(r,j) and let A_s(r,n) = Sum_{j=0..n} A_(s-1)(r,j). Then A_0(1,n) + A_2(3,n-4) + A_4(5,n-8) + ... + A_(2j) (2j+1, n-4j) = a(n) without the initial 0. - Gregory L. Simay, May 25 2018

(1, 2, 5, 12, 29, ...) is the fourth INVERT transform of (1, -2, 5, -12, 29, ...), as shown in A073133. - Gary W. Adamson, Jul 17 2019

Number of 2-compositions of n restricted to odd parts (and allowed zeros); see Hopkins & Ouvry reference. - Brian Hopkins, Aug 17 2020

Also called the 2-metallonacci sequence; the g.f. 1/(1-k*x-x^2) gives the k-metallonacci sequence. - Michael A. Allen, Jan 23 2023

Named by Lucas (1878) after the English mathematician John Pell (1611-1685). - Amiram Eldar, Oct 02 2023

a(n) is the number of compositions of n when there are F(i) parts of size i, with i,n >= 1, F(n) the Fibonacci numbers, A000045(n) (see example below). - Enrique Navarrete, Dec 15 2023

The solution to Schröder's third problem.

Number of fixed-point-free involutions in symmetric group S_{2n} (cf. A000085).

a(n-2) is the number of full Steiner topologies on n points with n-2 Steiner points. [corrected by Lyle Ramshaw, Jul 20 2022]

a(n) is also the number of perfect matchings in the complete graph K(2n). - Ola Veshta (olaveshta(AT)my-deja.com), Mar 25 2001

Number of ways to choose n disjoint pairs of items from 2*n items. - Ron Zeno (rzeno(AT)hotmail.com), Feb 06 2002

Number of ways to choose n-1 disjoint pairs of items from 2*n-1 items (one item remains unpaired). - Bartosz Zoltak, Oct 16 2012

For n >= 1 a(n) is the number of permutations in the symmetric group S_(2n) whose cycle decomposition is a product of n disjoint transpositions. - Ahmed Fares (ahmedfares(AT)my-deja.com), Apr 21 2001

a(n) is the number of distinct products of n+1 variables with commutative, nonassociative multiplication. - Andrew Walters (awalters3(AT)yahoo.com), Jan 17 2004. For example, a(3)=15 because the product of the four variables w, x, y and z can be constructed in exactly 15 ways, assuming commutativity but not associativity: 1. w(x(yz)) 2. w(y(xz)) 3. w(z(xy)) 4. x(w(yz)) 5. x(y(wz)) 6. x(z(wy)) 7. y(w(xz)) 8. y(x(wz)) 9. y(z(wx)) 10. z(w(xy)) 11. z(x(wy)) 12. z(y(wx)) 13. (wx)(yz) 14. (wy)(xz) 15. (wz)(xy).

a(n) = E(X^(2n)), where X is a standard normal random variable (i.e., X is normal with mean = 0, variance = 1). So for instance a(3) = E(X^6) = 15, etc. See Abramowitz and Stegun or Hoel, Port and Stone. - Jerome Coleman, Apr 06 2004

Second Eulerian transform of 1,1,1,1,1,1,... The second Eulerian transform transforms a sequence s to a sequence t by the formula t(n) = Sum_{k=0..n} E(n,k)s(k), where E(n,k) is a second-order Eulerian number (A008517). - Ross La Haye, Feb 13 2005

Integral representation as n-th moment of a positive function on the positive axis: a(n) = Integral_{x=0..oo} x^n*exp(-x/2)/sqrt(2*Pi*x) dx, n >= 0. - Karol A. Penson, Oct 10 2005

a(n) is the number of binary total partitions of n+1 (each non-singleton block must be partitioned into exactly two blocks) or, equivalently, the number of unordered full binary trees with n+1 labeled leaves (Stanley, ex 5.2.6). - Mitch Harris, Aug 01 2006

a(n) is the Pfaffian of the skew-symmetric 2n X 2n matrix whose (i,j) entry is i for iDavid Callan, Sep 25 2006

a(n) is the number of increasing ordered rooted trees on n+1 vertices where "increasing" means the vertices are labeled 0,1,2,...,n so that each path from the root has increasing labels. Increasing unordered rooted trees are counted by the factorial numbers A000142. - David Callan, Oct 26 2006

Number of perfect multi Skolem-type sequences of order n. - Emeric Deutsch, Nov 24 2006

a(n) = total weight of all Dyck n-paths (A000108) when each path is weighted with the product of the heights of the terminal points of its upsteps. For example with n=3, the 5 Dyck 3-paths UUUDDD, UUDUDD, UUDDUD, UDUUDD, UDUDUD have weights 1*2*3=6, 1*2*2=4, 1*2*1=2, 1*1*2=2, 1*1*1=1 respectively and 6+4+2+2+1=15. Counting weights by height of last upstep yields A102625. - David Callan, Dec 29 2006

a(n) is the number of increasing ternary trees on n vertices. Increasing binary trees are counted by ordinary factorials (A000142) and increasing quaternary trees by triple factorials (A007559). - David Callan, Mar 30 2007

From Tom Copeland, Nov 13 2007, clarified in first and extended in second paragraph, Jun 12 2021: (Start)

a(n) has the e.g.f. (1-2x)^(-1/2) = 1 + x + 3*x^2/2! + ..., whose reciprocal is (1-2x)^(1/2) = 1 - x - x^2/2! - 3*x^3/3! - ... = b(0) - b(1)*x - b(2)*x^2/2! - ... with b(0) = 1 and b(n+1) = -a(n) otherwise. By the formalism of A133314, Sum_{k=0..n} binomial(n,k)*b(k)*a(n-k) = 0^n where 0^0 := 1. In this sense, the sequence a(n) is essentially self-inverse. See A132382 for an extension of this result. See A094638 for interpretations.

This sequence aerated has the e.g.f. e^(t^2/2) = 1 + t^2/2! + 3*t^4/4! + ... = c(0) + c(1)*t + c(2)*t^2/2! + ... and the reciprocal e^(-t^2/2); therefore, Sum_{k=0..n} cos(Pi k/2)*binomial(n,k)*c(k)*c(n-k) = 0^n; i.e., the aerated sequence is essentially self-inverse. Consequently, Sum_{k=0..n} (-1)^k*binomial(2n,2k)*a(k)*a(n-k) = 0^n. (End)

From Ross Drewe, Mar 16 2008: (Start)

This is also the number of ways of arranging the elements of n distinct pairs, assuming the order of elements is significant but the pairs are not distinguishable, i.e., arrangements which are the same after permutations of the labels are equivalent.

If this sequence and A000680 are denoted by a(n) and b(n) respectively, then a(n) = b(n)/n! where n! = the number of ways of permuting the pair labels.

