cp's OEIS Frontend

Also referred to as T(n) or C(n+1, 2) or binomial(n+1, 2) (preferred).

Also generalized hexagonal numbers: n*(2*n-1), n=0, +-1, +-2, +-3, ... Generalized k-gonal numbers are second k-gonal numbers and positive terms of k-gonal numbers interleaved, k >= 5. In this case k = 6. - Omar E. Pol, Sep 13 2011 and Aug 04 2012

Number of edges in complete graph of order n+1, K_{n+1}.

Number of legal ways to insert a pair of parentheses in a string of n letters. E.g., there are 6 ways for three letters: (a)bc, (ab)c, (abc), a(b)c, a(bc), ab(c). Proof: there are C(n+2,2) ways to choose where the parentheses might go, but n + 1 of them are illegal because the parentheses are adjacent. Cf. A002415.

For n >= 1, a(n) is also the genus of a nonsingular curve of degree n+2, such as the Fermat curve x^(n+2) + y^(n+2) = 1. - Ahmed Fares (ahmedfares(AT)my_deja.com), Feb 21 2001

From Harnack's theorem (1876), the number of branches of a nonsingular curve of order n is bounded by a(n-1)+1, and the bound can be achieved. See also A152947. - Benoit Cloitre, Aug 29 2002. Corrected by Robert McLachlan, Aug 19 2024

Number of tiles in the set of double-n dominoes. - Scott A. Brown, Sep 24 2002

Number of ways a chain of n non-identical links can be broken up. This is based on a similar problem in the field of proteomics: the number of ways a peptide of n amino acid residues can be broken up in a mass spectrometer. In general, each amino acid has a different mass, so AB and BC would have different masses. - James A. Raymond, Apr 08 2003

Triangular numbers - odd numbers = shifted triangular numbers; 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, ... - 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, ... = 0, 0, 1, 3, 6, 10, ... - Xavier Acloque, Oct 31 2003 [Corrected by Derek Orr, May 05 2015]

Centered polygonal numbers are the result of [number of sides * A000217 + 1]. E.g., centered pentagonal numbers (1,6,16,31,...) = 5 * (0,1,3,6,...) + 1. Centered heptagonal numbers (1,8,22,43,...) = 7 * (0,1,3,6,...) + 1. - Xavier Acloque, Oct 31 2003

Maximum number of lines formed by the intersection of n+1 planes. - Ron R. King, Mar 29 2004

Number of permutations of [n] which avoid the pattern 132 and have exactly 1 descent. - Mike Zabrocki, Aug 26 2004

Number of ternary words of length n-1 with subwords (0,1), (0,2) and (1,2) not allowed. - Olivier Gérard, Aug 28 2012

Number of ways two different numbers can be selected from the set {0,1,2,...,n} without repetition, or, number of ways two different numbers can be selected from the set {1,2,...,n} with repetition.

Conjecturally, 1, 6, 120 are the only numbers that are both triangular and factorial. - Christopher M. Tomaszewski (cmt1288(AT)comcast.net), Mar 30 2005

Binomial transform is {0, 1, 5, 18, 56, 160, 432, ...}, A001793 with one leading zero. - Philippe Deléham, Aug 02 2005

Each pair of neighboring terms adds to a perfect square. - Zak Seidov, Mar 21 2006

Number of transpositions in the symmetric group of n+1 letters, i.e., the number of permutations that leave all but two elements fixed. - Geoffrey Critzer, Jun 23 2006

With rho(n):=exp(i*2*Pi/n) (an n-th root of 1) one has, for n >= 1, rho(n)^a(n) = (-1)^(n+1). Just use the triviality a(2*k+1) == 0 (mod (2*k+1)) and a(2*k) == k (mod (2*k)).

a(n) is the number of terms in the expansion of (a_1 + a_2 + a_3)^(n-1). - Sergio Falcon, Feb 12 2007

a(n+1) is the number of terms in the complete homogeneous symmetric polynomial of degree n in 2 variables. - Richard Barnes, Sep 06 2017

The number of distinct handshakes in a room with n+1 people. - Mohammad K. Azarian, Apr 12 2007 [corrected, Joerg Arndt, Jan 18 2016]

Equal to the rank (minimal cardinality of a generating set) of the semigroup PT_n\S_n, where PT_n and S_n denote the partial transformation semigroup and symmetric group on [n]. - James East, May 03 2007

a(n) gives the total number of triangles found when cevians are drawn from a single vertex on a triangle to the side opposite that vertex, where n = the number of cevians drawn+1. For instance, with 1 cevian drawn, n = 1+1 = 2 and a(n)= 2*(2+1)/2 = 3 so there is a total of 3 triangles in the figure. If 2 cevians are drawn from one point to the opposite side, then n = 1+2 = 3 and a(n) = 3*(3+1)/2 = 6 so there is a total of 6 triangles in the figure. - Noah Priluck (npriluck(AT)gmail.com), Apr 30 2007

For n >= 1, a(n) is the number of ways in which n-1 can be written as a sum of three nonnegative integers if representations differing in the order of the terms are considered to be different. In other words, for n >= 1, a(n) is the number of nonnegative integral solutions of the equation x + y + z = n-1. - Amarnath Murthy, Apr 22 2001 (edited by Robert A. Beeler)

a(n) is the number of levels with energy n + 3/2 (in units of h*f0, with Planck's constant h and the oscillator frequency f0) of the three-dimensional isotropic harmonic quantum oscillator. See the comment by A. Murthy above: n = n1 + n2 + n3 with positive integers and ordered. Proof from the o.g.f. See the A. Messiah reference. - Wolfdieter Lang, Jun 29 2007

From Hieronymus Fischer, Aug 06 2007: (Start)

Numbers m >= 0 such that round(sqrt(2m+1)) - round(sqrt(2m)) = 1.

Numbers m >= 0 such that ceiling(2*sqrt(2m+1)) - 1 = 1 + floor(2*sqrt(2m)).

Numbers m >= 0 such that fract(sqrt(2m+1)) > 1/2 and fract(sqrt(2m)) < 1/2, where fract(x) is the fractional part of x (i.e., x - floor(x), x >= 0). (End)

If Y and Z are 3-blocks of an n-set X, then, for n >= 6, a(n-1) is the number of (n-2)-subsets of X intersecting both Y and Z. - Milan Janjic, Nov 09 2007

Equals row sums of triangle A143320, n > 0. - Gary W. Adamson, Aug 07 2008

a(n) is also an even perfect number in A000396 iff n is a Mersenne prime A000668. - Omar E. Pol, Sep 05 2008. Unnecessary assumption removed and clarified by Rick L. Shepherd, Apr 14 2025

Equals row sums of triangle A152204. - Gary W. Adamson, Nov 29 2008

The number of matches played in a round robin tournament: n*(n-1)/2 gives the number of matches needed for n players. Everyone plays against everyone else exactly once. - Georg Wrede (georg(AT)iki.fi), Dec 18 2008

-a(n+1) = E(2)*binomial(n+2,2) (n >= 0) where E(n) are the Euler numbers in the enumeration A122045. Viewed this way, a(n) is the special case k=2 in the sequence of diagonals in the triangle A153641. - Peter Luschny, Jan 06 2009

Equivalent to the first differences of successive tetrahedral numbers. See A000292. - Jeremy Cahill (jcahill(AT)inbox.com), Apr 15 2009

The general formula for alternating sums of powers is in terms of the Swiss-Knife polynomials P(n,x) A153641 2^(-n-1)(P(n,1)-(-1)^k P(n,2k+1)). Thus a(k) = |2^(-3)(P(2,1)-(-1)^k P(2,2k+1))|. - Peter Luschny, Jul 12 2009

a(n) is the smallest number > a(n-1) such that gcd(n,a(n)) = gcd(n,a(n-1)). If n is odd this gcd is n; if n is even it is n/2. - Franklin T. Adams-Watters, Aug 06 2009

Partial sums of A001477. - Juri-Stepan Gerasimov, Jan 25 2010. [A-number corrected by Omar E. Pol, Jun 05 2012]

The numbers along the right edge of Floyd's triangle are 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, .... - Paul Muljadi, Jan 25 2010

From Charlie Marion, Dec 03 2010: (Start)

More generally, a(2k+1) == j*(2j-1) (mod 2k+2j+1) and

a(2k) == [-k + 2j*(j-1)] (mod 2k+2j).

Column sums of:

1 3 5 7 9 ...

1 3 5 ...

1 ...

...............

---------------

1 3 6 10 15 ...

Sum_{n>=1} 1/a(n)^2 = 4*Pi^2/3-12 = 12 less than the volume of a sphere with radius Pi^(1/3).

(End)

A004201(a(n)) = A000290(n); A004202(a(n)) = A002378(n). - Reinhard Zumkeller, Feb 12 2011

1/a(n+1), n >= 0, has e.g.f. -2*(1+x-exp(x))/x^2, and o.g.f. 2*(x+(1-x)*log(1-x))/x^2 (see the Stephen Crowley formula line). -1/(2*a(n+1)) is the z-sequence for the Sheffer triangle of the coefficients of the Bernoulli polynomials A196838/A196839. - Wolfdieter Lang, Oct 26 2011

From Charlie Marion, Feb 23 2012: (Start)

a(n) + a(A002315(k)*n + A001108(k+1)) = (A001653(k+1)*n + A001109(k+1))^2. For k=0 we obtain a(n) + a(n+1) = (n+1)^2 (identity added by N. J. A. Sloane on Feb 19 2004).

a(n) + a(A002315(k)*n - A055997(k+1)) = (A001653(k+1)*n - A001109(k))^2.

(End)

Plot the three points (0,0), (a(n), a(n+1)), (a(n+1), a(n+2)) to form a triangle. The area will be a(n+1)/2. - J. M. Bergot, May 04 2012

The sum of four consecutive triangular numbers, beginning with a(n)=n*(n+1)/2, minus 2 is 2*(n+2)^2. a(n)*a(n+2)/2 = a(a(n+1)-1). - J. M. Bergot, May 17 2012

(a(n)*a(n+3) - a(n+1)*a(n+2))*(a(n+1)*a(n+4) - a(n+2)*a(n+3))/8 = a((n^2+5*n+4)/2). - J. M. Bergot, May 18 2012

a(n)*a(n+1) + a(n+2)*a(n+3) + 3 = a(n^2 + 4*n + 6). - J. M. Bergot, May 22 2012

In general, a(n)*a(n+1) + a(n+k)*a(n+k+1) + a(k-1)*a(k) = a(n^2 + (k+2)*n + k*(k+1)). - Charlie Marion, Sep 11 2012

a(n)*a(n+3) + a(n+1)*a(n+2) = a(n^2 + 4*n + 2). - J. M. Bergot, May 22 2012

In general, a(n)*a(n+k) + a(n+1)*a(n+k-1) = a(n^2 + (k+1)*n + k-1). - Charlie Marion, Sep 11 2012

a(n)*a(n+2) + a(n+1)*a(n+3) = a(n^2 + 4*n + 3). - J. M. Bergot, May 22 2012

Three points (a(n),a(n+1)), (a(n+1),a(n)) and (a(n+2),a(n+3)) form a triangle with area 4*a(n+1). - J. M. Bergot, May 23 2012

a(n) + a(n+k) = (n+k)^2 - (k^2 + (2n-1)*k -2n)/2. For k=1 we obtain a(n) + a(n+1) = (n+1)^2 (see below). - Charlie Marion, Oct 02 2012

In n-space we can define a(n-1) nontrivial orthogonal projections. For example, in 3-space there are a(2)=3 (namely point onto line, point onto plane, line onto plane). - Douglas Latimer, Dec 17 2012

From James East, Jan 08 2013: (Start)

For n >= 1, a(n) is equal to the rank (minimal cardinality of a generating set) and idempotent rank (minimal cardinality of an idempotent generating set) of the semigroup P_n\S_n, where P_n and S_n denote the partition monoid and symmetric group on [n].

For n >= 3, a(n-1) is equal to the rank and idempotent rank of the semigroup T_n\S_n, where T_n and S_n denote the full transformation semigroup and symmetric group on [n].

(End)

For n >= 3, a(n) is equal to the rank and idempotent rank of the semigroup PT_n\S_n, where PT_n and S_n denote the partial transformation semigroup and symmetric group on [n]. - James East, Jan 15 2013

Conjecture: For n > 0, there is always a prime between A000217(n) and A000217(n+1). Sequence A065383 has the first 1000 of these primes. - Ivan N. Ianakiev, Mar 11 2013

The formula, a(n)*a(n+4k+2)/2 + a(k) = a(a(n+2k+1) - (k^2+(k+1)^2)), is a generalization of the formula a(n)*a(n+2)/2 = a(a(n+1)-1) in Bergot's comment dated May 17 2012. - Charlie Marion, Mar 28 2013

The series Sum_{k>=1} 1/a(k) = 2, given in a formula below by Jon Perry, Jul 13 2003, has partial sums 2*n/(n+1) (telescopic sum) = A022998(n)/A026741(n+1). - Wolfdieter Lang, Apr 09 2013

For odd m = 2k+1, we have the recurrence a(m*n + k) = m^2*a(n) + a(k). Corollary: If number T is in the sequence then so is 9*T+1. - Lekraj Beedassy, May 29 2013

Euler, in Section 87 of the Opera Postuma, shows that whenever T is a triangular number then 9*T + 1, 25*T + 3, 49*T + 6 and 81*T + 10 are also triangular numbers. In general, if T is a triangular number then (2*k + 1)^2*T + k*(k + 1)/2 is also a triangular number. - Peter Bala, Jan 05 2015

Using 1/b and 1/(b+2) will give a Pythagorean triangle with sides 2*b + 2, b^2 + 2*b, and b^2 + 2*b + 2. Set b=n-1 to give a triangle with sides of lengths 2*n,n^2-1, and n^2 + 1. One-fourth the perimeter = a(n) for n > 1. - J. M. Bergot, Jul 24 2013

a(n) = A028896(n)/6, where A028896(n) = s(n) - s(n-1) are the first differences of s(n) = n^3 + 3*n^2 + 2*n - 8. s(n) can be interpreted as the sum of the 12 edge lengths plus the sum of the 6 face areas plus the volume of an n X (n-1) X (n-2) rectangular prism. - J. M. Bergot, Aug 13 2013

