cp's OEIS Frontend

Each column is strictly monotonic.

Meyers (see Guy reference) conjectures that for all r >= 1, the least odd number not in the set {a(i): i < prime(r)} is prime(r+1). - N. J. A. Sloane, Jan 08 2021

Meyers' conjecture would be refuted if and only if for some r there were such a large gap between prime(r) and prime(r+1) that there existed a composite c for which prime(r) < c < a(c) < prime(r+1), in which case (by Bertrand's postulate) c would necessarily be a term of A246281. - Antti Karttunen, Mar 29 2021

a(n) is odd for all n and for each odd m there exists a k with a(k) = m (see A064216). a(n) > n for n > 1: bijection between the odd and all numbers. - Reinhard Zumkeller, Sep 26 2001

a(n) and n have the same number of distinct primes with (A001222) and without multiplicity (A001221). - Michel Marcus, Jun 13 2014

From Antti Karttunen, Nov 01 2019: (Start)

More generally, a(n) has the same prime signature as n, A046523(a(n)) = A046523(n). Also A246277(a(n)) = A246277(n) and A287170(a(n)) = A287170(n).

Many permutations and other sequences that employ prime factorization of n to encode either polynomials, partitions (via Heinz numbers) or multisets in general can be easily defined by using this sequence as one of their constituent functions. See the last line in the Crossrefs section for examples.

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A permutation of the natural numbers. - Robert G. Wilson v, Feb 22 2005

Fixed points: A029747. - Reinhard Zumkeller, Aug 23 2006

The even bisection, when halved, gives the sequence back. - Antti Karttunen, Jun 28 2014

From Antti Karttunen, Dec 21 2014: (Start)

This irregular table can be represented as a binary tree. Each child to the left is obtained by applying A003961 to the parent, and each child to the right is obtained by doubling the parent:

1

|

...................2...................

3 4

5......../ \........6 9......../ \........8

/ \ / \ / \ / \

/ \ / \ / \ / \

/ \ / \ / \ / \

7 10 15 12 25 18 27 16

11 14 21 20 35 30 45 24 49 50 75 36 125 54 81 32

etc.

Sequence A163511 is obtained by scanning the same tree level by level, from right to left. Also in binary trees A253563 and A253565 the terms on level of the tree are some permutation of the terms present on the level n of this tree. A252464(n) gives the distance of n from 1 in all these trees.

A252737(n) gives the sum and A252738(n) the product of terms on row n (where 1 is on row 0, 2 on row 1, 3 and 4 on row 2, etc.). A252745(n) gives the number of nodes on level n whose left child is larger than the right child, A252750 the difference between left and right child for each node from node 2 onward.

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-A008836(a(1+n)) gives the corresponding numerator for A323505(n). - Antti Karttunen, Jan 19 2019

(a(2n+1)-1)/2 [= A244154(n)-1, for n >= 0] is a permutation of the natural numbers. - George Beck and Antti Karttunen, Dec 08 2019

From Peter Munn, Oct 04 2020: (Start)

Each term has the same even part (equivalently, the same 2-adic valuation) as its index.

Using the tree depicted in Antti Karttunen's 2014 comment:

Numbers are on the right branch (4 and descendants) if and only if divisible by the square of their largest prime factor (cf. A070003).

Numbers on the left branch, together with 2, are listed in A102750.

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According to Kutz (1981), he learned of this sequence from American mathematician Byron Leon McAllister (1929-2017) who attributed the invention of the sequence to a graduate student by the name of Doudna (first name Paul?) in the mid-1950's at the University of Wisconsin. - Amiram Eldar, Jun 17 2021

From David James Sycamore, Sep 23 2022: (Start)

Alternative (recursive) definition: If n is a power of 2 then a(n)=n. Otherwise, if 2^j is the greatest power of 2 not exceeding n, and if k = n - 2^j, then a(n) is the least m*a(k) that has not occurred previously, where m is an odd prime.

Example: Use recursion with n = 77 = 2^6 + 13. a(13) = 25 and since 11 is the smallest odd prime m such that m*a(13) has not already occurred (see a(27), a(29),a(45)), then a(77) = 11*25 = 275. (End)

The odd bisection, when transformed by replacing all prime(k)^e in a(2*n - 1) with prime(k-1)^e, returns a(n), and thus gives the sequence back. - David James Sycamore, Sep 28 2022

From Antti Karttunen, May 12 2014: (Start)

a(A003961(n)) = n for all n. [This is a left inverse function for the injection A003961.]

Bisections are A064216 (the terms at odd indices) and A064989 itself (the terms at even indices), i.e., a(2n) = a(n) for all n.

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From Antti Karttunen, Dec 18-21 2014: (Start)

When n represents an unordered integer partition via the indices of primes present in its prime factorization (for n >= 2, n corresponds to the partition given as the n-th row of A112798) this operation subtracts one from each part. If n is of the form 2^k (a partition having just k 1's as its parts) the result is an empty partition (which is encoded by 1, having an "empty" factorization).

For all odd numbers n >= 3, a(n) tells which number is located immediately above n in square array A246278. Cf. also A246277.

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Alternatively, if numbers are represented as the multiset of indices of prime factors with multiplicity, this operation subtracts 1 from each element and discards the 0's. - M. F. Hasler, Dec 29 2014

Grundy numbers of the game in which you decrease n by a number prime to n, and the game ends when 1 is reached. - Eric M. Schmidt, Jul 21 2013

a(n) = the smallest part of the partition having Heinz number n. We define the Heinz number of a partition p = [p_1, p_2, ..., p_r] as Product(p_j-th prime, j=1...r) (concept used by Alois P. Heinz in A215366 as an "encoding" of a partition). For example, for the partition [1, 1, 2, 4, 10] we get 2*2*3*7*29 = 2436. Example: a(21) = 2; indeed, the partition having Heinz number 21 = 3*7 is [2,4]. - Emeric Deutsch, Jun 04 2015

a(n) is the number of numbers whose largest proper divisor is n, i.e., for n>1, number of occurrences of n in A032742. - Stanislav Sykora, Nov 04 2016

For n > 1, a(n) gives the number of row where n occurs in arrays A083221 and A246278. - Antti Karttunen, Mar 07 2017

This is permutation of natural numbers larger than 1.

From Antti Karttunen, Dec 19 2014: (Start)

If we assume here that a(1) = 1 (but which is not explicitly included because outside of the array), then A252460 gives an inverse permutation. See also A249741.

For navigating in this array:

A055396(n) gives the row number of row where n occurs, and A078898(n) gives its column number, both starting their indexing from 1.

A250469(n) gives the number immediately below n, and when n is an odd number >= 3, A250470(n) gives the number immediately above n. If n is a composite, A249744(n) gives the number immediately left of n.

First cube of each row, which is {the initial prime of the row}^3 and also the first number neither a prime or semiprime, occurs on row n at position A250474(n).

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The n-th row contains the numbers whose least prime factor is the n-th prime: A020639(T(n,k)) = A000040(n). - Franklin T. Adams-Watters, Aug 07 2015