For example, there are 90 ways of arranging the elements of 3 pairs [1 1], [2 2], [3 3] when the pairs are distinguishable: A = { [112233], [112323], ..., [332211] }.

By applying the 6 relabeling permutations to A, we can partition A into 90/6 = 15 subsets: B = { {[112233], [113322], [221133], [223311], [331122], [332211]}, {[112323], [113232], [221313], [223131], [331212], [332121]}, ....}

Each subset or equivalence class in B represents a unique pattern of pair relationships. For example, subset B1 above represents {3 disjoint pairs} and subset B2 represents {1 disjoint pair + 2 interleaved pairs}, with the order being significant (contrast A132101). (End)

A139541(n) = a(n) * a(2*n). - Reinhard Zumkeller, Apr 25 2008

a(n+1) = Sum_{j=0..n} A074060(n,j) * 2^j. - Tom Copeland, Sep 01 2008

From Emeric Deutsch, Jun 05 2009: (Start)

a(n) is the number of adjacent transpositions in all fixed-point-free involutions of {1,2,...,2n}. Example: a(2)=3 because in 2143=(12)(34), 3412=(13)(24), and 4321=(14)(23) we have 2 + 0 + 1 adjacent transpositions.

a(n) = Sum_{k>=0} k*A079267(n,k).

(End)

Hankel transform is A137592. - Paul Barry, Sep 18 2009

(1, 3, 15, 105, ...) = INVERT transform of A000698 starting (1, 2, 10, 74, ...). - Gary W. Adamson, Oct 21 2009

a(n) = (-1)^(n+1)*H(2*n,0), where H(n,x) is the probabilists' Hermite polynomial. The generating function for the probabilists' Hermite polynomials is as follows: exp(x*t-t^2/2) = Sum_{i>=0} H(i,x)*t^i/i!. - Leonid Bedratyuk, Oct 31 2009

The Hankel transform of a(n+1) is A168467. - Paul Barry, Dec 04 2009

Partial products of odd numbers. - Juri-Stepan Gerasimov, Oct 17 2010

See A094638 for connections to differential operators. - Tom Copeland, Sep 20 2011

a(n) is the number of subsets of {1,...,n^2} that contain exactly k elements from {1,...,k^2} for k=1,...,n. For example, a(3)=15 since there are 15 subsets of {1,2,...,9} that satisfy the conditions, namely, {1,2,5}, {1,2,6}, {1,2,7}, {1,2,8}, {1,2,9}, {1,3,5}, {1,3,6}, {1,3,7}, {1,3,8}, {1,3,9}, {1,4,5}, {1,4,6}, {1,4,7}, {1,4,8}, and {1,4,9}. - Dennis P. Walsh, Dec 02 2011

a(n) is the leading coefficient of the Bessel polynomial y_n(x) (cf. A001498). - Leonid Bedratyuk, Jun 01 2012

For n>0: a(n) is also the determinant of the symmetric n X n matrix M defined by M(i,j) = min(i,j)^2 for 1 <= i,j <= n. - Enrique Pérez Herrero, Jan 14 2013

a(n) is also the numerator of the mean value from 0 to Pi/2 of sin(x)^(2n). - Jean-François Alcover, Jun 13 2013

a(n) is the size of the Brauer monoid on 2n points (see A227545). - James Mitchell, Jul 28 2013

For n>1: a(n) is the numerator of M(n)/M(1) where the numbers M(i) have the property that M(n+1)/M(n) ~ n-1/2 (for example, large Kendell-Mann numbers, see A000140 or A181609, as n --> infinity). - Mikhail Gaichenkov, Jan 14 2014

a(n) = the number of upper-triangular matrix representations required for the symbolic representation of a first order central moment of the multivariate normal distribution of dimension 2(n-1), i.e., E[X_1*X_2...*X_(2n-2)|mu=0, Sigma]. See vignette for symmoments R package on CRAN and Phillips reference below. - Kem Phillips, Aug 10 2014

For n>1: a(n) is the number of Feynman diagrams of order 2n (number of internal vertices) for the vacuum polarization with one charged loop only, in quantum electrodynamics. - Robert Coquereaux, Sep 15 2014

Aerated with intervening zeros (1,0,1,0,3,...) = a(n) (cf. A123023), the e.g.f. is e^(t^2/2), so this is the base for the Appell sequence A099174 with e.g.f. e^(t^2/2) e^(x*t) = exp(P(.,x),t) = unsigned A066325(x,t), the probabilist's (or normalized) Hermite polynomials. P(n,x) = (a. + x)^n with (a.)^n = a_n and comprise the umbral compositional inverses for A066325(x,t) = exp(UP(.,x),t), i.e., UP(n,P(.,t)) = x^n = P(n,UP(.,t)), where UP(n,t) are the polynomials of A066325 and, e.g., (P(.,t))^n = P(n,t). - Tom Copeland, Nov 15 2014

a(n) = the number of relaxed compacted binary trees of right height at most one of size n. A relaxed compacted binary tree of size n is a directed acyclic graph consisting of a binary tree with n internal nodes, one leaf, and n pointers. It is constructed from a binary tree of size n, where the first leaf in a post-order traversal is kept and all other leaves are replaced by pointers. These links may point to any node that has already been visited by the post-order traversal. The right height is the maximal number of right-edges (or right children) on all paths from the root to any leaf after deleting all pointers. The number of unbounded relaxed compacted binary trees of size n is A082161(n). See the Genitrini et al. link. - Michael Wallner, Jun 20 2017

Also the number of distinct adjacency matrices in the n-ladder rung graph. - Eric W. Weisstein, Jul 22 2017

From Christopher J. Smyth, Jan 26 2018: (Start)

a(n) = the number of essentially different ways of writing a probability distribution taking n+1 values as a sum of products of binary probability distributions. See comment of Mitch Harris above. This is because each such way corresponds to a full binary tree with n+1 leaves, with the leaves labeled by the values. (This comment is due to Niko Brummer.)

Also the number of binary trees with root labeled by an (n+1)-set S, its n+1 leaves by the singleton subsets of S, and other nodes labeled by subsets T of S so that the two daughter nodes of the node labeled by T are labeled by the two parts of a 2-partition of T. This also follows from Mitch Harris' comment above, since the leaf labels determine the labels of the other vertices of the tree.