Dimension of orthogonal group O(n+1). - Eric M. Schmidt, Sep 08 2013

Number of positive roots in the root system of type A_n (for n > 0). - Tom Edgar, Nov 05 2013

A formula for the r-th successive summation of k, for k = 1 to n, is binomial(n+r,r+1) [H. W. Gould]. - Gary Detlefs, Jan 02 2014

Also the alternating row sums of A095831. Also the alternating row sums of A055461, for n >= 1. - Omar E. Pol, Jan 26 2014

For n >= 3, a(n-2) is the number of permutations of 1,2,...,n with the distribution of up (1) - down (0) elements 0...011 (n-3 zeros), or, the same, a(n-2) is up-down coefficient {n,3} (see comment in A060351). - Vladimir Shevelev, Feb 14 2014

a(n) is the dimension of the vector space of symmetric n X n matrices. - Derek Orr, Mar 29 2014

Non-vanishing subdiagonal of A132440^2/2, aside from the initial zero. First subdiagonal of unsigned A238363. Cf. A130534 for relations to colored forests, disposition of flags on flagpoles, and colorings of the vertices of complete graphs. - Tom Copeland, Apr 05 2014

The number of Sidon subsets of {1,...,n+1} of size 2. - Carl Najafi, Apr 27 2014

Number of factors in the definition of the Vandermonde determinant V(x_1,x_2,...,x_n) = Product_{1 <= i < k <= n} x_i - x_k. - Tom Copeland, Apr 27 2014

Number of weak compositions of n into three parts. - Robert A. Beeler, May 20 2014

Suppose a bag contains a(n) red marbles and a(n+1) blue marbles, where a(n), a(n+1) are consecutive triangular numbers. Then, for n > 0, the probability of choosing two marbles at random and getting two red or two blue is 1/2. In general, for k > 2, let b(0) = 0, b(1) = 1 and, for n > 1, b(n) = (k-1)*b(n-1) - b(n-2) + 1. Suppose, for n > 0, a bag contains b(n) red marbles and b(n+1) blue marbles. Then the probability of choosing two marbles at random and getting two red or two blue is (k-1)/(k+1). See also A027941, A061278, A089817, A053142, A092521. - Charlie Marion, Nov 03 2014

Let O(n) be the oblong number n(n+1) = A002378 and S(n) the square number n^2 = A000290(n). Then a(4n) = O(3n) - O(n), a(4n+1) = S(3n+1) - S(n), a(4n+2) = S(3n+2) - S(n+1) and a(4n+3) = O(3n+2) - O(n). - Charlie Marion, Feb 21 2015

Consider the partition of the natural numbers into parts from the set S=(1,2,3,...,n). The length (order) of the signature of the resulting sequence is given by the triangular numbers. E.g., for n=10, the signature length is 55. - David Neil McGrath, May 05 2015

a(n) counts the partitions of (n-1) unlabeled objects into three (3) parts (labeled a,b,c), e.g., a(5)=15 for (n-1)=4. These are (aaaa),(bbbb),(cccc),(aaab),(aaac),(aabb),(aacc),(aabc),(abbc),(abcc),(abbb),(accc),(bbcc),(bccc),(bbbc). - David Neil McGrath, May 21 2015

Conjecture: the sequence is the genus/deficiency of the sinusoidal spirals of index n which are algebraic curves. The value 0 corresponds to the case of the Bernoulli Lemniscate n=2. So the formula conjectured is (n-1)(n-2)/2. - Wolfgang Tintemann, Aug 02 2015

Conjecture: Let m be any positive integer. Then, for each n = 1,2,3,... the set {Sum_{k=s..t} 1/k^m: 1 <= s <= t <= n} has cardinality a(n) = n*(n+1)/2; in other words, all the sums Sum_{k=s..t} 1/k^m with 1 <= s <= t are pairwise distinct. (I have checked this conjecture via a computer and found no counterexample.) - Zhi-Wei Sun, Sep 09 2015

The Pisano period lengths of reading the sequence modulo m seem to be A022998(m). - R. J. Mathar, Nov 29 2015

For n >= 1, a(n) is the number of compositions of n+4 into n parts avoiding the part 2. - Milan Janjic, Jan 07 2016

In this sequence only 3 is prime. - Fabian Kopp, Jan 09 2016

Suppose you are playing Bulgarian Solitaire (see A242424 and Chamberland's and Gardner's books) and, for n > 0, you are starting with a single pile of a(n) cards. Then the number of operations needed to reach the fixed state {n, n-1,...,1} is a(n-1). For example, {6}->{5,1}->{4,2}->{3,2,1}. - Charlie Marion, Jan 14 2016

Numbers k such that 8k + 1 is a square. - Juri-Stepan Gerasimov, Apr 09 2016

Every perfect cube is the difference of the squares of two consecutive triangular numbers. 1^2-0^2 = 1^3, 3^2-1^2 = 2^3, 6^2-3^2 = 3^3. - Miquel Cerda, Jun 26 2016

For n > 1, a(n) = tau_n(k*) where tau_n(k) is the number of ordered n-factorizations of k and k* is the square of a prime. For example, tau_3(4) = tau_3(9) = tau_3(25) = tau_3(49) = 6 (see A007425) since the number of divisors of 4, 9, 25, and 49's divisors is 6, and a(3) = 6. - Melvin Peralta, Aug 29 2016

In an (n+1)-dimensional hypercube, number of two-dimensional faces congruent with a vertex (see also A001788). - Stanislav Sykora, Oct 23 2016

Generalizations of the familiar formulas, a(n) + a(n+1) = (n+1)^2 (Feb 19 2004) and a(n)^2 + a(n+1)^2 = a((n+1)^2) (Nov 22 2006), follow: a(n) + a(n+2k-1) + 4a(k-1) = (n+k)^2 + 6a(k-1) and a(n)^2 + a(n+2k-1)^2 + (4a(k-1))^2 + 3a(k-1) = a((n+k)^2 + 6a(k-1)). - Charlie Marion, Nov 27 2016

a(n) is also the greatest possible number of diagonals in a polyhedron with n+4 vertices. - Vladimir Letsko, Dec 19 2016

For n > 0, 2^5 * (binomial(n+1,2))^2 represents the first integer in a sum of 2*(2*n + 1)^2 consecutive integers that equals (2*n + 1)^6. - Patrick J. McNab, Dec 25 2016

Does not satisfy Benford's law (cf. Ross, 2012). - N. J. A. Sloane, Feb 12 2017

Number of ordered triples (a,b,c) of positive integers not larger than n such that a+b+c = 2n+1. - Aviel Livay, Feb 13 2017

Number of inequivalent tetrahedral face colorings using at most n colors so that no color appears only once. - David Nacin, Feb 22 2017

Also the Wiener index of the complete graph K_{n+1}. - Eric W. Weisstein, Sep 07 2017

Number of intersections between the Bernstein polynomials of degree n. - Eric Desbiaux, Apr 01 2018

a(n) is the area of a triangle with vertices at (1,1), (n+1,n+2), and ((n+1)^2, (n+2)^2). - Art Baker, Dec 06 2018

For n > 0, a(n) is the smallest k > 0 such that n divides numerator of (1/a(1) + 1/a(2) + ... + 1/a(n-1) + 1/k). It should be noted that 1/1 + 1/3 + 1/6 + ... + 2/(n(n+1)) = 2n/(n+1). - Thomas Ordowski, Aug 04 2019

Upper bound of the number of lines in an n-homogeneous supersolvable line arrangement (see Theorem 1.1 in Dimca). - Stefano Spezia, Oct 04 2019

For n > 0, a(n+1) is the number of lattice points on a triangular grid with side length n. - Wesley Ivan Hurt, Aug 12 2020

From Michael Chu, May 04 2022: (Start)

Maximum number of distinct nonempty substrings of a string of length n.

Maximum cardinality of the sumset A+A, where A is a set of n numbers. (End)

a(n) is the number of parking functions of size n avoiding the patterns 123, 132, and 312. - Lara Pudwell, Apr 10 2023

Suppose two rows, each consisting of n evenly spaced dots, are drawn in parallel. Suppose we bijectively draw lines between the dots of the two rows. For n >= 1, a(n - 1) is the maximal possible number of intersections between the lines. Equivalently, the maximal number of inversions in a permutation of [n]. - Sela Fried, Apr 18 2023

The following equation complements the generalization in Bala's Comment (Jan 05 2015). (2k + 1)^2*a(n) + a(k) = a((2k + 1)*n + k). - Charlie Marion, Aug 28 2023

a(n) + a(n+k) + a(k-1) + (k-1)*n = (n+k)^2. For k = 1, we have a(n) + a(n+1) = (n+1)^2. - Charlie Marion, Nov 17 2023

a(n+1)/3 is the expected number of steps to escape from a linear row of n positions starting at a random location and randomly performing steps -1 or +1 with equal probability. - Hugo Pfoertner, Jul 22 2025

a(n+1) is the number of nonnegative integer solutions to p + q + r = n. By Sylvester's law of inertia, it is also the number of congruence classes of real symmetric n-by-n matrices or equivalently, the number of symmetric bilinear forms on a real n-dimensional vector space. - Paawan Jethva, Jul 24 2025

These were formerly sometimes called Segner numbers.

A very large number of combinatorial interpretations are known - see references, esp. R. P. Stanley, "Catalan Numbers", Cambridge University Press, 2015. This is probably the longest entry in the OEIS, and rightly so.

The solution to Schröder's first problem: number of ways to insert n pairs of parentheses in a word of n+1 letters. E.g., for n=2 there are 2 ways: ((ab)c) or (a(bc)); for n=3 there are 5 ways: ((ab)(cd)), (((ab)c)d), ((a(bc))d), (a((bc)d)), (a(b(cd))).

Consider all the binomial(2n,n) paths on squared paper that (i) start at (0, 0), (ii) end at (2n, 0) and (iii) at each step, either make a (+1,+1) step or a (+1,-1) step. Then the number of such paths that never go below the x-axis (Dyck paths) is C(n). [Chung-Feller]

Number of noncrossing partitions of the n-set. For example, of the 15 set partitions of the 4-set, only [{13},{24}] is crossing, so there are a(4)=14 noncrossing partitions of 4 elements. - Joerg Arndt, Jul 11 2011

Noncrossing partitions are partitions of genus 0. - Robert Coquereaux, Feb 13 2024

a(n-1) is the number of ways of expressing an n-cycle (123...n) in the symmetric group S_n as a product of n-1 transpositions (u_1,v_1)*(u_2,v_2)*...*(u_{n-1},v_{n-1}) where u_iA000272. - Joerg Arndt and Greg Stevenson, Jul 11 2011

a(n) is the number of ordered rooted trees with n nodes, not including the root. See the Conway-Guy reference where these rooted ordered trees are called plane bushes. See also the Bergeron et al. reference, Example 4, p. 167. - Wolfdieter Lang, Aug 07 2007

As shown in the paper from Beineke and Pippert (1971), a(n-2)=D(n) is the number of labeled dissections of a disk, related to the number R(n)=A001761(n-2) of labeled planar 2-trees having n vertices and rooted at a given exterior edge, by the formula D(n)=R(n)/(n-2)!. - M. F. Hasler, Feb 22 2012

Shifts one place left when convolved with itself.

For n >= 1, a(n) is also the number of rooted bicolored unicellular maps of genus 0 on n edges. - Ahmed Fares (ahmedfares(AT)my-deja.com), Aug 15 2001

Number of ways of joining 2n points on a circle to form n nonintersecting chords. (If no such restriction imposed, then the number of ways of forming n chords is given by (2n-1)!! = (2n)!/(n!*2^n) = A001147(n).)

Arises in Schubert calculus - see Sottile reference.

Inverse Euler transform of sequence is A022553.

With interpolated zeros, the inverse binomial transform of the Motzkin numbers A001006. - Paul Barry, Jul 18 2003

The Hankel transforms of this sequence or of this sequence with the first term omitted give A000012 = 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, ...; example: Det([1, 1, 2, 5; 1, 2, 5, 14; 2, 5, 14, 42; 5, 14, 42, 132]) = 1 and Det([1, 2, 5, 14; 2, 5, 14, 42; 5, 14, 42, 132; 14, 42, 132, 429]) = 1. - Philippe Deléham, Mar 04 2004

a(n) equals the sum of squares of terms in row n of triangle A053121, which is formed from successive self-convolutions of the Catalan sequence. - Paul D. Hanna, Apr 23 2005

Also coefficients of the Mandelbrot polynomial M iterated an infinite number of times. Examples: M(0) = 0 = 0*c^0 = [0], M(1) = c = c^1 + 0*c^0 = [1 0], M(2) = c^2 + c = c^2 + c^1 + 0*c^0 = [1 1 0], M(3) = (c^2 + c)^2 + c = [0 1 1 2 1], ... ... M(5) = [0 1 1 2 5 14 26 44 69 94 114 116 94 60 28 8 1], ... - Donald D. Cross (cosinekitty(AT)hotmail.com), Feb 04 2005

The multiplicity with which a prime p divides C_n can be determined by first expressing n+1 in base p. For p=2, the multiplicity is the number of 1 digits minus 1. For p an odd prime, count all digits greater than (p+1)/2; also count digits equal to (p+1)/2 unless final; and count digits equal to (p-1)/2 if not final and the next digit is counted. For example, n=62, n+1 = 223_5, so C_62 is not divisible by 5. n=63, n+1 = 224_5, so 5^3 | C_63. - Franklin T. Adams-Watters, Feb 08 2006

Koshy and Salmassi give an elementary proof that the only prime Catalan numbers are a(2) = 2 and a(3) = 5. Is the only semiprime Catalan number a(4) = 14? - Jonathan Vos Post, Mar 06 2006

The answer is yes. Using the formula C_n = binomial(2n,n)/(n+1), it is immediately clear that C_n can have no prime factor greater than 2n. For n >= 7, C_n > (2n)^2, so it cannot be a semiprime. Given that the Catalan numbers grow exponentially, the above consideration implies that the number of prime divisors of C_n, counted with multiplicity, must grow without limit. The number of distinct prime divisors must also grow without limit, but this is more difficult. Any prime between n+1 and 2n (exclusive) must divide C_n. That the number of such primes grows without limit follows from the prime number theorem. - Franklin T. Adams-Watters, Apr 14 2006

