cp's OEIS Frontend

Prime product form of primorial base expansion of n.

Sequence is a permutation of A048103. It maps the smallest prime not dividing n to the smallest prime dividing n, that is, A020639(a(n)) = A053669(n) holds for all n >= 1.

The sequence satisfies the exponential function identity, a(x + y) = a(x) * a(y), whenever A329041(x,y) = 1, that is, when adding x and y together will not generate any carries in the primorial base. Examples of such pairs of x and y are A328841(n) & A328842(n), and also A328770(n) (when added with itself). - Antti Karttunen, Oct 31 2019

From Antti Karttunen, Feb 18 2022: (Start)

The conjecture given in A327969 asks whether applying this function together with the arithmetic derivative (A003415) in some combination or another can eventually transform every positive integer into zero.

Another related open question asks whether there are any other numbers than n=6 such that when starting from that n and by iterating with A003415, one eventually reaches a(n). See comments in A351088.

This sequence is used in A351255 to list the terms of A099308 in a different order, by the increasing exponents of the successive primes in their prime factorization. (End)

From Bill McEachen, Oct 15 2022: (Start)

From inspection, the least significant decimal digits of a(n) terms form continuous chains of 30 as follows. For n == i (mod 30), i=0..5, there are 6 ordered elements of these 8 {1,2,3,6,9,8,7,4}. Then for n == i (mod 30), i=6..29, there are 12 repeated pairs = {5,0}.

Moreover, when the individual elements of any of the possible groups of 6 are transformed via (7*digit) (mod 10), the result matches one of the other 7 groupings (not all 7 may be seen). As example, {1,2,3,6,9,8} transforms to {7,4,1,2,3,6}. (End)

The least significant digit of a(n) in base 4 is given by A353486, and in base 6 by A358840. - Antti Karttunen, Oct 25 2022, Feb 17 2024

Are there any other fixed points after 0, 1, 7, 8 and 2556? (A328110, see also A351087 and A351088).

Out of the 30030 initial terms, 19220 are multiples of 5. (See A327865).

Proof that a(n) is even if and only if n is a multiple of 4: Consider Charlie Neder's Feb 25 2019 comment in A235992. As A276086 is never a multiple of 4, and as it toggles the parity, we only need to know when A001222(A276086(n)) = A276150(n) is even. The condition for that is given in the latter sequence by David A. Corneth's Feb 27 2019 comment. From this it also follows that A166486 gives similarly the parity of terms of A342002, A351083 and A345000. See also comment in A327858. - Antti Karttunen, May 01 2022

Numbers that are sums of distinct primorial numbers, A002110.

Numbers with no digits larger than one in primorial base, A049345.

The terms of this sequence are currently known only up to n=23, with the value of a(24) still being uncertain. For the tentative values of the later terms, see sequence A328324 which gives upper bounds for these terms, many of which are very likely also exact values for them.

As A051903(A003415(n)) >= A051903(n)-1, it means that it takes always at least A051903(n) steps to a prime if iterating solely with A003415.

Some known values and upper bounds from n=24 onward:

a(24) <= 11.

a(25) = 4.

a(26) = 7.

a(27) <= 22.

a(33) = 4.

a(39) = 4.

a(40) = 5.

a(42) = 3.

a(44) <= 10.

a(45) = 5.

a(46) = 5.

a(48) = 9.

a(49) = 6.

a(50) = 6.

a(55) = 7.

a(74) = 5.

a(77) = 6.

a(80) <= 18.

a(111) = 6.

a(112) = 8.

a(125) <= 9.

a(240) = 7.

a(625) <= 10.

a(875) = 8.

From Antti Karttunen, Feb 20 2022: (Start)

a(2556) <= 20.

a(5005) <= 19.

What is the value of a(128), and is A328324(128) well-defined?

When I created this sequence, I conjectured that by applying two simple arithmetic operations "arithmetic derivative" (A003415) and "primorial base exp-function" (A276086) in some combination, and starting from any positive integer, we could always reach zero (via a prime and 1).

