In mathematics, the Golomb sequence, named after Solomon W. Golomb (but also called Silverman's sequence), is a non-decreasing integer sequence where an is the number of times that n occurs in the sequence, starting with a1 = 1, and with the property that for n > 1 each an is the unique integer which makes it possible to satisfy the condition. For example, a1 = 1 says that 1 only occurs once in the sequence, so a2 cannot be 1 too, but it can be, and therefore must be, 2. The first few values are
- 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 11, 11, 11, 11, 11, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12 (sequence A001462 in OEIS).
Colin Mallows has given an explicit recurrence relation . An asymptotic expression for an is
where φ is the golden ratio.
Famous quotes containing the word sequence:
“It isnt that you subordinate your ideas to the force of the facts in autobiography but that you construct a sequence of stories to bind up the facts with a persuasive hypothesis that unravels your historys meaning.”
—Philip Roth (b. 1933)