A220393 A modified Engel expansion of Pi.

1, 1, 1, 8, 14, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 96, 115, 8, 2, 2, 2, 81, 160, 2, 6, 355, 140, 4, 12, 6, 2, 2, 3, 4, 3, 46, 66, 4, 2, 9, 16, 3, 4, 3, 4, 2, 2, 4, 9, 4, 2, 4, 33, 20, 2, 3, 4, 2, 2

Offset: 1

Author

Peter Bala, Dec 13 2012

Keywords

• nonn
• easy

Comments

The Engel expansion of a positive real number x is the unique nondecreasing sequence {e(1), e(2), e(3), ...} of positive integers such that x = 1/e(1) + 1/(e(1)*e(2)) + 1/(e(1)*e(2)*e(3)) + .... The terms in the Engel expansion of x are obtained from the iterates of the mapping g(x) := x*(1 + floor(1/x)) - 1 by means of the formula e(n) = 1 + floor(1/g^(n)(x)).

Let h(x) = floor(1/x)*g(x). This is called the harmonic sawtooth map by Crowley. Then the modified Engel expansion of a real number 0 < x <= 1 is a sequence {a(1), a(2), a(3), ...} of positive integers such that x = 1/a(1) + 1/(a(1)*a(2)) + 1/(a(1)*a(2)*a(3)) + ... whose terms are obtained from the iterates of the harmonic sawtooth map h(x) by the formulas a(1) = 1 + floor(1/x) and, for n >= 2, a(n) = floor(1/h^(n-2)(x))*{1 + floor(1/h^(n-1)(x))}. Here h^(n)(x) = h(h^(n-1)(x)) denotes the n-th iterate of the map h(x), with the convention that h^(0)(x) = x. For further details see the Bala link.

When the real number x > 1 with, say, floor(x) = m, the modified Engel expansion of x is found by first calculating the modified Engel expansion of x - m and then prepending a sequence of m 1's to this.

Links

• Peter Bala, A modified Engel expansion
• Wikipedia, Engel Expansion

Crossrefs

Cf. A006784, A220335, A220336, A220337, A220338, A220394, A220395, A220396, A220397, A220398.

Formula

Let x = Pi - 3. Then a(1) = a(2) = a(3) = 1, a(4) = ceiling(1/x) and, for n >= 1, a(n+4) = floor(1/h^(n-1)(x))*ceiling(1/h^(n)(x)).

Put P(n) = Product_{k = 1..n} a(k). Then we have the Egyptian fraction series expansion Pi = Sum_{n>=1} 1/P(n) = 1/1 + 1/1 + 1/1 + 1/8 + 1/(8*14) + 1/(8*14*2) + 1/(8*14*2*2) + .... For n >= 4, the error made in truncating this series to n terms is less than the n-th term.