The number of ways to place n indistinguishable balls in n numbered boxes B1,...,Bn such that at most a total of k balls are placed in boxes B1,...,Bk for k=1,...,n. For example, a(3)=5 since there are 5 ways to distribute 3 balls among 3 boxes such that (i) box 1 gets at most 1 ball and (ii) box 1 and box 2 together get at most 2 balls:(O)(O)(O), (O)()(OO), ()(OO)(O), ()(O)(OO), ()()(OOO). - Dennis P. Walsh, Dec 04 2006

a(n) is also the order of the semigroup of order-decreasing and order-preserving full transformations (of an n-element chain) - now known as the Catalan monoid. - Abdullahi Umar, Aug 25 2008

a(n) is the number of trivial representations in the direct product of 2n spinor (the smallest) representations of the group SU(2) (A(1)). - Rutger Boels (boels(AT)nbi.dk), Aug 26 2008

The invert transform appears to converge to the Catalan numbers when applied infinitely many times to any starting sequence. - Mats Granvik, Gary W. Adamson and Roger L. Bagula, Sep 09 2008, Sep 12 2008

Limit_{n->oo} a(n)/a(n-1) = 4. - Francesco Antoni (francesco_antoni(AT)yahoo.com), Nov 24 2008

Starting with offset 1 = row sums of triangle A154559. - Gary W. Adamson, Jan 11 2009

C(n) is the degree of the Grassmannian G(1,n+1): the set of lines in (n+1)-dimensional projective space, or the set of planes through the origin in (n+2)-dimensional affine space. The Grassmannian is considered a subset of N-dimensional projective space, N = binomial(n+2,2) - 1. If we choose 2n general (n-1)-planes in projective (n+1)-space, then there are C(n) lines that meet all of them. - Benji Fisher (benji(AT)FisherFam.org), Mar 05 2009

Starting with offset 1 = A068875: (1, 2, 4, 10, 18, 84, ...) convolved with Fine numbers, A000957: (1, 0, 1, 2, 6, 18, ...). a(6) = 132 = (1, 2, 4, 10, 28, 84) dot (18, 6, 2, 1, 0, 1) = (18 + 12 + 8 + 10 + 0 + 84) = 132. - Gary W. Adamson, May 01 2009

Convolved with A032443: (1, 3, 11, 42, 163, ...) = powers of 4, A000302: (1, 4, 16, ...). - Gary W. Adamson, May 15 2009

Sum_{k>=1} C(k-1)/2^(2k-1) = 1. The k-th term in the summation is the probability that a random walk on the integers (beginning at the origin) will arrive at positive one (for the first time) in exactly (2k-1) steps. - Geoffrey Critzer, Sep 12 2009

C(p+q)-C(p)*C(q) = Sum_{i=0..p-1, j=0..q-1} C(i)*C(j)*C(p+q-i-j-1). - Groux Roland, Nov 13 2009

Leonhard Euler used the formula C(n) = Product_{i=3..n} (4*i-10)/(i-1) in his 'Betrachtungen, auf wie vielerley Arten ein gegebenes polygonum durch Diagonallinien in triangula zerschnitten werden könne' and computes by recursion C(n+2) for n = 1..8. (Berlin, 4th September 1751, in a letter to Goldbach.) - Peter Luschny, Mar 13 2010

Let A179277 = A(x). Then C(x) is satisfied by A(x)/A(x^2). - Gary W. Adamson, Jul 07 2010

a(n) is also the number of quivers in the mutation class of type B_n or of type C_n. - Christian Stump, Nov 02 2010

From Matthew Vandermast, Nov 22 2010: (Start)

Consider a set of A000217(n) balls of n colors in which, for each integer k = 1 to n, exactly one color appears in the set a total of k times. (Each ball has exactly one color and is indistinguishable from other balls of the same color.) a(n+1) equals the number of ways to choose 0 or more balls of each color while satisfying the following conditions: 1. No two colors are chosen the same positive number of times. 2. For any two colors (c, d) that are chosen at least once, color c is chosen more times than color d iff color c appears more times in the original set than color d.

If the second requirement is lifted, the number of acceptable ways equals A000110(n+1). See related comments for A016098, A085082. (End)

Deutsch and Sagan prove the Catalan number C_n is odd if and only if n = 2^a - 1 for some nonnegative integer a. Lin proves for every odd Catalan number C_n, we have C_n == 1 (mod 4). - Jonathan Vos Post, Dec 09 2010

a(n) is the number of functions f:{1,2,...,n}->{1,2,...,n} such that f(1)=1 and for all n >= 1 f(n+1) <= f(n)+1. For a nice bijection between this set of functions and the set of length 2n Dyck words, see page 333 of the Fxtbook (see link below). - Geoffrey Critzer, Dec 16 2010

Postnikov (2005) defines "generalized Catalan numbers" associated with buildings (e.g., Catalan numbers of Type B, see A000984). - N. J. A. Sloane, Dec 10 2011

Number of permutations in S(n) for which length equals depth. - Bridget Tenner, Feb 22 2012

a(n) is also the number of standard Young tableau of shape (n,n). - Thotsaporn Thanatipanonda, Feb 25 2012

a(n) is the number of binary sequences of length 2n+1 in which the number of ones first exceed the number of zeros at entry 2n+1. See the example below in the example section. - Dennis P. Walsh, Apr 11 2012

Number of binary necklaces of length 2*n+1 containing n 1's (or, by symmetry, 0's). All these are Lyndon words and their representatives (as cyclic maxima) are the binary Dyck words. - Joerg Arndt, Nov 12 2012

Number of sequences consisting of n 'x' letters and n 'y' letters such that (counting from the left) the 'x' count >= 'y' count. For example, for n=3 we have xxxyyy, xxyxyy, xxyyxy, xyxxyy and xyxyxy. - Jon Perry, Nov 16 2012

a(n) is the number of Motzkin paths of length n-1 in which the (1,0)-steps come in 2 colors. Example: a(4)=14 because, denoting U=(1,1), H=(1,0), and D=(1,-1), we have 8 paths of shape HHH, 2 paths of shape UHD, 2 paths of shape UDH, and 2 paths of shape HUD. - José Luis Ramírez Ramírez, Jan 16 2013

If p is an odd prime, then (-1)^((p-1)/2)*a((p-1)/2) mod p = 2. - Gary Detlefs, Feb 20 2013

Conjecture: For any positive integer n, the polynomial Sum_{k=0..n} a(k)*x^k is irreducible over the field of rational numbers. - Zhi-Wei Sun, Mar 23 2013

a(n) is the size of the Jones monoid on 2n points (cf. A225798). - James Mitchell, Jul 28 2013

For 0 < p < 1, define f(p) = Sum_{n>=0} a(n)*(p*(1-p))^n, then f(p) = min{1/p, 1/(1-p)}, so f(p) reaches its maximum value 2 at p = 0.5, and p*f(p) is constant 1 for 0.5 <= p < 1. - Bob Selcoe, Nov 16 2013 [Corrected by Jianing Song, May 21 2021]

No a(n) has the form x^m with m > 1 and x > 1. - Zhi-Wei Sun, Dec 02 2013

From Alexander Adamchuk, Dec 27 2013: (Start)

Prime p divides a((p+1)/2) for p > 3. See A120303(n) = Largest prime factor of Catalan number.

Reciprocal Catalan Constant C = 1 + 4*sqrt(3)*Pi/27 = 1.80613.. = A121839.

Log(Phi) = (125*C - 55) / (24*sqrt(5)), where C = Sum_{k>=1} (-1)^(k+1)*1/a(k). See A002390 = Decimal expansion of natural logarithm of golden ratio.

3-d analog of the Catalan numbers: (3n)!/(n!(n+1)!(n+2)!) = A161581(n) = A006480(n) / ((n+1)^2*(n+2)), where A006480(n) = (3n)!/(n!)^3 De Bruijn's S(3,n). (End)

For a relation to the inviscid Burgers's, or Hopf, equation, see A001764. - Tom Copeland, Feb 15 2014

From Fung Lam, May 01 2014: (Start)

One class of generalized Catalan numbers can be defined by g.f. A(x) = (1-sqrt(1-q*4*x*(1-(q-1)*x)))/(2*q*x) with nonzero parameter q. Recurrence: (n+3)*a(n+2) -2*q*(2*n+3)*a(n+1) +4*q*(q-1)*n*a(n) = 0 with a(0)=1, a(1)=1.

Asymptotic approximation for q >= 1: a(n) ~ (2*q+2*sqrt(q))^n*sqrt(2*q*(1+sqrt(q))) /sqrt(4*q^2*Pi*n^3).

For q <= -1, the g.f. defines signed sequences with asymptotic approximation: a(n) ~ Re(sqrt(2*q*(1+sqrt(q)))*(2*q+2*sqrt(q))^n) / sqrt(q^2*Pi*n^3), where Re denotes the real part. Due to Stokes' phenomena, accuracy of the asymptotic approximation deteriorates at/near certain values of n.

Special cases are A000108 (q=1), A068764 to A068772 (q=2 to 10), A240880 (q=-3).

(End)

Number of sequences [s(0), s(1), ..., s(n)] with s(n)=0, Sum_{j=0..n} s(j) = n, and Sum_{j=0..k} s(j)-1 >= 0 for k < n-1 (and necessarily Sum_{j=0..n-1} s(j)-1 = 0). These are the branching sequences of the (ordered) trees with n non-root nodes, see example. - Joerg Arndt, Jun 30 2014

Number of stack-sortable permutations of [n], these are the 231-avoiding permutations; see the Bousquet-Mélou reference. - Joerg Arndt, Jul 01 2014

a(n) is the number of increasing strict binary trees with 2n-1 nodes that avoid 132. For more information about increasing strict binary trees with an associated permutation, see A245894. - Manda Riehl, Aug 07 2014

In a one-dimensional medium with elastic scattering (zig-zag walk), first recurrence after 2n+1 scattering events has the probability C(n)/2^(2n+1). - Joachim Wuttke, Sep 11 2014

The o.g.f. C(x) = (1 - sqrt(1-4x))/2, for the Catalan numbers, with comp. inverse Cinv(x) = x*(1-x) and the functions P(x) = x / (1 + t*x) and its inverse Pinv(x,t) = -P(-x,t) = x / (1 - t*x) form a group under composition that generates or interpolates among many classic arrays, such as the Motzkin (Riordan, A005043), Fibonacci (A000045), and Fine (A000957) numbers and polynomials (A030528), and enumerating arrays for Motzkin, Dyck, and Łukasiewicz lattice paths and different types of trees and non-crossing partitions (A091867, connected to sums of the refined Narayana numbers A134264). - Tom Copeland, Nov 04 2014

Conjecture: All the rational numbers Sum_{i=j..k} 1/a(i) with 0 < min{2,k} <= j <= k have pairwise distinct fractional parts. - Zhi-Wei Sun, Sep 24 2015

The Catalan number series A000108(n+3), offset n=0, gives Hankel transform revealing the square pyramidal numbers starting at 5, A000330(n+2), offset n=0 (empirical observation). - Tony Foster III, Sep 05 2016

Hankel transforms of the Catalan numbers with the first 2, 4, and 5 terms omitted give A001477, A006858, and A091962, respectively, without the first 2 terms in all cases. More generally, the Hankel transform of the Catalan numbers with the first k terms omitted is H_k(n) = Product_{j=1..k-1} Product_{i=1..j} (2*n+j+i)/(j+i) [see Cigler (2011), Eq. (1.14) and references therein]; together they form the array A078920/A123352/A368025. - Andrey Zabolotskiy, Oct 13 2016

Presumably this satisfies Benford's law, although the results in Hürlimann (2009) do not make this clear. See S. J. Miller, ed., 2015, p. 5. - N. J. A. Sloane, Feb 09 2017

Coefficients of the generating series associated to the Magmatic and Dendriform operadic algebras. Cf. p. 422 and 435 of the Loday et al. paper. - Tom Copeland, Jul 08 2018

Let M_n be the n X n matrix with M_n(i,j) = binomial(i+j-1,2j-2); then det(M_n) = a(n). - Tony Foster III, Aug 30 2018

Also the number of Catalan trees, or planted plane trees (Bona, 2015, p. 299, Theorem 4.6.3). - N. J. A. Sloane, Dec 25 2018

Number of coalescent histories for a caterpillar species tree and a matching caterpillar gene tree with n+1 leaves (Rosenberg 2007, Corollary 3.5). - Noah A Rosenberg, Jan 28 2019

Finding solutions of eps*x^2+x-1 = 0 for eps small, that is, writing x = Sum_{n>=0} x_{n}*eps^n and expanding, one finds x = 1 - eps + 2*eps^2 - 5*eps^3 + 14*eps^3 - 42*eps^4 + ... with x_{n} = (-1)^n*C(n). Further, letting x = 1/y and expanding y about 0 to find large roots, that is, y = Sum_{n>=1} y_{n}*eps^n, one finds y = 0 - eps + eps^2 - 2*eps^3 + 5*eps^3 - ... with y_{n} = (-1)^n*C(n-1). - Derek Orr, Mar 15 2019

Permutations of length n that produce a bipartite permutation graph of order n [see Knuth (1973), Busch (2006), Golumbic and Trenk (2004)]. - Elise Anderson, R. M. Argus, Caitlin Owens, Tessa Stevens, Jun 27 2019

For n > 0, a random selection of n + 1 objects (the minimum number ensuring one pair by the pigeonhole principle) from n distinct pairs of indistinguishable objects contains only one pair with probability 2^(n-1)/a(n) = b(n-1)/A098597(n), where b is the 0-offset sequence with the terms of A120777 repeated (1,1,4,4,8,8,64,64,128,128,...). E.g., randomly selecting 6 socks from 5 pairs that are black, blue, brown, green, and white, results in only one pair of the same color with probability 2^(5-1)/a(5) = 16/42 = 8/21 = b(4)/A098597(5). - Rick L. Shepherd, Sep 02 2019

See Haran & Tabachnikov link for a video discussing Conway-Coxeter friezes. The Conway-Coxeter friezes with n nontrivial rows are generated by the counts of triangles at each vertex in the triangulations of regular n-gons, of which there are a(n). - Charles R Greathouse IV, Sep 28 2019