(End)

a(n) is the n-th moment of the chi-squared distribution with one degree of freedom (equivalent to Coleman's Apr 06 2004 comment). - Bryan R. Gillespie, Mar 07 2021

Let b(n) = 0 for n odd and b(2k) = a(k); i.e., let the sequence b(n) be an aerated version of this entry. After expanding the differential operator (x + D)^n and normal ordering the resulting terms, the integer coefficient of the term x^k D^m is n! b(n-k-m) / [(n-k-m)! k! m!] with 0 <= k,m <= n and (k+m) <= n. E.g., (x+D)^2 = x^2 + 2xD + D^2 + 1 with D = d/dx. The result generalizes to the raising (R) and lowering (L) operators of any Sheffer polynomial sequence by replacing x by R and D by L and follows from the disentangling relation e^{t(L+R)} = e^{t^2/2} e^{tR} e^{tL}. Consequently, these are also the coefficients of the reordered 2^n permutations of the binary symbols L and R under the condition LR = RL + 1. E.g., (L+R)^2 = LL + LR + RL + RR = LL + 2RL + RR + 1. (Cf. A344678.) - Tom Copeland, May 25 2021

From Tom Copeland, Jun 14 2021: (Start)

Lando and Zvonkin present several scenarios in which the double factorials occur in their role of enumerating perfect matchings (pairings) and as the nonzero moments of the Gaussian e^(x^2/2).

Speyer and Sturmfels (p. 6) state that the number of facets of the abstract simplicial complex known as the tropical Grassmannian G'''(2,n), the space of phylogenetic T_n trees (see A134991), or Whitehouse complex is a shifted double factorial.

These are also the unsigned coefficients of the x[2]^m terms in the partition polynomials of A134685 for compositional inversion of e.g.f.s, a refinement of A134991.

a(n)*2^n = A001813(n) and A001813(n)/(n+1)! = A000108(n), the Catalan numbers, the unsigned coefficients of the x[2]^m terms in the partition polynomials A133437 for compositional inversion of o.g.f.s, a refinement of A033282, A126216, and A086810. Then the double factorials inherit a multitude of analytic and combinatoric interpretations from those of the Catalan numbers, associahedra, and the noncrossing partitions of A134264 with the Catalan numbers as unsigned-row sums. (End)

Connections among the Catalan numbers A000108, the odd double factorials, values of the Riemann zeta function and its derivative for integer arguments, and series expansions of the reduced action for the simple harmonic oscillator and the arc length of the spiral of Archimedes are given in the MathOverflow post on the Riemann zeta function. - Tom Copeland, Oct 02 2021

b(n) = a(n) / (n! 2^n) = Sum_{k = 0..n} (-1)^n binomial(n,k) (-1)^k a(k) / (k! 2^k) = (1-b.)^n, umbrally; i.e., the normalized double factorial a(n) is self-inverse under the binomial transform. This can be proved by applying the Euler binomial transformation for o.g.f.s Sum_{n >= 0} (1-b.)^n x^n = (1/(1-x)) Sum_{n >= 0} b_n (x / (x-1))^n to the o.g.f. (1-x)^{-1/2} = Sum_{n >= 0} b_n x^n. Other proofs are suggested by the discussion in Watson on pages 104-5 of transformations of the Bessel functions of the first kind with b(n) = (-1)^n binomial(-1/2,n) = binomial(n-1/2,n) = (2n)! / (n! 2^n)^2. - Tom Copeland, Dec 10 2022

Number of ways n competitors can rank in a competition, allowing for the possibility of ties.

Also number of asymmetric generalized weak orders on n points.

Also called the ordered Bell numbers.

A weak order is a relation that is transitive and complete.

Called Fubini numbers by Comtet: counts formulas in Fubini theorem when switching the order of summation in multiple sums. - Olivier Gérard, Sep 30 2002 [Named after the Italian mathematician Guido Fubini (1879-1943). - Amiram Eldar, Jun 17 2021]

If the points are unlabeled then the answer is a(0) = 1, a(n) = 2^(n-1) (cf. A011782).

For n>0, a(n) is the number of elements in the Coxeter complex of type A_{n-1}. The corresponding sequence for type B is A080253 and there one can find a worked example as well as a geometric interpretation. - Tim Honeywill and Paul Boddington, Feb 10 2003

Also number of labeled (1+2)-free posets. - Detlef Pauly, May 25 2003

Also the number of chains of subsets starting with the empty set and ending with a set of n distinct objects. - Andrew Niedermaier, Feb 20 2004

From Michael Somos, Mar 04 2004: (Start)

Stirling transform of A007680(n) = [3,10,42,216,...] gives [3,13,75,541,...].

Stirling transform of a(n) = [1,3,13,75,...] is A083355(n) = [1,4,23,175,...].

Stirling transform of A000142(n) = [1,2,6,24,120,...] is a(n) = [1,3,13,75,...].

Stirling transform of A005359(n-1) = [1,0,2,0,24,0,...] is a(n-1) = [1,1,3,13,75,...].

Stirling transform of A005212(n-1) = [0,1,0,6,0,120,0,...] is a(n-1) = [0,1,3,13,75,...].

(End)

Unreduced denominators in convergent to log(2) = lim_{n->infinity} n*a(n-1)/a(n).

a(n) is congruent to a(n+(p-1)p^(h-1)) (mod p^h) for n >= h (see Barsky).

Stirling-Bernoulli transform of 1/(1-x^2). - Paul Barry, Apr 20 2005

This is the sequence of moments of the probability distribution of the number of tails before the first head in a sequence of fair coin tosses. The sequence of cumulants of the same probability distribution is A000629. That sequence is twice the result of deletion of the first term of this sequence. - Michael Hardy (hardy(AT)math.umn.edu), May 01 2005

With p(n) = the number of integer partitions of n, p(i) = the number of parts of the i-th partition of n, d(i) = the number of different parts of the i-th partition of n, p(j,i) = the j-th part of the i-th partition of n, m(i,j) = multiplicity of the j-th part of the i-th partition of n, one has: a(n) = Sum_{i=1..p(n)} (n!/(Product_{j=1..p(i)} p(i,j)!)) * (p(i)!/(Product_{j=1..d(i)} m(i,j)!)). - Thomas Wieder, May 18 2005

The number of chains among subsets of [n]. The summed term in the new formula is the number of such chains of length k. - Micha Hofri (hofri(AT)wpi.edu), Jul 01 2006

Occurs also as first column of a matrix-inversion occurring in a sum-of-like-powers problem. Consider the problem for any fixed natural number m>2 of finding solutions to the equation Sum_{k=1..n} k^m = (k+1)^m. Erdős conjectured that there are no solutions for n, m > 2. Let D be the matrix of differences of D[m,n] := Sum_{k=1..n} k^m - (k+1)^m. Then the generating functions for the rows of this matrix D constitute a set of polynomials in n (for varying n along columns) and the m-th polynomial defining the m-th row. Let GF_D be the matrix of the coefficients of this set of polynomials. Then the present sequence is the (unsigned) first column of GF_D^-1. - Gottfried Helms, Apr 01 2007

