A182002 Smallest positive integer that cannot be computed using exactly n n's, the four basic arithmetic operations (+, -, *, /), and the parentheses.

2, 2, 1, 10, 13, 22, 38, 91, 195, 443, 634, 1121, 3448, 6793, 17692

Offset: 1

Author

Ali Dasdan, Apr 05 2012

Keywords

• nonn
• more

Examples

			a(2) = 2 because two 2's can produce 0 = 2-2, 1 = 2/2, 4 = 2+2 = 2*2, so the smallest positive integer that cannot be computed is 2.
a(3) = 1 because no expression with three 3's gives 1.
		

Crossrefs

Cf. A005245, A005520, A003313, A076142, A076091, A061373, A005421, A064097, A025280, A003037, A117618.

Cf. A171826, A171827, A171828, A171829, A258068, A258069, A258070, A258071.

Programs

Maple

f:= proc(n,b) option remember;
      `if`(n=1, {b}, {seq(seq(seq([k+m, k-m, k*m,
      `if`(m=0, NULL, k/m)][], m=f(n-i, b)), k=f(i, b)), i=1..n-1)})
    end:
a:= proc(n) local i, l;
      l:= sort([infinity, select(x-> is(x, integer) and x>0, f(n, n))[]]);
      for i do if l[i]<>i then return i fi od
    end:
seq(a(n), n=1..8); # Alois P. Heinz, Apr 13 2012

Python

from fractions import Fraction
from functools import lru_cache
def a(n):
    @lru_cache()
    def f(m):
        if m == 1: return {Fraction(n, 1)}
        out = set()
        for j in range(1, m//2+1):
            for x in f(j):
                for y in f(m-j):
                    out.update([x + y, x - y, y - x, x * y])
                    if y: out.add(Fraction(x, y))
                    if x: out.add(Fraction(y, x))
        return out
    k, s = 1, f(n)
    while k in s: k += 1
    return k
print([a(n) for n in range(1, 10)]) # Michael S. Branicky, Jul 29 2022

Extensions

a(11)-a(12) from Alois P. Heinz, Apr 22 2012

a(13)-a(14) from Michael S. Branicky, Jul 29 2022

a(15) from Michael S. Branicky, Jul 27 2023