For connections to knot theory and scattering amplitudes from Feynman diagrams, see Broadhurst and Kreimer, and Todorov. Eqn. 6.12 on p. 130 of Bessis et al. becomes, after scaling, -12g * r_0(-y/(12g)) = (1-sqrt(1-4y))/2, the o.g.f. (expressed as a Taylor series in Eqn. 7.22 in 12gx) given for the Catalan numbers in Copeland's (Sep 30 2011) formula below. (See also Mizera p. 34, Balduf pp. 79-80, Keitel and Bartosch.) - Tom Copeland, Nov 17 2019

Number of permutations in S_n whose principal order ideals in the weak order are modular lattices. - Bridget Tenner, Jan 16 2020

Number of permutations in S_n whose principal order ideals in the weak order are distributive lattices. - Bridget Tenner, Jan 16 2020

Legendre gives the following formula for computing the square root modulo 2^m:

sqrt(1 + 8*a) mod 2^m = (1 + 4*a*Sum_{i=0..m-4} C(i)*(-2*a)^i) mod 2^m

as cited by L. D. Dickson, History of the Theory of Numbers, Vol. 1, 207-208. - Peter Schorn, Feb 11 2020

a(n) is the number of length n permutations sorted to the identity by a consecutive-132-avoiding stack followed by a classical-21-avoiding stack. - Kai Zheng, Aug 28 2020

Number of non-crossing partitions of a 2*n-set with n blocks of size 2. Also number of non-crossing partitions of a 2*n-set with n+1 blocks of size at most 3, and without cyclical adjacencies. The two partitions can be mapped by rotated Kreweras bijection. - Yuchun Ji, Jan 18 2021

Named by Riordan (1968, and earlier in Mathematical Reviews, 1948 and 1964) after the French and Belgian mathematician Eugène Charles Catalan (1814-1894) (see Pak, 2014). - Amiram Eldar, Apr 15 2021

For n >= 1, a(n-1) is the number of interpretations of x^n is an algebra where power-associativity is not assumed. For example, for n = 4 there are a(3) = 5 interpretations: x(x(xx)), x((xx)x), (xx)(xx), (x(xx))x, ((xx)x)x. See the link "Non-associate powers and a functional equation" from I. M. H. Etherington and the page "Nonassociative Product" from Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics for detailed information. See also A001190 for the case where multiplication is commutative. - Jianing Song, Apr 29 2022

Number of states in the transition diagram associated with the Laplacian system over the complete graph K_N, corresponding to ordered initial conditions x_1 < x_2 < ... < x_N. - Andrea Arlette España, Nov 06 2022

a(n) is the number of 132-avoiding stabilized-interval-free permutations of size n+1. - Juan B. Gil, Jun 22 2023

Number of rooted polyominoes composed of n triangular cells of the hyperbolic regular tiling with Schläfli symbol {3,oo}. A rooted polyomino has one external edge identified, and chiral pairs are counted as two. A stereographic projection of the {3,oo} tiling on the Poincaré disk can be obtained via the Christensson link. - Robert A. Russell, Jan 27 2024

a(n) is the number of extremely lucky Stirling permutations of order n; i.e., the number of Stirling permutations of order n that have exactly n lucky cars. (see Colmenarejo et al. reference) - Bridget Tenner, Apr 16 2024

The earliest publication that discusses this sequence appears to be the Sepher Yezirah [Book of Creation], circa AD 300. (See Knuth, also the Zeilberger link.) - N. J. A. Sloane, Apr 07 2014

For n >= 1, a(n) is the number of n X n (0,1) matrices with each row and column containing exactly one entry equal to 1.

This sequence is the BinomialMean transform of A000354. (See A075271 for definition.) - John W. Layman, Sep 12 2002 [This is easily verified from the Paul Barry formula for A000354, by interchanging summations and using the formula: Sum_k (-1)^k C(n-i, k) = KroneckerDelta(i,n). - David Callan, Aug 31 2003]

Number of distinct subsets of T(n-1) elements with 1 element A, 2 elements B, ..., n - 1 elements X (e.g., at n = 5, we consider the distinct subsets of ABBCCCDDDD and there are 5! = 120). - Jon Perry, Jun 12 2003

n! is the smallest number with that prime signature. E.g., 720 = 2^4 * 3^2 * 5. - Amarnath Murthy, Jul 01 2003

a(n) is the permanent of the n X n matrix M with M(i, j) = 1. - Philippe Deléham, Dec 15 2003

Given n objects of distinct sizes (e.g., areas, volumes) such that each object is sufficiently large to simultaneously contain all previous objects, then n! is the total number of essentially different arrangements using all n objects. Arbitrary levels of nesting of objects are permitted within arrangements. (This application of the sequence was inspired by considering leftover moving boxes.) If the restriction exists that each object is able or permitted to contain at most one smaller (but possibly nested) object at a time, the resulting sequence begins 1,2,5,15,52 (Bell Numbers?). Sets of nested wooden boxes or traditional nested Russian dolls come to mind here. - Rick L. Shepherd, Jan 14 2004

From Michael Somos, Mar 04 2004; edited by M. F. Hasler, Jan 02 2015: (Start)

Stirling transform of [2, 2, 6, 24, 120, ...] is A052856 = [2, 2, 4, 14, 76, ...].

Stirling transform of [1, 2, 6, 24, 120, ...] is A000670 = [1, 3, 13, 75, ...].

Stirling transform of [0, 2, 6, 24, 120, ...] is A052875 = [0, 2, 12, 74, ...].

Stirling transform of [1, 1, 2, 6, 24, 120, ...] is A000629 = [1, 2, 6, 26, ...].

Stirling transform of [0, 1, 2, 6, 24, 120, ...] is A002050 = [0, 1, 5, 25, 140, ...].

Stirling transform of (A165326*A089064)(1...) = [1, 0, 1, -1, 8, -26, 194, ...] is [1, 1, 2, 6, 24, 120, ...] (this sequence). (End)

First Eulerian transform of 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1... The first Eulerian transform transforms a sequence s to a sequence t by the formula t(n) = Sum_{k=0..n} e(n, k)s(k), where e(n, k) is a first-order Eulerian number [A008292]. - Ross La Haye, Feb 13 2005

Conjecturally, 1, 6, and 120 are the only numbers which are both triangular and factorial. - Christopher M. Tomaszewski (cmt1288(AT)comcast.net), Mar 30 2005

n! is the n-th finite difference of consecutive n-th powers. E.g., for n = 3, [0, 1, 8, 27, 64, ...] -> [1, 7, 19, 37, ...] -> [6, 12, 18, ...] -> [6, 6, ...]. - Bryan Jacobs (bryanjj(AT)gmail.com), Mar 31 2005

a(n+1) = (n+1)! = 1, 2, 6, ... has e.g.f. 1/(1-x)^2. - Paul Barry, Apr 22 2005

Write numbers 1 to n on a circle. Then a(n) = sum of the products of all n - 2 adjacent numbers. E.g., a(5) = 1*2*3 + 2*3*4 + 3*4*5 + 4*5*1 +5*1*2 = 120. - Amarnath Murthy, Jul 10 2005

The number of chains of maximal length in the power set of {1, 2, ..., n} ordered by the subset relation. - Rick L. Shepherd, Feb 05 2006

The number of circular permutations of n letters for n >= 0 is 1, 1, 1, 2, 6, 24, 120, 720, 5040, 40320, ... - Xavier Noria (fxn(AT)hashref.com), Jun 04 2006

a(n) is the number of deco polyominoes of height n (n >= 1; see definitions in the Barcucci et al. references). - Emeric Deutsch, Aug 07 2006

a(n) is the number of partition tableaux of size n. See Steingrimsson/Williams link for the definition. - David Callan, Oct 06 2006

Consider the n! permutations of the integer sequence [n] = 1, 2, ..., n. The i-th permutation consists of ncycle(i) permutation cycles. Then, if the Sum_{i=1..n!} 2^ncycle(i) runs from 1 to n!, we have Sum_{i=1..n!} 2^ncycle(i) = (n+1)!. E.g., for n = 3 we have ncycle(1) = 3, ncycle(2) = 2, ncycle(3) = 1, ncycle(4) = 2, ncycle(5) = 1, ncycle(6) = 2 and 2^3 + 2^2 + 2^1 + 2^2 + 2^1 + 2^2 = 8 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 = 24 = (n+1)!. - Thomas Wieder, Oct 11 2006

a(n) is the number of set partitions of {1, 2, ..., 2n - 1, 2n} into blocks of size 2 (perfect matchings) in which each block consists of one even and one odd integer. For example, a(3) = 6 counts 12-34-56, 12-36-45, 14-23-56, 14-25-36, 16-23-45, 16-25-34. - David Callan, Mar 30 2007

Consider the multiset M = [1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, ...] = [1, 2, 2, ..., n x 'n'] and form the set U (where U is a set in the strict sense) of all subsets N (where N may be a multiset again) of M. Then the number of elements |U| of U is equal to (n+1)!. E.g. for M = [1, 2, 2] we get U = [[], [2], [2, 2], [1], [1, 2], [1, 2, 2]] and |U| = 3! = 6. This observation is a more formal version of the comment given already by Rick L. Shepherd, Jan 14 2004. - Thomas Wieder, Nov 27 2007

For n >= 1, a(n) = 1, 2, 6, 24, ... are the positions corresponding to the 1's in decimal expansion of Liouville's constant (A012245). - Paul Muljadi, Apr 15 2008

Triangle A144107 has n! for row sums (given n > 0) with right border n! and left border A003319, the INVERTi transform of (1, 2, 6, 24, ...). - Gary W. Adamson, Sep 11 2008

Equals INVERT transform of A052186 and row sums of triangle A144108. - Gary W. Adamson, Sep 11 2008

From Abdullahi Umar, Oct 12 2008: (Start)

a(n) is also the number of order-decreasing full transformations (of an n-chain).

a(n-1) is also the number of nilpotent order-decreasing full transformations (of an n-chain). (End)

n! is also the number of optimal broadcast schemes in the complete graph K_{n}, equivalent to the number of binomial trees embedded in K_{n} (see Calin D. Morosan, Information Processing Letters, 100 (2006), 188-193). - Calin D. Morosan (cd_moros(AT)alumni.concordia.ca), Nov 28 2008

Let S_{n} denote the n-star graph. The S_{n} structure consists of n S_{n-1} structures. This sequence gives the number of edges between the vertices of any two specified S_{n+1} structures in S_{n+2} (n >= 1). - K.V.Iyer, Mar 18 2009

Chromatic invariant of the sun graph S_{n-2}.

It appears that a(n+1) is the inverse binomial transform of A000255. - Timothy Hopper, Aug 20 2009

a(n) is also the determinant of a square matrix, An, whose coefficients are the reciprocals of beta function: a{i, j} = 1/beta(i, j), det(An) = n!. - Enrique Pérez Herrero, Sep 21 2009

The asymptotic expansions of the exponential integrals E(x, m = 1, n = 1) ~ exp(-x)/x*(1 - 1/x + 2/x^2 - 6/x^3 + 24/x^4 + ...) and E(x, m = 1, n = 2) ~ exp(-x)/x*(1 - 2/x + 6/x^2 - 24/x^3 + ...) lead to the factorial numbers. See A163931 and A130534 for more information. - Johannes W. Meijer, Oct 20 2009

Satisfies A(x)/A(x^2), A(x) = A173280. - Gary W. Adamson, Feb 14 2010

a(n) = G^n where G is the geometric mean of the first n positive integers. - Jaroslav Krizek, May 28 2010

Increasing colored 1-2 trees with choice of two colors for the rightmost branch of nonleaves. - Wenjin Woan, May 23 2011

Number of necklaces with n labeled beads of 1 color. - Robert G. Wilson v, Sep 22 2011

The sequence 1!, (2!)!, ((3!)!)!, (((4!)!)!)!, ..., ((...(n!)!)...)! (n times) grows too rapidly to have its own entry. See Hofstadter.

The e.g.f. of 1/a(n) = 1/n! is BesselI(0, 2*sqrt(x)). See Abramowitz-Stegun, p. 375, 9.3.10. - Wolfdieter Lang, Jan 09 2012

a(n) is the length of the n-th row which is the sum of n-th row in triangle A170942. - Reinhard Zumkeller, Mar 29 2012

Number of permutations of elements 1, 2, ..., n + 1 with a fixed element belonging to a cycle of length r does not depend on r and equals a(n). - Vladimir Shevelev, May 12 2012

a(n) is the number of fixed points in all permutations of 1, ..., n: in all n! permutations, 1 is first exactly (n-1)! times, 2 is second exactly (n-1)! times, etc., giving (n-1)!*n = n!. - Jon Perry, Dec 20 2012

For n >= 1, a(n-1) is the binomial transform of A000757. See Moreno-Rivera. - Luis Manuel Rivera Martínez, Dec 09 2013

Each term is divisible by its digital root (A010888). - Ivan N. Ianakiev, Apr 14 2014

For m >= 3, a(m-2) is the number hp(m) of acyclic Hamiltonian paths in a simple graph with m vertices, which is complete except for one missing edge. For m < 3, hp(m)=0. - Stanislav Sykora, Jun 17 2014

a(n) is the number of increasing forests with n nodes. - Brad R. Jones, Dec 01 2014

The factorial numbers can be calculated by means of the recurrence n! = (floor(n/2)!)^2 * sf(n) where sf(n) are the swinging factorials A056040. This leads to an efficient algorithm if sf(n) is computed via prime factorization. For an exposition of this algorithm see the link below. - Peter Luschny, Nov 05 2016

Treeshelves are ordered (plane) binary (0-1-2) increasing trees where the nodes of outdegree 1 come in 2 colors. There are n! treeshelves of size n, and classical Françon's bijection maps bijectively treeshelves into permutations. - Sergey Kirgizov, Dec 26 2016