Assuming A = log(2), D is d/dx and f(x) = x/(exp(x)-1), we have a(n) = (n!/2*A^(n+1)) Sum_{k=0..n} (A^k/k!) D^n f(-A) which gives Wilf's asymptotic value when n tends to infinity. Equivalently, D^n f(-a) = 2*( A*a(n) - 2*a(n-1) ). - Martin Kochanski (mjk(AT)cardbox.com), May 10 2007

List partition transform (see A133314) of (1,-1,-1,-1,...). - Tom Copeland, Oct 24 2007

First column of A154921. - Mats Granvik, Jan 17 2009

A slightly more transparent interpretation of a(n) is as the number of 'factor sequences' of N for the case in which N is a product of n distinct primes. A factor sequence of N of length k is of the form 1 = x(1), x(2), ..., x(k) = N, where {x(i)} is an increasing sequence such that x(i) divides x(i+1), i=1,2,...,k-1. For example, N=70 has the 13 factor sequences {1,70}, {1,2,70}, {1,5,70}, {1,7,70}, {1,10,70}, {1,14,70}, {1,35,70}, {1,2,10,70}, {1,2,14,70}, {1,5,10,70}, {1,5,35,70}, {1,7,14,70}, {1,7,35,70}. - Martin Griffiths, Mar 25 2009

Starting (1, 3, 13, 75, ...) = row sums of triangle A163204. - Gary W. Adamson, Jul 23 2009

Equals double inverse binomial transform of A007047: (1, 3, 11, 51, ...). - Gary W. Adamson, Aug 04 2009

If f(x) = Sum_{n>=0} c(n)*x^n converges for every x, then Sum_{n>=0} f(n*x)/2^(n+1) = Sum_{n>=0} c(n)*a(n)*x^n. Example: Sum_{n>=0} exp(n*x)/2^(n+1) = Sum_{n>=0} a(n)*x^n/n! = 1/(2-exp(x)) = e.g.f. - Miklos Kristof, Nov 02 2009

Hankel transform is A091804. - Paul Barry, Mar 30 2010

It appears that the prime numbers greater than 3 in this sequence (13, 541, 47293, ...) are of the form 4n+1. - Paul Muljadi, Jan 28 2011

The Fi1 and Fi2 triangle sums of A028246 are given by the terms of this sequence. For the definitions of these triangle sums, see A180662. - Johannes W. Meijer, Apr 20 2011

The modified generating function A(x) = 1/(2-exp(x))-1 = x + 3*x^2/2! + 13*x^3/3! + ... satisfies the autonomous differential equation A' = 1 + 3*A + 2*A^2 with initial condition A(0) = 0. Applying [Bergeron et al., Theorem 1] leads to two combinatorial interpretations for this sequence: (A) a(n) gives the number of plane-increasing 0-1-2 trees on n vertices, where vertices of outdegree 1 come in 3 colors and vertices of outdegree 2 come in 2 colors. (B) a(n) gives the number of non-plane-increasing 0-1-2 trees on n vertices, where vertices of outdegree 1 come in 3 colors and vertices of outdegree 2 come in 4 colors. Examples are given below. - Peter Bala, Aug 31 2011

Starting with offset 1 = the eigensequence of A074909 (the beheaded Pascal's triangle), and row sums of triangle A208744. - Gary W. Adamson, Mar 05 2012

a(n) = number of words of length n on the alphabet of positive integers for which the letters appearing in the word form an initial segment of the positive integers. Example: a(2) = 3 counts 11, 12, 21. The map "record position of block containing i, 1<=i<=n" is a bijection from lists of sets on [n] to these words. (The lists of sets on [2] are 12, 1/2, 2/1.) - David Callan, Jun 24 2013

This sequence was the subject of one of the earliest uses of the database. Don Knuth, who had a computer printout of the database prior to the publication of the 1973 Handbook, wrote to N. J. A. Sloane on May 18, 1970, saying: "I have just had my first real 'success' using your index of sequences, finding a sequence treated by Cayley that turns out to be identical to another (a priori quite different) sequence that came up in connection with computer sorting." A000670 is discussed in Exercise 3 of Section 5.3.1 of The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 3, 1973. - N. J. A. Sloane, Aug 21 2014

Ramanujan gives a method of finding a continued fraction of the solution x of an equation 1 = x + a2*x^2 + ... and uses log(2) as the solution of 1 = x + x^2/2 + x^3/6 + ... as an example giving the sequence of simplified convergents as 0/1, 1/1, 2/3, 9/13, 52/75, 375/541, ... of which the sequence of denominators is this sequence, while A052882 is the numerators. - Michael Somos, Jun 19 2015

For n>=1, a(n) is the number of Dyck paths (A000108) with (i) n+1 peaks (UD's), (ii) no UUDD's, and (iii) at least one valley vertex at every nonnegative height less than the height of the path. For example, a(2)=3 counts UDUDUD (of height 1 with 2 valley vertices at height 0), UDUUDUDD, UUDUDDUD. These paths correspond, under the "glove" or "accordion" bijection, to the ordered trees counted by Cayley in the 1859 reference, after a harmless pruning of the "long branches to a leaf" in Cayley's trees. (Cayley left the reader to infer the trees he was talking about from examples for small n and perhaps from his proof.) - David Callan, Jun 23 2015

From David L. Harden, Apr 09 2017: (Start)

Fix a set X and define two distance functions d,D on X to be metrically equivalent when d(x_1,y_1) <= d(x_2,y_2) iff D(x_1,y_1) <= D(x_2,y_2) for all x_1, y_1, x_2, y_2 in X.

Now suppose that we fix a function f from unordered pairs of distinct elements of X to {1,...,n}. Then choose positive real numbers d_1 <= ... <= d_n such that d(x,y) = d_{f(x,y)}; the set of all possible choices of the d_i's makes this an n-parameter family of distance functions on X. (The simplest example of such a family occurs when n is a triangular number: When that happens, write n = (k 2). Then the set of all distance functions on X, when |X| = k, is such a family.) The number of such distance functions, up to metric equivalence, is a(n).

It is easy to see that an equivalence class of distance functions gives rise to a well-defined weak order on {d_1, ..., d_n}. To see that any weak order is realizable, choose distances from the set of integers {n-1, ..., 2n-2} so that the triangle inequality is automatically satisfied. (End)

a(n) is the number of rooted labeled forests on n nodes that avoid the patterns 213, 312, and 321. - Kassie Archer, Aug 30 2018

From A.H.M. Smeets, Nov 17 2018: (Start)

Also the number of semantic different assignments to n variables (x_1, ..., x_n) including simultaneous assignments. From the example given by Joerg Arndt (Mar 18 2014), this is easily seen by replacing

"{i}" by "x_i := expression_i(x_1, ..., x_n)",

"{i, j}" by "x_i, x_j := expression_i(x_1, .., x_n), expression_j(x_1, ..., x_n)", i.e., simultaneous assignment to two different variables (i <> j),

similar for simultaneous assignments to more variables, and

"<" by ";", i.e., the sequential constructor. These examples are directly related to "Number of ways n competitors can rank in a competition, allowing for the possibility of ties." in the first comment.

