Definition
A positive irrational number generates the Beatty sequence
If then is also a positive irrational number. They naturally satisfy
and the sequences
- and
form a pair of complementary Beatty sequences.
A more general non-homogeneous Beatty sequence takes the form
where is a real number. For, the complementary non-homogeneous Beatty sequences can be found by making so that
- and
form a pair of complementary Beatty sequences. For other values of the procedure for finding complementary sequences is not as straightforward.
Read more about this topic: Beatty Sequence
Famous quotes containing the word definition:
“The man who knows governments most completely is he who troubles himself least about a definition which shall give their essence. Enjoying an intimate acquaintance with all their particularities in turn, he would naturally regard an abstract conception in which these were unified as a thing more misleading than enlightening.”
—William James (18421910)
“Was man made stupid to see his own stupidity?
Is God by definition indifferent, beyond us all?
Is the eternal truth mans fighting soul
Wherein the Beast ravens in its own avidity?”
—Richard Eberhart (b. 1904)
“One definition of man is an intelligence served by organs.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)