At the first sight it seems almost certain that the conjecture holds, as it is always possible at every step to choose from two options (which very rarely meet, see A351088), leading to an exponentially growing search tree, and also because A276086 always jumps out of any dead-end path with p^p-factors (dead-end from the arithmetic derivative's point of view). However, it should be realized that one can reach the terms of either A157037 or A327978 with a single step of A003415 only from squarefree numbers (or respectively, cubefree numbers that are not multiples of 4, see A328234), and in general, because A003415 decreases the maximal exponent of the prime factorization (A051903) at most by one, if the maximal exponent in the prime factorization of n is large, there is a correspondingly long path to traverse if we take only A003415-steps in the iteration, and any step could always lead with certain probability to a p^p-number. Note that the antiderivatives of primorials with a square factor seem quite rare, see A351029.

And although taking a A276086-step will always land us to a p^p-free number (which a priori is not in the obvious dead-end path of A003415, although of course it might eventually lead to one), it (in most cases) also increases the magnitude of number considerably, that tends to make the escape even harder. Particularly, in the majority of cases A276086 increases the maximal exponent (which in the preimage is A328114, "maximal digit value used when n is written in primorial base"), so there will be even a longer journey down to squarefree numbers when using A003415. See the sequences A351067 and A351071 for the diminishing ratios suggesting rapidly diminishing chances of successfully reaching zero from larger terms of A276086. Also, the asymptotic density of A276156 is zero, even though A351073 may contain a few larger values.

On the other hand, if we could prove that by (for example) continuing upwards with any p^p-path of A003415 we could eventually reach with a near certainty a region of numbers with low values of A328114 (i.e., numbers with smallish digits in primorial base, like A276156), then the situation might change (see also A351089). However, a few empirical runs seemed to indicate otherwise.

For all of the above reasons, I now conjecture that there are natural numbers from which it is not possible to reach zero with any combination of steps. For example 128 or 5^5 = 3125.

(End)

Intersection with A048103 gives the fixed points (1, 2, 10, 15, 5005, ...) of A327859. Question: Does that set preclude nonsquarefree numbers? Certainly it does not contain any multiples of 9. See also comments in A328110.

If k == 2 (mod 4), then both A003415(k) and A276085(k) are odd, and the latter is of the form 4m+1 (if k has an odd number of prime factors), or of the form 4m+3 (if k has an even number of prime factors). Therefore, for k of the form 4m+2 to be included in this sequence, a necessary condition is that it must be either in the intersection of A026424 and A358772 (like, for example, 2 is) or in A369668 (the intersection of A028260 and A358774), like for example, 10 is.

If k is odd, then A276085(k) is even, and for A003415(k) to be even with k odd, then k has to be in A046337 (odd numbers with an even number of prime factors, counted with multiplicity). But A276085(A046337(n)) == 0 (mod 4) for all n, so also A003415(k) has to be a multiple of 4, so k has to be in A360110 (itself a subsequence of A369002), like for example k=15 and k=5005 are.

If it exists, a(7) > 2^19.

Sequence includes also the terms for which no iterations are needed (when k is already equal to A327860(k)), thus A328110 is a subsequence. The other terms (and also 1) seem to be the intersection of primorials (A002110) with sequence A099308. This includes terms A002110(A109628(n)), whose arithmetic derivatives are in A244622.

The numbers k for which A276086(k) is reachable from k by iterating A003415 form a subsequence of this sequence, but so far only one term is known: 6, for which A276086(6) = A003415(6) = 5. (See A351228). It would be interesting to know whether there are more such terms, especially terms that require more than one iteration of A003415.

Question: The eleven known terms are all sums of distinct primorials (in A276156), i.e., contain only digits 0's and 1's in primorial base. Is this a necessary property for the terms of this sequence (and also for A328110)? - Antti Karttunen, Feb 04 2024, corrected May 11 2024.

It is conjectured that only terms of A276156 occur here. If any term of A177711 is included, then it must be one of the terms of A381037.

a(34) > A143293(10).

If x and y are terms and if A329041(x,y) = 1 (i.e., when adding x and y together will not generate any carries in the primorial base), then x+y is also a term. This follows from the quasi-exponential nature of A276086 and because A373144 is a multiplicative semigroup.