From this also the number of different mean definitions as obtained by iteration of n different mean functions on n initial values. Examples:

the AGM(x1,x2) = AGM(x2,x1) is represented by {arithmetic mean, geometric mean}, i.e., simultaneous assignment in any iteration step;

Archimedes's scheme (for Pi) is represented by {geometric mean} < {harmonic mean}, i.e., sequential assignment in any iteration step;

the geometric mean of two values can also be observed by {arithmetic mean, harmonic mean};

the AGHM (as defined in A319215) is represented by {arithmetic mean, geometric mean, harmonic mean}, i.e., simultaneous assignment, but there are 12 other semantic different ways to assign the values in an AGHM scheme.

By applying power means (also called Holder means) this can be extended to any value of n. (End)

Total number of faces of all dimensions in the permutohedron of order n. For example, the permutohedron of order 3 (a hexagon) has 6 vertices + 6 edges + 1 2-face = 13 faces, and the permutohedron of order 4 (a truncated octahedron) has 24 vertices + 36 edges + 14 2-faces + 1 3-face = 75 faces. A001003 is the analogous sequence for the associahedron. - Noam Zeilberger, Dec 08 2019

Number of odd multinomial coefficients N!/(a_1!*a_2!*...*a_k!). Here each a_i is positive, and Sum_{i} a_i = N (so 2^{N-1} multinomial coefficients in all), where N is any positive integer whose binary expansion has n 1's. - Richard Stanley, Apr 05 2022 (edited Oct 19 2022)

From Peter Bala, Jul 08 2022: (Start)

Conjecture: Let k be a positive integer. The sequence obtained by reducing a(n) modulo k is eventually periodic with the period dividing phi(k) = A000010(k). For example, modulo 16 we obtain the sequence [1, 1, 3, 13, 11, 13, 11, 13, 11, 13, ...], with an apparent period of 2 beginning at a(4). Cf. A354242.

More generally, we conjecture that the same property holds for integer sequences having an e.g.f. of the form G(exp(x) - 1), where G(x) is an integral power series. (End)

a(n) is the number of ways to form a permutation of [n] and then choose a subset of its descent set. - Geoffrey Critzer, Apr 29 2023

This is the Akiyama-Tanigawa transform of A000079, the powers of two. - Shel Kaphan, May 02 2024

Total number of permutations of all subsets of an n-set.

Also the number of one-to-one sequences that can be formed from n distinct objects.

Old name "Total number of permutations of a set with n elements", or the same with the word "arrangements", both sound too much like A000142.

Related to number of operations of addition and multiplication to evaluate a determinant of order n by cofactor expansion - see A026243.

a(n) is also the number of paths (without loops) in the complete graph on n+2 vertices starting at one vertex v1 and ending at another v2. Example: when n=2 there are 5 paths in the complete graph with 4 vertices starting at the vertex 1 and ending at the vertex 2: (12),(132),(142),(1342),(1432) so a(2) = 5. - Avi Peretz (njk(AT)netvision.net.il), Feb 23 2001; comment corrected by Jonathan Coxhead, Mar 21 2003

Also row sums of Table A008279, which can be generated by taking the derivatives of x^k. For example, for y = 1*x^3, y' = 3x^2, y" = 6x, y'''= 6 so a(4) = 1 + 3 + 6 + 6 = 16. - Alford Arnold, Dec 15 1999

a(n) is the permanent of the n X n matrix with 2s on the diagonal and 1s elsewhere. - Yuval Dekel, Nov 01 2003

(A000166 + this_sequence)/2 = A009179, (A000166 - this_sequence)/2 = A009628.

Stirling transform of A006252(n-1) = [1,1,1,2,4,14,38,...] is a(n-1) = [1,2,5,16,65,...]. - Michael Somos, Mar 04 2004

Number of {12,12*,21*}- and {12,12*,2*1}-avoiding signed permutations in the hyperoctahedral group.

a(n) = b such that Integral_{x=0..1} x^n*exp(-x) dx = a-b*exp(-1). - Sébastien Dumortier, Mar 05 2005

a(n) is the number of permutations on [n+1] whose left-to-right record lows all occur at the start. Example: a(2) counts all permutations on [3] except 231 (the last entry is a record low but its predecessor is not). - David Callan, Jul 20 2005

a(n) is the number of permutations on [n+1] that avoid the (scattered) pattern 1-2-3|. The vertical bar means the "3" must occur at the end of the permutation. For example, 21354 is not counted by a(4): 234 is an offending subpermutation. - David Callan, Nov 02 2005

Number of deco polyominoes of height n+1 having no reentrant corners along the lower contour (i.e., no vertical step that is followed by a horizontal step). In other words, a(n)=A121579(n+1,0). A deco polyomino is a directed column-convex polyomino in which the height, measured along the diagonal, is attained only in the last column. Example: a(1)=2 because the only deco polyominoes of height 2 are the vertical and horizontal dominoes, having no reentrant corners along their lower contours. - Emeric Deutsch, Aug 16 2006

Unreduced numerators of partial sums of the Taylor series for e. - Jonathan Sondow, Aug 18 2006

a(n) is the number of permutations on [n+1] (written in one-line notation) for which the subsequence beginning at 1 is increasing. Example: a(2)=5 counts 123, 213, 231, 312, 321. - David Callan, Oct 06 2006

a(n) is the number of permutations (written in one-line notation) on the set [n + k], k >= 1, for which the subsequence beginning at 1,2,...,k is increasing. Example: n = 2, k = 2. a(2) = 5 counts 1234, 3124, 3412, 4123, 4312. - Peter Bala, Jul 29 2014

a(n) and (1,-2,3,-4,5,-6,7,...) form a reciprocal pair under the list partition transform and associated operations described in A133314. - Tom Copeland, Nov 01 2007

Consider the subsets of the set {1,2,3,...,n} formed by the first n integers. E.g., for n = 3 we have {}, {1}, {2}, {3}, {1,2}, {1,3}, {2,3}, {1,2,3}. Let the variable sbst denote a subset. For each subset sbst we determine its number of parts, that is nprts(sbst). The sum over all possible subsets is written as Sum_{sbst=subsets}. Then a(n) = Sum_{sbst=subsets} nprts(sbst)!. E.g., for n = 3 we have 1!+1!+1!+1!+2!+2!+2!+3!=16. - Thomas Wieder, Jun 17 2006

