cp's OEIS Frontend

For n >= 1, a(n) is the number of deterministic, completely-defined, initially-connected finite automata with n inputs and 3 unlabeled states. A020522 counts similar automata with n inputs and 2 unlabeled states.

According to a comment by Nelma Moreira in A006689 and A006690, the number of such automata with N inputs and M unlabeled states is Sum (Product_{i=1..M-1} i^(f_i - f_{i-1} - 1)) * M^(M*N - f_{M-1} - 1), where the sum is taken over integers f_1, ..., f_{M-1} satisfying 0 <= f_1 < N and f_{i-1} < f_{i} < i*N for i = 2..M-1. (See Theorem 8 in Almeida, Moreira, and Reis (2007). The value of f_0 is not relevant.) For this sequence we have M = 3 unlabeled states, for A020522 we have M = 2 unlabeled states, for A006689 we have N = 2 inputs, and for A006690 we have N = 3 inputs.

A similar formula for the number of such automata with N inputs and M unlabeled states was given by Robinson (1985, Eq. (2.3) upon division by (p-1)!). It is Sum_{r=1..M} (-1)^(r-1) * Sum_{k_1,...,k_r} (k_1/(Product_{i=1..r} k_i!)) * Product_{j=1..r} (Sum_{i=1..j} k_i)^(N*k_j), where the second sum is over all compositions (k_1,...,k_r) of length r of M. (A composition of length r of M is an ordered partition (k_1,...,k_r) with k_i >= 1 for i = 1..r and Sum_{i=1..r} k_i = M.)

Both formulas with N = n and M = 3 give a(n) = (27^n - 9^n)/2 - 12^n + 6^n.

In Liskovets (2006, Eq. (11), p. 546), a(n) equals H_N(M) = h_N(M)/(M-1)! with N = n and M = 3. The sequence h_N(M) satisfies the recurrence h_N(M) = M^(N*M) - Sum_{t=1..M-1} binomial(M-1, t-1) * M^(N*(M-t)) * h_N(t) with h_N(1) = 1. A recurrence for H_N(M) = h_N(M)/(M-1)! originally appeared in Liskovets (1969, Eq. (3), p. 17, denoted by h_{n,r}).