Satisfies Benford's law [Diaconis, 1977; Berger-Hill, 2017] - N. J. A. Sloane, Feb 07 2017

a(n) = Sum((d_p)^2), where d_p is the number of standard tableaux in the Ferrers board of the integer partition p and summation is over all integer partitions p of n. Example: a(3) = 6. Indeed, the partitions of 3 are [3], [2,1], and [1,1,1], having 1, 2, and 1 standard tableaux, respectively; we have 1^2 + 2^2 + 1^2 = 6. - Emeric Deutsch, Aug 07 2017

a(n) is the n-th derivative of x^n. - Iain Fox, Nov 19 2017

a(n) is the number of maximum chains in the n-dimensional Boolean cube {0,1}^n in respect to the relation "precedes". It is defined as follows: for arbitrary vectors u, v of {0,1}^n, such that u = (u_1, u_2, ..., u_n) and v = (v_1, v_2, ..., v_n), "u precedes v" if u_i <= v_i, for i=1, 2, ..., n. - Valentin Bakoev, Nov 20 2017

a(n) is the number of shortest paths (for example, obtained by Breadth First Search) between the nodes (0,0,...,0) (i.e., the all-zeros vector) and (1,1,...,1) (i.e., the all-ones vector) in the graph H_n, corresponding to the n-dimensional Boolean cube {0,1}^n. The graph is defined as H_n = (V_n, E_n), where V_n is the set of all vectors of {0,1}^n, and E_n contains edges formed by each pair adjacent vectors. - Valentin Bakoev, Nov 20 2017

a(n) is also the determinant of the symmetric n X n matrix M defined by M(i,j) = sigma(gcd(i,j)) for 1 <= i,j <= n. - Bernard Schott, Dec 05 2018

a(n) is also the number of inversion sequences of length n. A length n inversion sequence e_1, e_2, ..., e_n is a sequence of n integers such that 0 <= e_i < i. - Juan S. Auli, Oct 14 2019

The term "factorial" ("factorielle" in French) was coined by the French mathematician Louis François Antoine Arbogast (1759-1803) in 1800. The notation "!" was first used by the French mathematician Christian Kramp (1760-1826) in 1808. - Amiram Eldar, Apr 16 2021

Also the number of signotopes of rank 2, i.e., mappings X:{{1..n} choose 2}->{+,-} such that for any three indices a < b < c, the sequence X(a,b), X(a,c), X(b,c) changes its sign at most once (see Felsner-Weil reference). - Manfred Scheucher, Feb 09 2022

a(n) is also the number of labeled commutative semisimple rings with n elements. As an example the only commutative semisimple rings with 4 elements are F_4 and F_2 X F_2. They both have exactly 2 automorphisms, hence a(4)=24/2+24/2=24. - Paul Laubie, Mar 05 2024

a(n) is the number of extremely unlucky Stirling permutations of order n+1; i.e., the number of Stirling permutations of order n+1 that have exactly one lucky car. - Bridget Tenner, Apr 09 2024

Partial sums of A010051 (characteristic function of primes). - Jeremy Gardiner, Aug 13 2002

pi(n) and prime(n) are inverse functions: a(A000040(n)) = n and A000040(n) is the least number m such that A000040(a(m)) = A000040(n). A000040(a(n)) = n if (and only if) n is prime. - Jonathan Sondow, Dec 27 2004

See the additional references and links mentioned in A143227. - Jonathan Sondow, Aug 03 2008

A lower bound that gets better with larger N is that there are at least T prime numbers less than N, where the recursive function T is: T = N - N*Sum_{i=0..T(sqrt(N))} A005867(i)/A002110(i). - Ben Paul Thurston, Aug 23 2010

Number of partitions of 2n into exactly two parts with the smallest part prime. - Wesley Ivan Hurt, Jul 20 2013

Equivalent to the Riemann hypothesis: abs(a(n) - li(n)) < sqrt(n)*log(n)/(8*Pi), for n >= 2657, where li(n) is the logarithmic integral (Lowell Schoenfeld). - Ilya Gutkovskiy, Jul 05 2016

The second Hardy-Littlewood conjecture, that pi(x) + pi(y) >= pi(x + y) for integers x and y with min{x, y} >= 2, is known to hold for (x, y) sufficiently large (Udrescu 1975). - Peter Luschny, Jan 12 2021

Cf. A000204 for Lucas numbers beginning with 1.

Also the number of independent vertex sets and vertex covers for the cycle graph C_n for n >= 2. - Eric W. Weisstein, Jan 04 2014

Also the number of matchings in the n-cycle graph C_n for n >= 3. - Eric W. Weisstein, Oct 01 2017

Also the number of maximal independent vertex sets (and maximal vertex covers) for the n-helm graph for n >= 3. - Eric W. Weisstein, May 27 2017

Also the number of maximal independent vertex sets (and maximal vertex covers) for the n-sunlet graph for n >= 3. - Eric W. Weisstein, Aug 07 2017

This is also the Horadam sequence (2, 1, 1, 1). - Ross La Haye, Aug 18 2003

For distinct primes p, q, L(p) is congruent to 1 mod p, L(2p) is congruent to 3 mod p and L(pq) is congruent 1 + q(L(q) - 1) mod p. Also, L(m) divides F(2km) and L((2k + 1)m), k, m >= 0.

a(n) = Sum_{k=0..ceiling((n - 1)/2)} P(3; n - 1 - k, k), n >= 1, with a(0) = 2. These are the sums over the SW-NE diagonals in P(3; n, k), the (3, 1) Pascal triangle A093560. Observation by Paul Barry, Apr 29 2004. Proof via recursion relations and comparison of inputs. Also SW-NE diagonal sums of the (1, 2) Pascal triangle A029635 (with T(0, 0) replaced by 2).

Suppose psi = log(phi) = A002390. We get the representation L(n) = 2*cosh(n*psi) if n is even; L(n) = 2*sinh(n*psi) if n is odd. There is a similar representation for Fibonacci numbers (A000045). Many Lucas formulas now easily follow from appropriate sinh- and cosh-formulas. For example: the identity cosh^2(x) - sinh^2(x) = 1 implies L(n)^2 - 5*F(n)^2 = 4*(-1)^n (setting x = n*psi). - Hieronymus Fischer, Apr 18 2007

From John Blythe Dobson, Oct 02 2007, Oct 11 2007: (Start)

The parity of L(n) follows easily from its definition, which shows that L(n) is even when n is a multiple of 3 and odd otherwise.

The first six multiplication formulas are:

L(2n) = L(n)^2 - 2*(-1)^n;

L(3n) = L(n)^3 - 3*(-1)^n*L(n);

L(4n) = L(n)^4 - 4*(-1)^n*L(n)^2 + 2;

L(5n) = L(n)^5 - 5*(-1)^n*L(n)^3 + 5*L(n);

L(6n) = L(n)^6 - 6*(-1)^n*L(n)^4 + 9*L(n)^2 - 2*(-1)^n.

Generally, L(n) | L(mn) if and only if m is odd.

In the expansion of L(mn), where m represents the multiplier and n the index of a known value of L(n), the absolute values of the coefficients are the terms in the m-th row of the triangle A034807. When m = 1 and n = 1, L(n) = 1 and all the terms are positive and so the row sums of A034807 are simply the Lucas numbers. (End)

From John Blythe Dobson, Nov 15 2007: (Start)

The comments submitted by Miklos Kristof on Mar 19 2007 for the Fibonacci numbers (A000045) contain four important identities that have close analogs in the Lucas numbers:

For a >= b and odd b, L(a + b) + L(a - b) = 5*F(a)*F(b).

For a >= b and even b, L(a + b) + L(a - b) = L(a)*L(b).

For a >= b and odd b, L(a + b) - L(a - b) = L(a)*L(b).

For a >= b and even b, L(a + b) - L(a - b) = 5*F(a)*F(b).

A particularly interesting instance of the difference identity for even b is L(a + 30) - L(a - 30) = 5*F(a)*832040, since 5*832040 is divisible by 100, proving that the last two digits of Lucas numbers repeat in a cycle of length 60 (see A106291(100)). (End)

From John Blythe Dobson, Nov 15 2007: (Start)

The Lucas numbers satisfy remarkable difference equations, in some cases best expressed using Fibonacci numbers, of which representative examples are the following:

L(n) - L(n - 3) = 2*L(n - 2);

L(n) - L(n - 4) = 5*F(n - 2);

L(n) - L(n - 6) = 4*L(n - 3);

L(n) - L(n - 12) = 40*F(n - 6);

L(n) - L(n - 60) = 4160200*F(n - 30).

These formulas establish, respectively, that the Lucas numbers form a cyclic residue system of length 3 (mod 2), of length 4 (mod 5), of length 6 (mod 4), of length 12 (mod 40) and of length 60 (mod 4160200). The divisibility of the last modulus by 100 accounts for the fact that the last two digits of the Lucas numbers begin to repeat at L(60).

The divisibility properties of the Lucas numbers are very complex and still not fully understood, but several important criteria are established in Zhi-Hong Sun's 2003 survey of congruences for Fibonacci numbers. (End)

Sum_{n>0} a(n)/(n*2^n) = 2*log(2). - Jaume Oliver Lafont, Oct 11 2009

A010888(a(n)) = A030133(n). - Reinhard Zumkeller, Aug 20 2011

The powers of phi, the golden ratio, approach the values of the Lucas numbers, the odd powers from above and the even powers from below. - Geoffrey Caveney, Apr 18 2014

Inverse binomial transform is (-1)^n * a(n). - Michael Somos, Jun 03 2014

Lucas numbers are invariant to the following transformation for all values of the integers j and n, including negative values, thus: L(n) = (L(j+n) + (-1)^n * L(j-n))/L(j). The same transformation applied to all sequences of the form G(n+1) = m * G(n) + G(n-1) yields Lucas numbers for m = 1, except where G(j) = 0, regardless of initial values which may be nonintegers. The corresponding sequences for other values of m are: for m = 2, 2*A001333; for m = 3, A006497; for m = 4, 2*A001077; for m = 5, A087130; for m = 6, 2*A005667; for m = 7, A086902. The invariant ones all have G(0) = 2, G(1) = m. A related family of sequences is discussed at A059100. - Richard R. Forberg, Nov 23 2014

If x=a(n), y=a(n+1), z=a(n+2), then -x^2 - z*x - 3*y*x - y^2 + y*z + z^2 = 5*(-1)^(n+1). - Alexander Samokrutov, Jul 04 2015

A conjecture on the divisibility of infinite subsequences of Lucas numbers by prime(n)^m, m >= 1, is given in A266587, together with the prime "entry points". - Richard R. Forberg, Dec 31 2015

A trapezoid has three lengths of sides in order L(n-1), L(n+1), L(n-1). For increasing n a very close approximation to the maximum area will have the fourth side equal to 2*L(n). For a trapezoid with sides L(n-1), L(n-3), L(n-1), the fourth side will be L(n). - J. M. Bergot, Mar 17 2016

Satisfies Benford's law [Brown-Duncan, 1970; Berger-Hill, 2017]. - N. J. A. Sloane, Feb 08 2017

Lucas numbers L(n) and Fibonacci numbers F(n), being related by the formulas F(n) = (F(n-1) + L(n-1))/2 and L(n) = 2 F(n+1) - F(n), are a typical pair of "autosequences" (see the link to OEIS Wiki). - Jean-François Alcover, Jun 09 2017

For n >= 3, the Lucas number L(n) is the dimension of a commutative Hecke algebra of affine type A_n with independent parameters. See Theorem 1.4, Corollary 1.5, and the table on page 524 in the link "Hecke algebras with independent parameters". - Jia Huang, Jan 20 2019

From Klaus Purath, Apr 19 2019: (Start)

While all prime numbers appear as factors in the Fibonacci numbers, this is not the case with the Lucas numbers. For example, L(n) is never divisible by the following prime numbers < 150: 5, 13, 17, 37, 53, 61, 73, 89, 97, 109, 113, 137, 149 ... See A053028. Conjecture: Three properties can be determined for these prime numbers:

First observation: The prime factors > 3 occur in the Fibonacci numbers with an odd index.

Second observation: These are the prime numbers p congruent to 2, 3 (modulo 5), which occur both in Fibonacci(p+1) and in Fibonacci((p+1)/2) as prime factors, or the prime numbers p congruent to 1, 4 (modulo 5), which occur both in Fibonacci((p-1)/2) and in Fibonacci((p-1)/(2^k)) with k >= 2.

Third observation: The Pisano period lengths of these prime numbers, given in A001175, are always divisible by 4, but not by 8. In contrast, those of the prime factors of Lucas numbers are divisible either by 2, but not by 4, or by 8. (See also comment in A053028 by N. J. A. Sloane, Feb 21 2004). (End)

L(n) is the sum of 4*k consecutive terms of the Fibonacci sequence (A000045) divided by Fibonacci(2*k): (Sum_{i=0..4*k-1, k>=1} F(n+i))/F(2*k) = L(n+2*k+1). Sequences extended to negative indices, following the rule a(n-1) = a(n+1) - a(n). - Klaus Purath, Sep 15 2019

If one forms a sequence (A) of the Fibonacci type with the initial values A(0) = A022095(n) and A(1) = A000285(n), then A(n+1) = L(n+1)^2 always applies. - Klaus Purath, Sep 29 2019

From Kai Wang, Dec 18 2019: (Start)

L((2*m+1)k)/L(k) = Sum_{i=0..m-1} (-1)^(i*(k+1))*L((2*m-2*i)*k) + (-1)^(m*k).

Example: k=5, m=2, L(5)=11, L(10)=123, L(20)=15127, L(25)=167761. L(25)/L(5) = 15251, L(20) + L(10) + 1 = 15127 + 123 + 1 = 15251. (End)

From Peter Bala, Dec 23 2021: (Start)

The Gauss congruences a(n*p^k) == a(n*p^(k-1)) ( mod p^k ) hold for all prime p and positive integers n and k.