Equals row sums of triangle A158359(unsigned). - Gary W. Adamson, Mar 17 2009

Equals eigensequence of triangle A158821. - Gary W. Adamson, Mar 30 2009

For positive n, equals 1/BarnesG(n+1) times the determinant of the n X n matrix whose (i,j)-coefficient is the (i+j)th Bell number. - John M. Campbell, Oct 03 2011

a(n) is the number of n X n binary matrices with i) at most one 1 in each row and column and ii) the subset of rows that contain a 1 must also be the columns that contain a 1. Cf. A002720 where restriction ii is removed. - Geoffrey Critzer, Dec 20 2011

Number of restricted growth strings (RGS) [d(1),d(2),...,d(n)] such that d(k) <= k and d(k) <= 1 + (number of nonzero digits in prefix). The positions of nonzero digits determine the subset, and their values (decreased by 1) are the (left) inversion table (a rising factorial number) for the permutation, see example. - Joerg Arndt, Dec 09 2012

Number of a restricted growth strings (RGS) [d(0), d(1), d(2), ..., d(n)] where d(k) >= 0 and d(k) <= 1 + chg([d(0), d(1), d(2), ..., d(k-1)]) and chg(.) gives the number of changes of its argument. Replacing the function chg(.) by a function asc(.) that counts the ascents in the prefix gives A022493 (ascent sequences). - Joerg Arndt, May 10 2013

The sequence t(n) = number of i <= n such that floor(e*i!) is a square is mentioned in the abstract of Luca & Shparlinski. The values are t(n) = 0 for 0 <= n <= 2 and t(n) = 1 for at least 3 <= n <= 300. - R. J. Mathar, Jan 16 2014

a(n) = p(n,1) = q(n,1), where p and q are polynomials defined at A248664 and A248669. - Clark Kimberling, Oct 11 2014

a(n) is the number of ways at most n people can queue up at a (slow) ticket counter when one or more of the people may choose not to queue up. Note that there are C(n,k) sets of k people who quene up and k! ways to queue up. Since k can run from 0 to n, a(n) = Sum_{k=0..n} n!/(n-k)! = Sum_{k=0..n} n!/k!. For example, if n=3 and the people are A(dam), B(eth), and C(arl), a(3)=16 since there are 16 possible lineups: ABC, ACB, BAC, BCA, CAB, CBA, AB, BA, AC, CA, BC, CB, A, B, C, and empty queue. - Dennis P. Walsh, Oct 02 2015

As the row sums of A008279, Motzkin uses the abbreviated notation $n_<^\Sigma$ for a(n).

The piecewise polynomial function f defined by f(x) = a(n)*x^n/n! on each interval [ 1-1/a(n), 1-1/a(n+1) ) is continuous on [0,1) and lim_{x->1} f(x) = e. - Luc Rousseau, Oct 15 2019

a(n) is composite for 3 <= n <= 2015, but a(2016) is prime (or at least a strong pseudoprime): see Johansson link. - Robert Israel, Jul 27 2020 [a(2016) is prime, ECPP certificate generated with CM 0.4.3 and checked by factordb. - Jason H Parker, Jun 15 2025]

In general, sequences of the form a(0)=a, a(n) = n*a(n-1) + k, n>0, will have a closed form of n!*a + floor(n!*(e-1))*k. - Gary Detlefs, Oct 26 2020

From Peter Bala, Apr 03 2022: (Start)

a(2*n) is odd and a(2*n+1) is even. More generally, a(n+k) == a(n) (mod k) for all n and k. It follows that for each positive integer k, the sequence obtained by reducing a(n) modulo k is periodic, with the exact period dividing k. Various divisibility properties of the sequence follow from this; for example, a(5*n+2) == a(5*n+4) == 0 (mod 5), a(25*n+7) == a(25*n+19) == 0 (mod 25) and a(13*n+4) == a(13*n+10)== a(13*n+12) == 0 (mod 13). (End)

Number of possible ranking options on a typical ranked choice voting ballot with n candidates (allowing undervotes). - P. Christopher Staecker, May 05 2024

From Thomas Scheuerle, Dec 28 2024: (Start)

Number of decorated permutations of size n.

Number of Le-diagrams with bounding box semiperimeter n, for n > 0.

By counting over all k = 1..n and n > 0, the number of positroid cells for the totally nonnegative real Grassmannian Gr(k, n), equivalently the number of Grassmann necklaces of type (k, n). (End)

Determinant of n X n matrix M=[m(i,j)] where m(i,i)=i, m(i,j)=1 if i > j, m(i,j)=i-j if j > i. - Vladeta Jovovic, Jan 19 2003

With p(n) = the number of integer partitions of n, d(i) = the number of different parts of the i-th partition of n, m(i,j) = multiplicity of the j-th part of the i-th partition of n, Sum_{i=1..p(n)} = sum over i and Product_{j=1..d(i)} = product over j, one has: a(n) = Sum_{i=1..p(n)} n!/(Product_{j=1..d(i)} m(i,j)!). - Thomas Wieder, May 18 2005

Consider all n! permutations of the integer sequence [n] = 1,2,3,...,n. The i-th permutation, i=1,2,...,n!, consists of Z(i) permutation cycles. Such a cycle has the length lc(i,j), j=1,...,Z(i). For a given permutation we form the product of all its cycle lengths Product_{j=1..Z(i)} lc(i,j). Furthermore, we sum up all such products for all permutations of [n] which gives Sum_{i=1..n!} Product_{j=1..Z(i)} lc(i,j) = A000262(n). For n=4 we have Sum_{i=1..n!} Product_{j=1..Z(i)} lc(i,j) = 1*1*1*1 + 2*1*1 + 3*1 + 2*1*1 + 3*1 + 2*1 + 3*1 + 4 + 3*1 + 4 + 2*2 + 2*1*1 + 3*1 + 4 + 3*1 + 2*1*1 + 2*2 + 4 + 2*2 + 4 + 3*1 + 2*1*1 + 3*1 + 4 = 73 = A000262(4). - Thomas Wieder, Oct 06 2006

For a finite set S of size n, a chain gang G of S is a partially ordered set (S,<=) consisting only of chains. The number of chain gangs of S is a(n). For example, with S={a, b}and n=2, there are a(2)=3 chain gangs of S, namely, {(a,a),(b,b)}, {(a,a),(a,b),(b,b)} and {(a,a),(b,a),(b,b)}. - Dennis P. Walsh, Feb 22 2007

(-1)*A000262 with the first term set to 1 and A084358 form a reciprocal pair under the list partition transform and associated operations described in A133314. Cf. A133289. - Tom Copeland, Oct 21 2007

