A227816 a(1) = greatest k such that H(k) - H(6) < H(6) - H(3); a(2) = greatest k such that H(k) - H(a(1)) < H(a(1)) - H(6), and for n > 2, a(n) = greatest k such that H(k) - H(a(n-1)) > H(a(n-1)) - H(a(n-2)), where H = harmonic number.

16, 41, 103, 257, 640, 1592, 3958, 9839, 24457, 60792, 151107, 375596, 933591, 2320556, 5768028, 14337143, 35636731, 88579473, 220175161, 547272407, 1360312788, 3381224518, 8404448844, 20890289891, 51925381404, 129066913288, 320811665802, 797416799492

Offset: 1

Author

Clark Kimberling, Jul 31 2013

Keywords

• nonn
• frac
• easy

Comments

Suppose that x and y are positive integers and that x <=y. Let c(1) = y and c(2) = greatest k such that H(k) - H(y) < H(y) - H(x); for n > 2, let c(n) = greatest such that H(k) - H(c(n-1)) < H(c(n-1)) - H(c(n-2)). Then 1/x + ... + 1/c(1) > 1/(c(1)+1) + ... + 1/(c(2)) > 1/(c(2)+1) + ... + 1/(c(3)) > ... The decreasing sequences H(c(n)) - H(c(n-1)) and c(n)/c(n-1) converge. It appears that for many choices of (x,y), the sequence c(n) is linearly recurrent with signature of length less than 10; (3,6) is not one of them. H(c(n)) - H(c(n-1)) and c(n)/c(n-1) approach limits given by A227817 and A227818.

Examples

			The first two values (a(1),a(2)) = (16,41) match the beginning of the following inequality chain (and partition of the harmonic numbers H(n) for n >= 3 ):
1/3 + 1/4 + 1/5 + 1/6 > 1/7 + ... + 1/16 < 1/17 + ... + 1/41 <  ...
		

Links

• Clark Kimberling, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..1000

Crossrefs

Cf. A001008, A002805 (numerator and denominator of harmonic numbers).

Cf. A224820, A224868, A227728, A227817, A227818.

Programs

Mathematica

z = 100; h[n_] := h[n] = HarmonicNumber[N[n, 500]]; x = 3; y = 6; a[1] = -1 + Ceiling[w /. FindRoot[h[w] == 2 h[y] - h[x - 1], {w, 1}, WorkingPrecision -> 400]]; a[2] = -1 + Ceiling[w /. FindRoot[h[w] == 2 h[a[1]] - h[y], {w, a[1]}, WorkingPrecision -> 400]]; Do[s = 0; a[t] = -1 + Ceiling[w /. FindRoot[h[w] == 2 h[a[t - 1]] - h[a[t - 2]], {w, a[t - 1]}, WorkingPrecision -> 400]], {t, 3, z}]; m = Map[a, Range[z]] (* (A227804) Peter J. C. Moses, Jul 23 2013 *)