For a positive integer k, the sequence (a(n))n>=1 taken modulo k becomes a purely periodic sequence. For example, taken modulo 11, the sequence becomes [1, 3, 4, 7, 0, 7, 7, 3, 10, 2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 0, 7, 7, 3, 10, 2, ...], a periodic sequence with period 10. (End)

For any sequence with recurrence relation b(n) = b(n-1) + b(n-2), it can be shown that the recurrence relation for every k-th term is given by: b(n) = A000032(k) * b(n-k) + (-1)^(k+1) * b(n-2k), extending to negative indices as necessary. - Nick Hobson, Jan 19 2024

For n >= 3, L(n) is the number of (n-1)-digit numbers where all consecutive pairs of digits have a difference of at least 8. - Edwin Hermann, Apr 19 2025

The following sequences all have the same parity (with an extra zero term at the start of a(n)): a(n), A061007, A035026, A069754, A071574. - Jeremy Gardiner, Aug 09 2002

Hardy and Wright prove that the real number 0.011010100010... is irrational. See Nasehpour link. - Michel Marcus, Jun 21 2018

The spectral components (excluding the zero frequency) of the Fourier transform of the partial sequences {a(j)} with j=1..n and n an even number, exhibit a remarkable symmetry with respect to the central frequency component at position 1 + n/4. See the Fourier spectrum of the first 2^20 terms in Links, Comments in A289777, and Conjectures in A001223 of Sep 01 2019. It also appears that the symmetry grows with n. - Andres Cicuttin, Aug 23 2020

There is a unique decomposition of the primes: provided the weight A117078(n) is > 0, we have prime(n) = weight * level + gap, or A000040(n) = A117078(n) * A117563(n) + a(n). - Rémi Eismann, Feb 14 2008

Let rho(m) = A179196(m), for any n, let m be an integer such that p_(rho(m)) <= p_n and p_(n+1) <= p_(rho(m+1)), then rho(m) <= n < n + 1 <= rho(m + 1), therefore a(n) = p_(n+1) - p_n <= p_rho(m+1) - p_rho(m) = A182873(m). For all rho(m) = A179196(m), a(rho(m)) < A165959(m). - John W. Nicholson, Dec 14 2011

A solution (modular square root) of x^2 == A001248(n) (mod A000040(n+1)). - L. Edson Jeffery, Oct 01 2014

There exists a constant C such that for n -> infinity, Cramer conjecture a(n) < C log^2 prime(n) is equivalent to (log prime(n+1)/log prime(n))^n < e^C. - Thomas Ordowski, Oct 11 2014

a(n) = A008347(n+1) - A008347(n-1). - Reinhard Zumkeller, Feb 09 2015

Yitang Zhang proved lim inf_{n -> infinity} a(n) is finite. - Robert Israel, Feb 12 2015

lim sup_{n -> infinity} a(n)/log^2 prime(n) = C <==> lim sup_{n -> infinity}(log prime(n+1)/log prime(n))^n = e^C. - Thomas Ordowski, Mar 09 2015

a(A038664(n)) = 2*n and a(m) != 2*n for m < A038664(n). - Reinhard Zumkeller, Aug 23 2015

If j and k are positive integers then there are no two consecutive primes gaps of the form 2+6j and 2+6k (A016933) or 4+6j and 4+6k (A016957). - Andres Cicuttin, Jul 14 2016

Conjecture: For any positive numbers x and y, there is an index k such that x/y = a(k)/a(k+1). - Andres Cicuttin, Sep 23 2018

Conjecture: For any three positive numbers x, y and j, there is an index k such that x/y = a(k)/a(k+j). - Andres Cicuttin, Sep 29 2018

Conjecture: For any three positive numbers x, y and j, there are infinitely many indices k such that x/y = a(k)/a(k+j). - Andres Cicuttin, Sep 29 2018

Row m of A174349 lists all indices n for which a(n) = 2m. - M. F. Hasler, Oct 26 2018

Since (6a, 6b) is an admissible pattern of gaps for any integers a, b > 0 (and also if other multiples of 6 are inserted in between), the above conjecture follows from the prime k-tuple conjecture which states that any admissible pattern occurs infinitely often (see, e.g., the Caldwell link). This also means that any subsequence a(n .. n+m) with n > 2 (as to exclude the untypical primes 2 and 3) should occur infinitely many times at other starting points n'. - M. F. Hasler, Oct 26 2018

Conjecture: Defining b(n,j,k) as the number of pairs of prime gaps {a(i),a(i+j)} such that i < n, j > 0, and a(i)/a(i+j) = k with k > 0, then

lim_{n -> oo} b(n,j,k)/b(n,j,1/k) = 1, for any j > 0 and k > 0, and

lim_{n -> oo} b(n,j,k1)/b(n,j,k2) = C with C = C(j,k1,k2) > 0. - Andres Cicuttin, Sep 01 2019

Apart from initial term, same as A000079 (powers of 2).

Number of compositions (ordered partitions) of n. - Toby Bartels, Aug 27 2003

Number of ways of putting n unlabeled items into (any number of) labeled boxes where every box contains at least one item. Also "unimodal permutations of n items", i.e., those which rise then fall. (E.g., for three items: ABC, ACB, BCA and CBA are unimodal.) - Henry Bottomley, Jan 17 2001

Number of permutations in S_n avoiding the patterns 213 and 312. - Tuwani Albert Tshifhumulo, Apr 20 2001. More generally (see Simion and Schmidt), the number of permutations in S_n avoiding (i) the 123 and 132 patterns; (ii) the 123 and 213 patterns; (iii) the 132 and 213 patterns; (iv) the 132 and 231 patterns; (v) the 132 and 312 patterns; (vi) the 213 and 231 patterns; (vii) the 213 and 312 patterns; (viii) the 231 and 312 patterns; (ix) the 231 and 321 patterns; (x) the 312 and 321 patterns.

a(n+2) is the number of distinct Boolean functions of n variables under action of symmetric group.

Number of unlabeled (1+2)-free posets. - Detlef Pauly, May 25 2003

Image of the central binomial coefficients A000984 under the Riordan array ((1-x), x*(1-x)). - Paul Barry, Mar 18 2005

Binomial transform of (1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, ...); inverse binomial transform of A007051. - Philippe Deléham, Jul 04 2005

Also, number of rationals in [0, 1) whose binary expansions terminate after n bits. - Brad Chalfan, May 29 2006

Equals row sums of triangle A144157. - Gary W. Adamson, Sep 12 2008

Prepend A089067 with a 1, getting (1, 1, 3, 5, 13, 23, 51, ...) as polcoeff A(x); then (1, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, ...) = A(x)/A(x^2). - Gary W. Adamson, Feb 18 2010

An elephant sequence, see A175655. For the central square four A[5] vectors, with decimal values 2, 8, 32 and 128, lead to this sequence. For the corner squares these vectors lead to the companion sequence A094373. - Johannes W. Meijer, Aug 15 2010

From Paul Curtz, Jul 20 2011: (Start)

Array T(m,n) = 2*T(m,n-1) + T(m-1,n):

1, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, ... = a(n)

1, 3, 8, 20, 48, 112, ... = A001792,

1, 5, 18, 56, 160, 432, ... = A001793,

1, 7, 32, 120, 400, 1232, ... = A001794,

1, 9, 50, 220, 840, 2912, ... = A006974, followed with A006975, A006976, gives nonzero coefficients of Chebyshev polynomials of first kind A039991 =

1,

1, 0,

2, 0, -1,

4, 0, -3, 0,

8, 0, -8, 0, 1.

T(m,n) third vertical: 2*n^2, n positive (A001105).

Fourth vertical appears in Janet table even rows, last vertical (A168342 array, A138509, rank 3, 13, = A166911)). (End)

A131577(n) and differences are:

0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16,

1, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, = a(n),

0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16,

1, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16.

Number of 2-color necklaces of length 2n equal to their complemented reversal. For length 2n+1, the number is 0. - David W. Wilson, Jan 01 2012

Edges and also central terms of triangle A198069: a(0) = A198069(0,0) and for n > 0: a(n) = A198069(n,0) = A198069(n,2^n) = A198069(n,2^(n-1)). - Reinhard Zumkeller, May 26 2013

These could be called the composition numbers (see the second comment) since the equivalent sequence for partitions is A000041, the partition numbers. - Omar E. Pol, Aug 28 2013

Number of self conjugate integer partitions with exactly n parts for n>=1. - David Christopher, Aug 18 2014

The sequence is the INVERT transform of (1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, ...). - Gary W. Adamson, Jul 16 2015

Number of threshold graphs on n nodes [Hougardy]. - Falk Hüffner, Dec 03 2015

Number of ternary words of length n in which binary subwords appear in the form 10...0. - Milan Janjic, Jan 25 2017

a(n) is the number of words of length n over an alphabet of two letters, of which one letter appears an even number of times (the empty word of length 0 is included). See the analogous odd number case in A131577, and the Balakrishnan reference in A006516 (the 4-letter odd case), pp. 68-69, problems 2.66, 2.67 and 2.68. - Wolfdieter Lang, Jul 17 2017

Number of D-equivalence classes of Łukasiewicz paths. Łukasiewicz paths are D-equivalent iff the positions of pattern D are identical in these paths. - Sergey Kirgizov, Apr 08 2018

Number of color patterns (set partitions) for an oriented row of length n using two or fewer colors (subsets). Two color patterns are equivalent if we permute the colors. For a(4)=8, the 4 achiral patterns are AAAA, AABB, ABAB, and ABBA; the 4 chiral patterns are the 2 pairs AAAB-ABBB and AABA-ABAA. - Robert A. Russell, Oct 30 2018

The determinant of the symmetric n X n matrix M defined by M(i,j) = (-1)^max(i,j) for 1 <= i,j <= n is equal to a(n) * (-1)^(n*(n+1)/2). - Bernard Schott, Dec 29 2018

For n>=1, a(n) is the number of permutations of length n whose cyclic representations can be written in such a way that when the cycle parentheses are removed what remains is 1 through n in natural order. For example, a(4)=8 since there are exactly 8 permutations of this form, namely, (1 2 3 4), (1)(2 3 4), (1 2)(3 4), (1 2 3)(4), (1)(2)(3 4), (1)(2 3)(4), (1 2)(3)(4), and (1)(2)(3)(4). Our result follows readily by conditioning on k, the number of parentheses pairs of the form ")(" in the cyclic representation. Since there are C(n-1,k) ways to insert these in the cyclic representation and since k runs from 0 to n-1, we obtain a(n) = Sum_{k=0..n-1} C(n-1,k) = 2^(n-1). - Dennis P. Walsh, May 23 2020

Maximum number of preimages that a permutation of length n + 1 can have under the consecutive-231-avoiding stack-sorting map. - Colin Defant, Aug 28 2020

a(n) is the number of occurrences of the empty set {} in the von Neumann ordinals from 0 up to n. Each ordinal k is defined as the set of all smaller ordinals: 0 = {}, 1 = {0}, 2 = {0,1}, etc. Since {} is the foundational element of all ordinals, the total number of times it appears grows as powers of 2. - Kyle Wyonch, Mar 30 2025

a(n) is the number of balls in a triangular pyramid in which each edge contains n balls.

One of the 5 Platonic polyhedral (tetrahedral, cube, octahedral, dodecahedral and icosahedral) numbers (cf. A053012).

Also (1/6)*(n^3 + 3*n^2 + 2*n) is the number of ways to color the vertices of a triangle using <= n colors, allowing rotations and reflections. Group is the dihedral group D_6 with cycle index (x1^3 + 2*x3 + 3*x1*x2)/6.

Also the convolution of the natural numbers with themselves. - Felix Goldberg (felixg(AT)tx.technion.ac.il), Feb 01 2001

Connected with the Eulerian numbers (1, 4, 1) via 1*a(n-2) + 4*a(n-1) + 1*a(n) = n^3. - Gottfried Helms, Apr 15 2002

a(n) is sum of all the possible products p*q where (p,q) are ordered pairs and p + q = n + 1. E.g., a(5) = 5 + 8 + 9 + 8 + 5 = 35. - Amarnath Murthy, May 29 2003

Number of labeled graphs on n+3 nodes that are triangles. - Jon Perry, Jun 14 2003

Number of permutations of n+3 which have exactly 1 descent and avoid the pattern 1324. - Mike Zabrocki, Nov 05 2004

Schlaefli symbol for this polyhedron: {3,3}.

Transform of n^2 under the Riordan array (1/(1-x^2), x). - Paul Barry, Apr 16 2005

a(n) is a perfect square only for n = {1, 2, 48}. E.g., a(48) = 19600 = 140^2. - Alexander Adamchuk, Nov 24 2006

a(n+1) is the number of terms in the expansion of (a_1 + a_2 + a_3 + a_4)^n. - Sergio Falcon, Feb 12 2007 [Corrected by Graeme McRae, Aug 28 2007]

a(n+1) is the number of terms in the complete homogeneous symmetric polynomial of degree n in 3 variables. - Richard Barnes, Sep 06 2017

This is also the average "permutation entropy", sum((pi(n)-n)^2)/n!, over the set of all possible n! permutations pi. - Jeff Boscole (jazzerciser(AT)hotmail.com), Mar 20 2007

a(n) = (d/dx)(S(n, x), x)|A049310.%20-%20_Wolfdieter%20Lang">{x = 2}. First derivative of Chebyshev S-polynomials evaluated at x = 2. See A049310. - _Wolfdieter Lang, Apr 04 2007

If X is an n-set and Y a fixed (n-1)-subset of X then a(n-2) is equal to the number of 3-subsets of X intersecting Y. - Milan Janjic, Aug 15 2007

Complement of A145397; A023533(a(n))=1; A014306(a(n))=0. - Reinhard Zumkeller, Oct 14 2008

Equals row sums of triangle A152205. - Gary W. Adamson, Nov 29 2008

a(n) is the number of gifts received from the lyricist's true love up to and including day n in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas". a(12) = 364, almost the number of days in the year. - Bernard Hill (bernard(AT)braeburn.co.uk), Dec 05 2008

Sequence of the absolute values of the z^1 coefficients of the polynomials in the GF2 denominators of A156925. See A157703 for background information. - Johannes W. Meijer, Mar 07 2009

Starting with 1 = row sums of triangle A158823. - Gary W. Adamson, Mar 28 2009

Wiener index of the path with n edges. - Eric W. Weisstein, Apr 30 2009

This is a 'Matryoshka doll' sequence with alpha=0, the multiplicative counterpart is A000178: seq(add(add(i,i=alpha..k),k=alpha..n),n=alpha..50). - Peter Luschny, Jul 14 2009

a(n) is the number of nondecreasing triples of numbers from a set of size n, and it is the number of strictly increasing triples of numbers from a set of size n+2. - Samuel Savitz, Sep 12 2009 [Corrected and enhanced by Markus Sigg, Sep 24 2023]

a(n) is the number of ordered sequences of 4 nonnegative integers that sum to n. E.g., a(2) = 10 because 2 = 2 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 1 + 1 + 0 + 0 = 0 + 2 + 0 + 0 = 1 + 0 + 1 + 0 = 0 + 1 + 1 + 0 = 0 + 0 + 2 + 0 = 1 + 0 + 0 + 1 = 0 + 1 + 0 + 1 = 0 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 0 + 0 + 0 + 2. - Artur Jasinski, Nov 30 2009

a(n) corresponds to the total number of steps to memorize n verses by the technique described in A173964. - Ibrahima Faye (ifaye2001(AT)yahoo.fr), Feb 22 2010

The number of (n+2)-bit numbers which contain two runs of 1's in their binary expansion. - Vladimir Shevelev, Jul 30 2010

a(n) is also, starting at the second term, the number of triangles formed in n-gons by intersecting diagonals with three diagonal endpoints (see the first column of the table in Sommars link). - Alexandre Wajnberg, Aug 21 2010

Column sums of:

1 4 9 16 25...