Consider the distribution of n unlabeled elements "1" onto n levels where empty levels are allowed. In addition, the empty levels are labeled. Their names are 0_1, 0_2, 0_3, etc. This sequence gives the total number of such distributions. If the empty levels are unlabeled ("0"), then the answer is A001700. Let the colon ":" separate two levels. Then, for example, for n=3 we have a(3)=13 arrangements: 111:0_1:0_2, 0_1:111:0_2, 0_1:0_2:111, 111:0_2:0_1, 0_2:111:0_1, 0_2:0_1:111, 11:1:0, 11:0:1, 0:11:1, 1:11:0, 1:0:11, 0:1:11, 1:1:1. - Thomas Wieder, May 25 2008

Row sums of exponential Riordan array [1,x/(1-x)]. - Paul Barry, Jul 24 2008

a(n) is the number of partitions of [n] (A000110) into lists of noncrossing sets. For example, a(3)=3 counts 12, 1-2, 2-1 and a(4) = 73 counts the 75 partitions of [n] into lists of sets (A000670) except for 13-24, 24-13 which fail to be noncrossing. - David Callan, Jul 25 2008

a(i-j)/(i-j)! gives the value of the non-null element (i, j) of the lower triangular matrix exp(S)/exp(1), where S is the lower triangular matrix - of whatever dimension - having all its (non-null) elements equal to one. - Giuliano Cabrele, Aug 11 2008, Sep 07 2008

a(n) is also the number of nilpotent partial one-one bijections (of an n-element set). Equivalently, it is the number of nilpotents in the symmetric inverse semigroup (monoid). - Abdullahi Umar, Sep 14 2008

A000262 is the exp transform of the factorial numbers A000142. - Thomas Wieder, Sep 10 2008

If n is a positive integer then the infinite continued fraction (1+n)/(1+(2+n)/(2+(3+n)/(3+...))) converges to the rational number A052852(n)/A000262(n). - David Angell (angell(AT)maths.unsw.edu.au), Dec 18 2008

Vladeta Jovovic's formula dated Sep 20 2006 can be restated as follows: a(n) is the n-th ascending factorial moment of the Poisson distribution with parameter (mean) 1. - Shai Covo (green355(AT)netvision.net.il), Jan 25 2010

The umbral exponential generating function for a(n) is (1-x)^{-B}. In other words, write (1-x)^{-B} as a power series in x whose coefficients are polynomials in B, and then replace B^k with the Bell number B_k. We obtain a(0) + a(1)x + a(2)x^2/2! + ... . - Richard Stanley, Jun 07 2010

a(n) is the number of Dyck n-paths (A000108) with its peaks labeled 1,2,...,k in some order, where k is the number of peaks. For example a(2)=3 counts U(1)DU(2)D, U(2)DU(1)D, UU(1)DD where the label at each peak is in parentheses. This is easy to prove using generating functions. - David Callan, Aug 23 2011

a(n) = number of permutations of the multiset {1,1,2,2,...,n,n} such that for 1 <= i <= n, all entries between the two i's exceed i and if any such entries are present, they include n. There are (2n-1)!! permutations satisfying the first condition, and for example: a(3)=13 counts all 5!!=15 of them except 331221 and 122133 which fail the second condition. - David Callan, Aug 27 2014

a(n) is the number of acyclic, injective functions from subsets of [n] to [n]. Let subset D of [n] have size k. The number of acyclic, injective functions from D to [n] is (n-1)!/(n-k-1)! and hence a(n) = Sum_{k=0..n-1} binomial(n,k)*(n-1)!/(n-k-1)!. - Dennis P. Walsh, Nov 05 2015

a(n) is the number of acyclic, injective, labeled directed graphs on n vertices with each vertex having outdegree at most one. - Dennis P. Walsh, Nov 05 2015

For n > 0, a(n) is the number of labeled-rooted skinny-tree forests on n nodes. A skinny tree is a tree in which each vertex has at most one child. Let k denote the number of trees. There are binomial(n,k) ways to choose the roots, binomial(n-1,k-1) ways to choose the number of descendants for each root, and (n-k)! ways to permute those descendants. Summing over k, we obtain a(n) = Sum_{k=1..n} C(n,k)*C(n-1,k-1)*(n-k)!. - Dennis P. Walsh, Nov 10 2015

This is the Sheffer transform of the Bell numbers A000110 with the Sheffer matrix S = |Stirling1| = (1, -log(1-x)) = A132393. See the e.g.f. formula, a Feb 21 2017 comment on A048993, and R. Stanley's Jun 07 2010 comment above. - Wolfdieter Lang, Feb 21 2017

All terms = {1, 3} mod 10. - Muniru A Asiru, Oct 01 2017

We conjecture that for k = 2,3,4,..., the difference a(n+k) - a(n) is divisible by k: if true, then for each k the sequence a(n) taken modulo k is periodic with period dividing k. - Peter Bala, Nov 14 2017

The above conjecture is true - see the Bala link. - Peter Bala, Jan 20 2018

The terms of this sequence can be derived from the numerators of the fractions, produced by the recursion: b(0) = 1, b(n) = 1 + ((n-1) * b(n-1)) / (n-1 + b(n-1)) for n > 0. The denominators give A002720. - Dimitris Valianatos, Aug 01 2018

a(n) is the number of rooted labeled forests on n nodes that avoid the patterns 213, 312, and 123. It is also the number of rooted labeled forests that avoid 312, 213, and 132, as well as the number of rooted labeled forests that avoid 132, 213, and 321. - Kassie Archer, Aug 30 2018

For n > 0, a(n) is the number of partitions of [2n-1] whose nontrivial blocks are of type {a,b}, with a <= n and b > n. In fact, for n > 0, a(n) = A056953(2n-1). - Francesca Aicardi, Nov 03 2022

For n > 0, a(n) is the number of ways to split n people into nonempty groups, have each group sit around a circular table, and select one person from each table (where two seating arrangements are considered identical if each person has the same left neighbors in both of them). - Enrique Navarrete, Oct 01 2023

a(n) is also the size of the automorphism group of the graph (edge graph) of the n-dimensional hypercube and also of the geometric automorphism group of the hypercube (the two groups are isomorphic). This group is an extension of an elementary Abelian group (C_2)^n by S_n. (C_2 is the cyclic group with two elements and S_n is the symmetric group.) - Avi Peretz (njk(AT)netvision.net.il), Feb 21 2001

Then a(n) appears in the power series: sqrt(1+sin(y)) = Sum_{n>=0} (-1)^floor(n/2)*y^(n)/a(n) and sqrt((1+cos(y))/2) = Sum_{n>=0} (-1)^n*y^(2n)/a(2n). - Benoit Cloitre, Feb 02 2002

Appears to be the BinomialMean transform of A001907. See A075271. - John W. Layman, Sep 28 2002

Number of n X n monomial matrices with entries 0, +-1.

