A301573 Distance to nearest perfect power n^k, k>=2 (A001597).

1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 0, 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 2, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0

Offset: 0

Author

Rémy Sigrist and Altug Alkan, Mar 23 2018

Keywords

• nonn

Comments

Differs from A061670 at n=36.

Let b(n) be the smallest t such that a(t) = n. Initial values of b(n) are 1, 0, 6, 12, 20, 41, 42, 56, 72, 90, 110, 155, 156, 182, 270, 271, 272, 306, 379, ...

The b(n) sequence determines the positions of certain humps of a(n) sequence. See scatterplot of this sequence in order to observe general structure of a(n).

b(n) is A366928(n). - Dmitry Kamenetsky, Oct 28 2023

Examples

			a(20) = a(21) = 4 because 16 is the nearest perfect power to 20 and 25 is the nearest perfect power to 21 (20 - 16 = 25 - 21 = 4).
a(36) = 0 because 36 is a square.
		

Links

• Altug Alkan, Table of n, a(n) for n = 0..10000
• Index entries for sequences related to distance to nearest element of some set

Crossrefs

Cf. A001597, A061670, A366928.

Programs

PARI

isA001597(n) = {ispower(n) || n==1}
a(n) = {my(k=0); while(!isA001597(n+k) && !isA001597(n-k), k++); k;}

Python

from itertools import count
from sympy import perfect_power
def A301573(n): return next(k for k in count(0) if perfect_power(n+k) or perfect_power(n-k) or n-k==1 or n+k==1) # Chai Wah Wu, Nov 12 2023

Formula

a(n) = 0 iff n belongs to A001597.