1 4 9...

1...

..............

--------------

1 4 10 20 35...

From Johannes W. Meijer, May 20 2011: (Start)

The Ca3, Ca4, Gi3 and Gi4 triangle sums (see A180662 for their definitions) of the Connell-Pol triangle A159797 are linear sums of shifted versions of the duplicated tetrahedral numbers, e.g., Gi3(n) = 17*a(n) + 19*a(n-1) and Gi4(n) = 5*a(n) + a(n-1).

Furthermore the Kn3, Kn4, Ca3, Ca4, Gi3 and Gi4 triangle sums of the Connell sequence A001614 as a triangle are also linear sums of shifted versions of the sequence given above. (End)

a(n-2)=N_0(n), n >= 1, with a(-1):=0, is the number of vertices of n planes in generic position in three-dimensional space. See a comment under A000125 for general arrangement. Comment to Arnold's problem 1990-11, see the Arnold reference, p. 506. - Wolfdieter Lang, May 27 2011

We consider optimal proper vertex colorings of a graph G. Assume that the labeling, i.e., coloring starts with 1. By optimality we mean that the maximum label used is the minimum of the maximum integer label used across all possible labelings of G. Let S=Sum of the differences |l(v) - l(u)|, the sum being over all edges uv of G and l(w) is the label associated with a vertex w of G. We say G admits unique labeling if all possible labelings of G is S-invariant and yields the same integer partition of S. With an offset this sequence gives the S-values for the complete graph on n vertices, n = 2, 3, ... . - K.V.Iyer, Jul 08 2011

Central term of commutator of transverse Virasoro operators in 4-D case for relativistic quantum open strings (ref. Zwiebach). - Tom Copeland, Sep 13 2011

Appears as a coefficient of a Sturm-Liouville operator in the Ovsienko reference on page 43. - Tom Copeland, Sep 13 2011

For n > 0: a(n) is the number of triples (u,v,w) with 1 <= u <= v <= w <= n, cf. A200737. - Reinhard Zumkeller, Nov 21 2011

Regarding the second comment above by Amarnath Murthy (May 29 2003), see A181118 which gives the sequence of ordered pairs. - L. Edson Jeffery, Dec 17 2011

The dimension of the space spanned by the 3-form v[ijk] that couples to M2-brane worldsheets wrapping 3-cycles inside tori (ref. Green, Miller, Vanhove eq. 3.9). - Stephen Crowley, Jan 05 2012

a(n+1) is the number of 2 X 2 matrices with all terms in {0, 1, ..., n} and (sum of terms) = n. Also, a(n+1) is the number of 2 X 2 matrices with all terms in {0, 1, ..., n} and (sum of terms) = 3*n. - Clark Kimberling, Mar 19 2012

Using n + 4 consecutive triangular numbers t(1), t(2), ..., t(n+4), where n is the n-th term of this sequence, create a polygon by connecting points (t(1), t(2)) to (t(2), t(3)), (t(2), t(3)) to (t(3), t(4)), ..., (t(1), t(2)) to (t(n+3), t(n+4)). The area of this polygon will be one-half of each term in this sequence. - J. M. Bergot, May 05 2012

Pisano period lengths: 1, 4, 9, 8, 5, 36, 7, 16, 27, 20, 11, 72, 13, 28, 45, 32, 17,108, 19, 40, ... . (The Pisano sequence modulo m is the auxiliary sequence p(n) = a(n) mod m, n >= 1, for some m. p(n) is periodic for all sequences with rational g.f., like this one, and others. The lengths of the period of p(n) are quoted here for m>=1.) - R. J. Mathar, Aug 10 2012

a(n) is the maximum possible number of rooted triples consistent with any phylogenetic tree (level-0 phylogenetic network) containing exactly n+2 leaves. - Jesper Jansson, Sep 10 2012

For n > 0, the digital roots of this sequence A010888(a(n)) form the purely periodic 27-cycle {1, 4, 1, 2, 8, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 7, 4, 5, 2, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 1, 7, 8, 5, 8, 9, 9, 9}, which just rephrases the Pisano period length above. - Ant King, Oct 18 2012

a(n) is the number of functions f from {1, 2, 3} to {1, 2, ..., n + 4} such that f(1) + 1 < f(2) and f(2) + 1 < f(3). - Dennis P. Walsh, Nov 27 2012

a(n) is the Szeged index of the path graph with n+1 vertices; see the Diudea et al. reference, p. 155, Eq. (5.8). - Emeric Deutsch, Aug 01 2013

Also the number of permutations of length n that can be sorted by a single block transposition. - Vincent Vatter, Aug 21 2013

From J. M. Bergot, Sep 10 2013: (Start)

a(n) is the 3 X 3 matrix determinant

| C(n,1) C(n,2) C(n,3) |

| C(n+1,1) C(n+1,2) C(n+1,3) |

| C(n+2,1) C(n+2,2) C(n+2,3) |

(End)

In physics, a(n)/2 is the trace of the spin operator S_z^2 for a particle with spin S=n/2. For example, when S=3/2, the S_z eigenvalues are -3/2, -1/2, +1/2, +3/2 and the sum of their squares is 10/2 = a(3)/2. - Stanislav Sykora, Nov 06 2013

a(n+1) = (n+1)*(n+2)*(n+3)/6 is also the dimension of the Hilbert space of homogeneous polynomials of degree n. - L. Edson Jeffery, Dec 12 2013

For n >= 4, a(n-3) is the number of permutations of 1,2...,n with the distribution of up (1) - down (0) elements 0...0111 (n-4 zeros), or, equivalently, a(n-3) is up-down coefficient {n,7} (see comment in A060351). - Vladimir Shevelev, Feb 15 2014

a(n) is one-half the area of the region created by plotting the points (n^2,(n+1)^2). A line connects points (n^2,(n+1)^2) and ((n+1)^2, (n+2)^2) and a line is drawn from (0,1) to each increasing point. From (0,1) to (4,9) the area is 2; from (0,1) to (9,16) the area is 8; further areas are 20,40,70,...,2*a(n). - J. M. Bergot, May 29 2014

Beukers and Top prove that no tetrahedral number > 1 equals a square pyramidal number A000330. - Jonathan Sondow, Jun 21 2014

a(n+1) is for n >= 1 the number of nondecreasing n-letter words over the alphabet [4] = {1, 2, 3, 4} (or any other four distinct numbers). a(2+1) = 10 from the words 11, 22, 33, 44, 12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 34; which is also the maximal number of distinct elements in a symmetric 4 X 4 matrix. Inspired by the Jul 20 2014 comment by R. J. Cano on A000582. - Wolfdieter Lang, Jul 29 2014

Degree of the q-polynomial counting the orbits of plane partitions under the action of the symmetric group S3. Orbit-counting generating function is Product_{i <= j <= k <= n} ( (1 - q^(i + j + k - 1))/(1 - q^(i + j + k - 2)) ). See q-TSPP reference. - Olivier Gérard, Feb 25 2015

Row lengths of tables A248141 and A248147. - Reinhard Zumkeller, Oct 02 2014

If n is even then a(n) = Sum_{k=1..n/2} (2k)^2. If n is odd then a(n) = Sum_{k=0..(n-1)/2} (1+2k)^2. This can be illustrated as stacking boxes inside a square pyramid on plateaus of edge lengths 2k or 2k+1, respectively. The largest k are the 2k X 2k or (2k+1) X (2k+1) base. - R. K. Guy, Feb 26 2015

Draw n lines in general position in the plane. Any three define a triangle, so in all we see C(n,3) = a(n-2) triangles (6 lines produce 4 triangles, and so on). - Terry Stickels, Jul 21 2015

a(n-2) = fallfac(n,3)/3!, n >= 3, is also the number of independent components of an antisymmetric tensor of rank 3 and dimension n. Here fallfac is the falling factorial. - Wolfdieter Lang, Dec 10 2015

Number of compositions (ordered partitions) of n+3 into exactly 4 parts. - Juergen Will, Jan 02 2016

Number of weak compositions (ordered weak partitions) of n-1 into exactly 4 parts. - Juergen Will, Jan 02 2016

For n >= 2 gives the number of multiplications of two nonzero matrix elements in calculating the product of two upper n X n triangular matrices. - John M. Coffey, Jun 23 2016

Terms a(4n+1), n >= 0, are odd, all others are even. The 2-adic valuation of the subsequence of every other term, a(2n+1), n >= 0, yields the ruler sequence A007814. Sequence A275019 gives the 2-adic valuation of a(n). - M. F. Hasler, Dec 05 2016

Does not satisfy Benford's law [Ross, 2012]. - N. J. A. Sloane, Feb 12 2017

C(n+2,3) is the number of ways to select 1 triple among n+2 objects, thus a(n) is the coefficient of x1^(n-1)*x3 in exponential Bell polynomial B_{n+2}(x1,x2,...), hence its link with A050534 and A001296 (see formula). - Cyril Damamme, Feb 26 2018

a(n) is also the number of 3-cycles in the (n+4)-path complement graph. - Eric W. Weisstein, Apr 11 2018

a(n) is the general number of all geodetic graphs of diameter n homeomorphic to a complete graph K4. - Carlos Enrique Frasser, May 24 2018

a(n) + 4*a(n-1) + a(n-2) = n^3 = A000578(n), for n >= 0 (extending the a(n) formula given in the name). This is the Worpitzky identity for cubes. (Number of components of the decomposition of a rank 3 tensor in dimension n >= 1 into symmetric, mixed and antisymmetric parts). For a(n-2) see my Dec 10 2015 comment. - Wolfdieter Lang, Jul 16 2019

a(n) also gives the total number of regular triangles of length k (in some length unit), with k from {1, 2, ..., n}, in the matchstick arrangement with enclosing triangle of length n, but only triangles with the orientation of the enclosing triangle are counted. Row sums of unsigned A122432(n-1, k-1), for n >= 1. See the Andrew Howroyd comment in A085691. - Wolfdieter Lang, Apr 06 2020

a(n) is the number of bigrassmannian permutations on n+1 elements, i.e., permutations which have a unique left descent, and a unique right descent. - Rafael Mrden, Aug 21 2020

a(n-2) is the number of chiral pairs of colorings of the edges or vertices of a triangle using n or fewer colors. - Robert A. Russell, Oct 20 2020

a(n-2) is the number of subsets of {1,2,...,n} whose diameters are their size. For example, for n=4, a(2)=4 and the sets are {1,3}, {2,4}, {1,2,4}, {1,3,4}. - Enrique Navarrete, Dec 26 2020

For n>1, a(n-2) is the number of subsets of {1,2,...,n} in which the second largest element is the size of the subset. For example, for n=4, a(2)=4 and the sets are {2,3}, {2,4}, {1,3,4}, {2,3,4}. - Enrique Navarrete, Jan 02 2021

a(n) is the number of binary strings of length n+2 with exactly three 0's. - Enrique Navarrete, Jan 15 2021

From Tom Copeland, Jun 07 2021: (Start)

Aside from the zero, this sequence is the fourth diagonal of the Pascal matrix A007318 and the only nonvanishing diagonal (fourth) of the matrix representation IM = (A132440)^3/3! of the differential operator D^3/3!, when acting on the row vector of coefficients of an o.g.f., or power series.

M = e^{IM} is the lower triangular matrix of coefficients of the Appell polynomial sequence p_n(x) = e^{D^3/3!} x^n = e^{b. D} x^n = (b. + x)^n = Sum_{k=0..n} binomial(n,k) b_n x^{n-k}, where the (b.)^n = b_n have the e.g.f. e^{b.t} = e^{t^3/3!}, which is that for A025035 aerated with double zeros, the first column of M.

See A099174 and A000332 for analogous relationships for the third and fifth diagonals of the Pascal matrix. (End)

a(n) is the number of circles with a radius of integer length >= 1 and center at a grid point in an n X n grid. - Albert Swafford, Jun 11 2021

Maximum Wiener index over all connected graphs with n+1 vertices. - Allan Bickle, Jul 09 2022

The third Euler row (1,4,1) has an additional connection with the tetrahedral numbers besides the n^3 identity stated above: a^2(n) + 4*a^2(n+1) + a^2(n+2) = a(n^2+4n+4), which can be shown with algebra. E.g., a^2(2) + 4*a^2(3) + a^2(4) = 16 + 400 + 400 = a(16). Although an analogous thing happens with the (1,1) row of Euler's triangle and triangular numbers C(n+1,2) = A000217(n) = T(n), namely both T(n-1) + T(n) = n^2 and T^2(n-1) + T^2(n) = T(n^2) are true, only one (the usual identity) still holds for the Euler row (1,11,11,1) and the C(n,4) numbers in A000332. That is, the dot product of (1,11,11,1) with the squares of 4 consecutive terms of A000332 is not generally a term of A000332. - Richard Peterson, Aug 21 2022

For n > 1, a(n-2) is the number of solutions of the Diophantine equation x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 = n, subject to the constraints 0 <= x1, 1 <= x2, 2 <= x3, 0 <= x4 <= 1, 0 <= x5 and x5 is even. - Daniel Checa, Nov 03 2022

a(n+1) is also the number of vertices of the generalized Pitman-Stanley polytope with parameters 2, n, and vector (1,1, ... ,1), which is integrally equivalent to a flow polytope over the grid graph having 2 rows and n columns. - William T. Dugan, Sep 18 2023

a(n) is the number of binary words of length (n+1) containing exactly one substring 01. a(2) = 4: 001, 010, 011, 101. - Nordine Fahssi, Dec 09 2024

4*a(n) + 1 are the odd squares A016754(n).