Also number of linear signed orders.

Define a "downgrade" to be the permutation d which places the items of a permutation p in descending order. This note concerns those permutations that are equal to their double-downgrades. The number of permutations of order 2n having this property are equinumerous with those of order 2n+1. a(n) = number of double-downgrading permutations of order 2n and 2n+1. - Eugene McDonnell (eemcd(AT)mac.com), Oct 27 2003

a(n) = (Integral_{x=0..Pi/2} cos(x)^(2*n+1) dx) where the denominators are b(n) = (2*n)!/(n!*2^n). - Al Hakanson (hawkuu(AT)excite.com), Mar 02 2004

1 + (1/2)x - (1/8)x^2 - (1/48)x^3 + (1/384)x^4 + ... = sqrt(1+sin(x)).

a(n)*(-1)^n = coefficient of the leading term of the (n+1)-th derivative of arctan(x), see Hildebrand link. - Reinhard Zumkeller, Jan 14 2006

a(n) is the Pfaffian of the skew-symmetric 2n X 2n matrix whose (i,j) entry is j for iDavid Callan, Sep 25 2006

a(n) is the number of increasing plane trees with n+1 edges. (In a plane tree, each subtree of the root is an ordered tree but the subtrees of the root may be cyclically rotated.) Increasing means the vertices are labeled 0,1,2,...,n+1 and each child has a greater label than its parent. Cf. A001147 for increasing ordered trees, A000142 for increasing unordered trees and A000111 for increasing 0-1-2 trees. - David Callan, Dec 22 2006

Hamed Hatami and Pooya Hatami prove that this is an upper bound on the cardinality of any minimal dominating set in C_{2n+1}^n, the Cartesian product of n copies of the cycle of size 2n+1, where 2n+1 is a prime. - Jonathan Vos Post, Jan 03 2007

This sequence and (1,-2,0,0,0,0,...) form a reciprocal pair under the list partition transform and associated operations described in A133314. - Tom Copeland, Oct 29 2007

a(n) = number of permutations of the multiset {1,1,2,2,...,n,n,n+1,n+1} such that between the two occurrences of i, there is exactly one entry >i, for i=1,2,...,n. Example: a(2) = 8 counts 121323, 131232, 213123, 231213, 232131, 312132, 321312, 323121. Proof: There is always exactly one entry between the two 1s (when n>=1). Given a permutation p in A(n) (counted by a(n)), record the position i of the first 1, then delete both 1s and subtract 1 from every entry to get a permutation q in A(n-1). The mapping p -> (i,q) is a bijection from A(n) to the Cartesian product [1,2n] X A(n-1). - David Callan, Nov 29 2007

Row sums of A028338. - Paul Barry, Feb 07 2009

a(n) is the number of ways to seat n married couples in a row so that everyone is next to their spouse. Compare A007060. - Geoffrey Critzer, Mar 29 2009

From Gary W. Adamson, Apr 21 2009: (Start)

Equals (-1)^n * (1, 1, 2, 8, 48, ...) dot (1, -3, 5, -7, 9, ...).

Example: a(4) = 384 = (1, 1, 2, 8, 48) dot (1, -3, 5, -7, 9) = (1, -3, 10, -56, 432). (End)

exp(x/2) = Sum_{n>=0} x^n/a(n). - Jaume Oliver Lafont, Sep 07 2009

Assuming n starts at 0, a(n) appears to be the number of Gray codes on n bits. It certainly is the number of Gray codes on n bits isomorphic to the canonical one. Proof: There are 2^n different starting positions for each code. Also, each code has a particular pattern of bit positions that are flipped (for instance, 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 for n=3), and these bit position patterns can be permuted in n! ways. - D. J. Schreffler (ds1404(AT)txstate.edu), Jul 18 2010

E.g.f. of 0,1,2,8,... is x/(1-2x/(2-2x/(3-8x/(4-8x/(5-18x/(6-18x/(7-... (continued fraction). - Paul Barry, Jan 17 2011

Number of increasing 2-colored trees with choice of two colors for each edge. In general, if we replace 2 with k we get the number of increasing k-colored trees. For example, for k=3 we get the triple factorial numbers. - Wenjin Woan, May 31 2011

a(n) = row sums of triangle A193229. - Gary W. Adamson, Jul 18 2011

Also the number of permutations of 2n (or of 2n+1) that are equal to their reverse-complements. (See the Egge reference.) Note that the double-downgrade described in the preceding comment (McDonnell) is equivalent to the reverse-complement. - Justin M. Troyka, Aug 11 2011

The e.g.f. can be used to form a generator, [1/(1-2x)] d/dx, for A000108, so a(n) can be applied to A145271 to generate the Catalan numbers. - Tom Copeland, Oct 01 2011

The e.g.f. of 1/a(n) is BesselI(0,sqrt(2*x)). See Abramowitz-Stegun (reference and link under A008277), p. 375, 9.6.10. - Wolfdieter Lang, Jan 09 2012

a(n) = order of the largest imprimitive group of degree 2n with n systems of imprimitivity (see [Miller], p. 203). - L. Edson Jeffery, Feb 05 2012

Row sums of triangle A208057. - Gary W. Adamson, Feb 22 2012

a(n) is the number of ways to designate a subset of elements in each n-permutation. a(n) = A000142(n) + A001563(n) + A001804(n) + A001805(n) + A001806(n) + A001807(n) + A035038(n) * n!. - Geoffrey Critzer, Nov 08 2012

For n>1, a(n) is the order of the Coxeter groups (also called Weyl groups) of types B_n and C_n. - Tom Edgar, Nov 05 2013

For m>0, k*a(m-1) is the m-th cumulant of the chi-squared probability distribution for k degrees of freedom. - Stanislav Sykora, Jun 27 2014

a(n) with 0 prepended is the binomial transform of A120765. - Vladimir Reshetnikov, Oct 28 2015

Exponential self-convolution of A001147. - Vladimir Reshetnikov, Oct 08 2016

Also the order of the automorphism group of the n-ladder rung graph. - Eric W. Weisstein, Jul 22 2017

a(n) is the order of the group O_n(Z) = {A in M_n(Z): A*A^T = I_n}, the group of n X n orthogonal matrices over the integers. - Jianing Song, Mar 29 2021

a(n) is the number of ways to tile a (3n,3n)-benzel or a (3n+1,3n+2)-benzel using left stones and two kinds of bones; see Defant et al., below. - James Propp, Jul 22 2023

a(n) is the number of labeled histories for a labeled topology with the modified lodgepole shape and n+1 cherry nodes. - Noah A Rosenberg, Jan 16 2025