A334911 Census-taker numbers: Numbers k such that exactly two unordered triples of positive numbers have product k and equal sums.
36, 40, 72, 96, 126, 176, 200, 225, 234, 252, 280, 297, 320, 408, 520, 550, 576, 588, 600, 648, 690, 714, 735, 736, 768, 780, 784, 816, 850, 855, 896, 945, 972, 1026, 1040, 1064, 1092, 1160, 1188, 1216, 1242, 1248, 1275, 1280, 1296, 1300, 1350, 1404, 1530
Offset: 1
Keywords
Examples
36 = 6*6*1 = 9*2*2. 6+6+1 = 9+2+2. So 36 is in the sequence. This example also explains the name of the sequence: "A census taker knocks on a door. A mother answers. The census taker says, "I need to know the number of children you have, and their ages." The woman responds in puzzle-ese, "I have three daughters, the product of their ages is 36, and the sum of their ages is equal to the house number next door." The census taker, who never wastes questions, computes for a while and then asks, "Does your oldest daughter love dogs?" The mother answers affirmatively. The census taker says, "Thank you. I now know the ages." What are the ages of the children?" (Garces and Loyola 2010, 28) 3264 is not in the sequence: (34, 32, 3) and (48, 17, 4) give sum 69, but (48, 34, 2), (64, 17, 3) and (68, 12, 4) give sum 84.
Links
- Alois P. Heinz, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..10000
- L. F. Meyers and R. See, The Census-Taker Problem, Math. Mag. 63 (1990) 86-88
- I. J. L. Garces and M. L. Loyola, Revisiting a Number-Theoretic Puzzle: The Census-Taker Problem, Intersection, 11 (2010), pp. 28-38; arXiv:1204.2071 [math.HO], 2012.
Crossrefs
Programs
-
Maple
b:= proc(n, k, t) option remember; expand(`if`(t=1, `if`(k
k, 0, b(n/d, d, t-1)*x^d), d=numtheory[divisors](n)))) end: q:= n-> (p-> degree(p)=2 and coeff(p, x, 2)=1)( add(x^i, i=[coeffs(b(n$2, 3))])): select(q, [$1..2000])[]; # Alois P. Heinz, May 16 2020 -
Mathematica
b[n_, k_, t_] := b[n, k, t] = If[t==1, If[k
k, 0, b[n/d, d, t-1] x^d], {d, Divisors[n]}]]; q[n_] := Exponent[#, x]==2 && Coefficient[#, x, 2]==1& @ Total[ x^CoefficientList[b[n, n, 3], x]]; Select[Range[2000], q] (* Jean-François Alcover, Nov 16 2020, after Alois P. Heinz *)
Comments