The word "pronic" (used by Dickson) is incorrect. - Michael Somos

According to the 2nd edition of Webster, the correct word is "promic". - R. K. Guy

a(n) is the number of minimal vectors in the root lattice A_n (see Conway and Sloane, p. 109).

Let M_n denote the n X n matrix M_n(i, j) = (i + j); then the characteristic polynomial of M_n is x^(n-2) * (x^2 - a(n)*x - A002415(n)). - Benoit Cloitre, Nov 09 2002

The greatest LCM of all pairs (j, k) for j < k <= n for n > 1. - Robert G. Wilson v, Jun 19 2004

First differences are a(n+1) - a(n) = 2*n + 2 = 2, 4, 6, ... (while first differences of the squares are (n+1)^2 - n^2 = 2*n + 1 = 1, 3, 5, ...). - Alexandre Wajnberg, Dec 29 2005

25 appended to these numbers corresponds to squares of numbers ending in 5 (i.e., to squares of A017329). - Lekraj Beedassy, Mar 24 2006

A rapid (mental) multiplication/factorization technique -- a generalization of Lekraj Beedassy's comment: For all bases b >= 2 and positive integers n, c, d, k with c + d = b^k, we have (n*b^k + c)*(n*b^k + d) = a(n)*b^(2*k) + c*d. Thus the last 2*k base-b digits of the product are exactly those of c*d -- including leading 0(s) as necessary -- with the preceding base-b digit(s) the same as a(n)'s. Examples: In decimal, 113*117 = 13221 (as n = 11, b = 10 = 3 + 7, k = 1, 3*7 = 21, and a(11) = 132); in octal, 61*67 = 5207 (52 is a(6) in octal). In particular, for even b = 2*m (m > 0) and c = d = m, such a product is a square of this type. Decimal factoring: 5609 is immediately seen to be 71*79. Likewise, 120099 = 301*399 (k = 2 here) and 99990000001996 = 9999002*9999998 (k = 3). - Rick L. Shepherd, Jul 24 2021

Number of circular binary words of length n + 1 having exactly one occurrence of 01. Example: a(2) = 6 because we have 001, 010, 011, 100, 101 and 110. Column 1 of A119462. - Emeric Deutsch, May 21 2006

The sequence of iterated square roots sqrt(N + sqrt(N + ...)) has for N = 1, 2, ... the limit (1 + sqrt(1 + 4*N))/2. For N = a(n) this limit is n + 1, n = 1, 2, .... For all other numbers N, N >= 1, this limit is not a natural number. Examples: n = 1, a(1) = 2: sqrt(2 + sqrt(2 + ...)) = 1 + 1 = 2; n = 2, a(2) = 6: sqrt(6 + sqrt(6 + ...)) = 1 + 2 = 3. - Wolfdieter Lang, May 05 2006

Nonsquare integers m divisible by ceiling(sqrt(m)), except for m = 0. - Max Alekseyev, Nov 27 2006

The number of off-diagonal elements of an (n + 1) X (n + 1) matrix. - Artur Jasinski, Jan 11 2007

a(n) is equal to the number of functions f:{1, 2} -> {1, 2, ..., n + 1} such that for a fixed x in {1, 2} and a fixed y in {1, 2, ..., n + 1} we have f(x) <> y. - Aleksandar M. Janjic and Milan Janjic, Mar 13 2007

Numbers m >= 0 such that round(sqrt(m+1)) - round(sqrt(m)) = 1. - Hieronymus Fischer, Aug 06 2007

Numbers m >= 0 such that ceiling(2*sqrt(m+1)) - 1 = 1 + floor(2*sqrt(m)). - Hieronymus Fischer, Aug 06 2007

Numbers m >= 0 such that fract(sqrt(m+1)) > 1/2 and fract(sqrt(m)) < 1/2 where fract(x) is the fractional part (fract(x) = x - floor(x), x >= 0). - Hieronymus Fischer, Aug 06 2007

X values of solutions to the equation 4*X^3 + X^2 = Y^2. To find Y values: b(n) = n(n+1)(2n+1). - Mohamed Bouhamida, Nov 06 2007

Nonvanishing diagonal of A132792, the infinitesimal Lah matrix, so "generalized factorials" composed of a(n) are given by the elements of the Lah matrix, unsigned A111596, e.g., a(1)*a(2)*a(3) / 3! = -A111596(4,1) = 24. - Tom Copeland, Nov 20 2007

If Y is a 2-subset of an n-set X then, for n >= 2, a(n-2) is the number of 2-subsets and 3-subsets of X having exactly one element in common with Y. - Milan Janjic, Dec 28 2007

a(n) coincides with the vertex of a parabola of even width in the Redheffer matrix, directed toward zero. An integer p is prime if and only if for all integer k, the parabola y = kx - x^2 has no integer solution with 1 < x < k when y = p; a(n) corresponds to odd k. - Reikku Kulon, Nov 30 2008

The third differences of certain values of the hypergeometric function 3F2 lead to the squares of the oblong numbers i.e., 3F2([1, n + 1, n + 1], [n + 2, n + 2], z = 1) - 3*3F2([1, n + 2, n + 2], [n + 3, n + 3], z = 1) + 3*3F2([1, n + 3, n + 3], [n + 4, n + 4], z = 1) - 3F2([1, n + 4, n + 4], [n + 5, n + 5], z = 1) = (1/((n+2)*(n+3)))^2 for n = -1, 0, 1, 2, ... . See also A162990. - Johannes W. Meijer, Jul 21 2009

Generalized factorials, [a.(n!)] = a(n)*a(n-1)*...*a(0) = A010790(n), with a(0) = 1 are related to A001263. - Tom Copeland, Sep 21 2011

For n > 1, a(n) is the number of functions f:{1, 2} -> {1, ..., n + 2} where f(1) > 1 and f(2) > 2. Note that there are n + 1 possible values for f(1) and n possible values for f(2). For example, a(3) = 12 since there are 12 functions f from {1, 2} to {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} with f(1) > 1 and f(2) > 2. - Dennis P. Walsh, Dec 24 2011

a(n) gives the number of (n + 1) X (n + 1) symmetric (0, 1)-matrices containing two ones (see [Cameron]). - L. Edson Jeffery, Feb 18 2012

a(n) is the number of positions of a domino in a rectangled triangular board with both legs equal to n + 1. - César Eliud Lozada, Sep 26 2012

a(n) is the number of ordered pairs (x, y) in [n+2] X [n+2] with |x-y| > 1. - Dennis P. Walsh, Nov 27 2012

a(n) is the number of injective functions from {1, 2} into {1, 2, ..., n + 1}. - Dennis P. Walsh, Nov 27 2012

a(n) is the sum of the positive differences of the partition parts of 2n + 2 into exactly two parts (see example). - Wesley Ivan Hurt, Jun 02 2013

a(n)/a(n-1) is asymptotic to e^(2/n). - Richard R. Forberg, Jun 22 2013

Number of positive roots in the root system of type D_{n + 1} (for n > 2). - Tom Edgar, Nov 05 2013

Number of roots in the root system of type A_n (for n > 0). - Tom Edgar, Nov 05 2013

From Felix P. Muga II, Mar 18 2014: (Start)

a(m), for m >= 1, are the only positive integer values t for which the Binet-de Moivre formula for the recurrence b(n) = b(n-1) + t*b(n-2) with b(0) = 0 and b(1) = 1 has a root of a square. PROOF (as suggested by Wolfdieter Lang, Mar 26 2014): The sqrt(1 + 4t) appearing in the zeros r1 and r2 of the characteristic equation is (a positive) integer for positive integer t precisely if 4t + 1 = (2m + 1)^2, that is t = a(m), m >= 1. Thus, the characteristic roots are integers: r1 = m + 1 and r2 = -m.

Let m > 1 be an integer. If b(n) = b(n-1) + a(m)*b(n-2), n >= 2, b(0) = 0, b(1) = 1, then lim_{n->oo} b(n+1)/b(n) = m + 1. (End)

Cf. A130534 for relations to colored forests, disposition of flags on flagpoles, and colorings of the vertices (chromatic polynomial) of the complete graphs (here simply K_2). - Tom Copeland, Apr 05 2014

The set of integers k for which k + sqrt(k + sqrt(k + sqrt(k + sqrt(k + ...) ... is an integer. - Leslie Koller, Apr 11 2014

a(n-1) is the largest number k such that (n*k)/(n+k) is an integer. - Derek Orr, May 22 2014

Number of ways to place a domino and a singleton on a strip of length n - 2. - Ralf Stephan, Jun 09 2014

With offset 1, this appears to give the maximal number of crossings between n nonconcentric circles of equal radius. - Felix Fröhlich, Jul 14 2014

For n > 1, the harmonic mean of the n values a(1) to a(n) is n + 1. The lowest infinite sequence of increasing positive integers whose cumulative harmonic mean is integral. - Ian Duff, Feb 01 2015

a(n) is the maximum number of queens of one color that can coexist without attacking one queen of the opponent's color on an (n+2) X (n+2) chessboard. The lone queen can be placed in any position on the perimeter of the board. - Bob Selcoe, Feb 07 2015

With a(0) = 1, a(n-1) is the smallest positive number not in the sequence such that Sum_{i = 1..n} 1/a(i-1) has a denominator equal to n. - Derek Orr, Jun 17 2015

The positive members of this sequence are a proper subsequence of the so-called 1-happy couple products A007969. See the W. Lang link there, eq. (4), with Y_0 = 1, with a table at the end. - Wolfdieter Lang, Sep 19 2015

For n > 0, a(n) is the reciprocal of the area bounded above by y = x^(n-1) and below by y = x^n for x in the interval [0, 1]. Summing all such areas visually demonstrates the formula below giving Sum_{n >= 1} 1/a(n) = 1. - Rick L. Shepherd, Oct 26 2015

It appears that, except for a(0) = 0, this is the set of positive integers n such that x*floor(x) = n has no solution. (For example, to get 3, take x = -3/2.) - Melvin Peralta, Apr 14 2016

If two independent real random variables, x and y, are distributed according to the same exponential distribution: pdf(x) = lambda * exp(-lambda * x), lambda > 0, then the probability that n - 1 <= x/y < n is given by 1/a(n). - Andres Cicuttin, Dec 03 2016

a(n) is equal to the sum of all possible differences between n different pairs of consecutive odd numbers (see example). - Miquel Cerda, Dec 04 2016

a(n+1) is the dimension of the space of vector fields in the plane with polynomial coefficients up to order n. - Martin Licht, Dec 04 2016

It appears that a(n) + 3 is the area of the largest possible pond in a square (A268311). - Craig Knecht, May 04 2017

Also the number of 3-cycles in the (n+3)-triangular honeycomb acute knight graph. - Eric W. Weisstein, Jul 27 2017

Also the Wiener index of the (n+2)-wheel graph. - Eric W. Weisstein, Sep 08 2017

The left edge of a Floyd's triangle that consists of even numbers: 0; 2, 4; 6, 8, 10; 12, 14, 16, 18; 20, 22, 24, 26, 28; ... giving 0, 2, 6, 12, 20, ... The right edge generates A028552. - Waldemar Puszkarz, Feb 02 2018

a(n+1) is the order of rowmotion on a poset obtained by adjoining a unique minimal (or maximal) element to a disjoint union of at least two chains of n elements. - Nick Mayers, Jun 01 2018

From Juhani Heino, Feb 05 2019: (Start)

For n > 0, 1/a(n) = n/(n+1) - (n-1)/n.

For example, 1/6 = 2/3 - 1/2; 1/12 = 3/4 - 2/3.

Corollary of this:

Take 1/2 pill.

Next day, take 1/6 pill. 1/2 + 1/6 = 2/3, so your daily average is 1/3.

Next day, take 1/12 pill. 2/3 + 1/12 = 3/4, so your daily average is 1/4.

And so on. (End)

From Bernard Schott, May 22 2020: (Start)

For an oblong number m >= 6 there exists a Euclidean division m = d*q + r with q < r < d which are in geometric progression, in this order, with a common integer ratio b. For b >= 2 and q >= 1, the Euclidean division is m = qb*(qb+1) = qb^2 * q + qb where (q, qb, qb^2) are in geometric progression.

Some examples with distinct ratios and quotients:

6 | 4 30 | 25 42 | 18

----- ----- -----

2 | 1 , 5 | 1 , 6 | 2 ,

and also:

42 | 12 420 | 100

----- -----

6 | 3 , 20 | 4 .

Some oblong numbers also satisfy a Euclidean division m = d*q + r with q < r < d that are in geometric progression in this order but with a common noninteger ratio b > 1 (see A335064). (End)

For n >= 1, the continued fraction expansion of sqrt(a(n)) is [n; {2, 2n}]. For n=1, this collapses to [1; {2}]. - Magus K. Chu, Sep 09 2022

a(n-2) is the maximum irregularity over all trees with n vertices. The extremal graphs are stars. (The irregularity of a graph is the sum of the differences between the degrees over all edges of the graph.) - Allan Bickle, May 29 2023

For n > 0, number of diagonals in a regular 2*(n+1)-gon that are not parallel to any edge (cf. A367204). - Paolo Xausa, Mar 30 2024

a(n-1) is the maximum Zagreb index over all trees with n vertices. The extremal graphs are stars. (The Zagreb index of a graph is the sum of the squares of the degrees over all vertices of the graph.) - Allan Bickle, Apr 11 2024

For n >= 1, a(n) is the determinant of the distance matrix of a cycle graph on 2*n + 1 vertices (if the length of the cycle is even such a determinant is zero). - Miquel A. Fiol, Aug 20 2024

For n > 1, the continued fraction expansion of sqrt(16*a(n)) is [2n+1; {1, 2n-1, 1, 8n+2}]. - Magus K. Chu, Nov 20 2024

For n>=2, a(n) is the number of faces on a n+1-zone rhombic zonohedron. Each pair of a collection of great circles on a sphere intersects at two points, so there are 2*binomial(n+1,2) intersections. The dual of the implied polyhedron is a rhombic zonohedron, its faces corresponding to the intersections. - Shel Kaphan, Aug 12 2025