cp's OEIS Frontend

This sequence is based on the following iterative cycle. Start with n, set m = A040115(n), the concatenation of the absolute values of differences between adjacent digits, and then repeat the following until the number m has been previously seen: if m is greater than n, let m = A040115(m), otherwise let m = A053392(m), the concatenation of the sums of pairs of adjacent digits.

For all starting values n the iteration eventually converges to 0 or else goes into a cycle of finite length. When the number m gets larger than the iteration's starting value n it will always have its magnitude decreased by the operation m = A040115(m), while m = A053392(m) can either increase or decrease its magnitude, depending on the digit values of m. This has the overall effect of never allowing the iterative values to increase without limit as is seen in the similar iterations A328975 and A329624.

All the values of A053393 are seen as repeating values in this sequence, although this sequence has significantly more; probably an infinite number, although this is unknown. The first nonzero repeating value is not seen until a(9090), which forms the two-member loop of 999 -> 1818 -> 999. The first starting value that leads to an m value greater than the initial starting value is a(10090), see examples below. A330159 lists the starting values which are also the first repeating value.

For the first 20 million terms the longest iterative sequence is seen for a(18505180) which takes 457 steps before reaching 0. See attached link. The longest found looping sequence is for a(14106482) which reaches 1040103 after 5 steps and then again after 116 steps, forming a loop of length 111. The largest number found which starts the repeating loop is for a(9265011) which reaches 1411131715 after 9 iterations and then again after 41 iterations.

From a(12) to a(99) the sequence repeats a pattern of ten 3's followed by a 2. After that, a(100) = 4 and the terms begin to show a slow average increase in value.

Or: Number of iterations of A329201 until a number is seen for the second time in the trajectory of n.

A329201 consists of subtracting from or adding to n, depending on whether it is even or odd, the number A040115(n) whose digits are the differences of adjacent digits of n.

The trajectory of all numbers < 8000 ends in a repdigit (A010785), which are fixed points of this map. Some larger numbers enter nontrivial cycles, cf. A329342. In both cases, some number(s) will appear infinitely often in the trajectory. This sequence gives the number of iterations until a value is repeated for the first time in the trajectory of n. This is also the size of n's orbit, i.e. the total number of distinct values that will occur.

If n is part of a cycle (n in A329342), a(n) gives the length of the cycle; in particular a(n) = 1 for fixed points.

For 11 <= n <= 99 the pattern ( 1, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 4, 2, 5, 2) of length 11 repeats. But the trajectory of those n with same a(n) does not always end in the corresponding repdigit.

A329201 consists of adding or subtracting the number A040115(n) whose digits are the difference between adjacent digits of n, depending on its parity. Repdigits A010785 are fixed points of this map, but some numbers enter nontrivial cycles. Sequence A329342 lists these cycles, ordered by their smallest member which is always listed first. This sequence gives the row lengths.

This sequences lists the self-repeating starting values n for the iterative sequence defined in A328680 up to starting values of n = 10^8. Each number in this sequence, when acting as the starting value for the A328680 iteration, will be the first number repeated in the iteration. Note that the other numbers appearing in the iterative sequence for a given start value n will in general NOT be other entries of this sequence as the iteration depends critically on the start value of n itself. As can be seen these numbers are quite rare, there being only 19 entries for n up to 100 million. It is unknown if this is a finite or infinite sequence.