arXiv subjects

N. J. A. Sloane

Publications and source records attributed to N. J. A. Sloane.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

2178 And All That

For integers g >= 3, k >= 2, call a number N a (g,k)-reverse multiple if the reversal of N in base g is equal to k times N. The numbers 1089 and 2178 are the two smallest (10,k)-reverse multiples, their reversals being 9801 = 9x1089 and 8712 = 4x2178. In 1992, A. L. Young introduced certain trees in order to study the problem of finding all (g,k)-reverse multiples. By using modified versions of her trees, which we call Young graphs, we determine the possible values of k for bases g = 2 through 100, and then show how to apply the transfer-matrix method to enumerate the (g,k)-reverse multiples with a given number of base-g digits. These Young graphs are interesting finite directed graphs, whose structure is not at all well understood.

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arXiv2013

On Curling Numbers of Integer Sequences

Given a finite nonempty sequence S of integers, write it as XY^k, where Y^k is a power of greatest exponent that is a suffix of S: this k is the curling number of S. The Curling Number Conjecture is that if one starts with any initial sequence S, and extends it by repeatedly appending the curling number of the current sequence, the sequence will eventually reach 1. The conjecture remains open. In this paper we discuss the special case when S consists just of 2's and 3's. Even this case remains open, but we determine how far a sequence of n 2's and 3's can extend before reaching a 1, conjecturally for n <= 80. We investigate several related combinatorial problems, such as finding c(n,k), the number of binary sequences of length n and curling number k, and t(n,i), the number of sequences of length n which extend for i steps before reaching a 1. A number of interesting combinatorial problems remain unsolved.

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arXiv2013

The Curling Number Conjecture

Given a finite nonempty sequence of integers S, by grouping adjacent terms it is always possible to write it, possibly in many ways, as S = X Y^k, where X and Y are sequences and Y is nonempty. Choose the version which maximizes the value of k: this k is the curling number of S. The Curling Number Conjecture is that if one starts with any initial sequence S, and extends it by repeatedly appending the curling number of the current sequence, the sequence will eventually reach 1. The conjecture remains open, but we will report on some numerical results and conjectures in the case when S consists of only 2's and 3's.

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arXiv2011

Dismal Arithmetic

Dismal arithmetic is just like the arithmetic you learned in school, only simpler: there are no carries, when you add digits you just take the largest, and when you multiply digits you take the smallest. This paper studies basic number theory in this world, including analogues of the primes, number of divisors, sum of divisors, and the partition function.

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arXiv2011

Carryless Arithmetic Mod 10

We investigate what arithmetic would look like if carry digits into other digit position were ignored, so that 9 + 4 = 3, 5 + 5 = 0, 9 X 4 = 6, 5 X 4 = 0, and so on. For example, the primes are now 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 41, 43, 45, 47, ... .

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arXiv2010

The Toothpick Sequence and Other Sequences from Cellular Automata

A two-dimensional arrangement of toothpicks is constructed by the following iterative procedure. At stage 1, place a single toothpick of length 1 on a square grid, aligned with the y-axis. At each subsequent stage, for every exposed toothpick end, place an orthogonal toothpick centered at that end. The resulting structure has a fractal-like appearance. We will analyze the toothpick sequence, which gives the total number of toothpicks after n steps. We also study several related sequences that arise from enumerating active cells in cellular automata. Some unusual recurrences appear: a typical example is that instead of the Fibonacci recurrence, which we may write as a(2+i) = a(i) + a(i+1), we set n = 2^k+i (0 <= i < 2^k), and then a(n)=a(2^k+i)=2a(i)+a(i+1). The corresponding generating functions look like Prod{k >= 0} (1+x^{2^k-1}+2x^{2^k}) and variations thereof.

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arXiv2010

A Note on Projecting the Cubic Lattice

It is shown that, given any (n-1)-dimensional lattice L, there is a vector v in Z^n such that the projection of Z^n onto v^perp is arbitrarily close to L. The problem arises in attempting to find the largest cylinder anchored at two points of Z^n and containing no other points of Z^n.

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arXiv2009

Seven Staggering Sequences

When my "Handbook of Integer Sequences" came out in 1973, Philip Morrison gave it an enthusiastic review in the Scientific American and Martin Gardner was kind enough to say in his Mathematical Games column that "every recreational mathematician should buy a copy forthwith." That book contained 2372 sequences. Today the "On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences" contains 117000 sequences. This paper will describe seven that I find especially interesting. These are the EKG sequence, Gijswijt's sequence, a numerical analog of Aronson's sequence, approximate squaring, the integrality of n-th roots of generating functions, dissections, and the kissing number problem. (Paper for conference in honor of Martin Gardner's 91st birthday.)

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arXiv2009

The Gift Exchange Problem

The aim of this paper is to solve the "gift exchange" problem: you are one of n players, and there are n wrapped gifts on display; when your turn comes, you can either choose any of the remaining wrapped gifts, or you can "steal" a gift from someone who has already unwrapped it, subject to the restriction that no gift can be stolen more than a total of S times. The problem is to determine the number of ways that the game can be played out, for given values of S and n. Several recurrences and explicit formulas are given for these numbers, although some open questions remain.

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arXiv2008

Eight Hateful Sequences

In his July 1974 Scientific American column, Martin Gardner mentioned the Handbook of Integer Sequences, which then contained 2372 sequences. Today the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (the OEIS) contains 140000 sequences. This paper discusses eight of them, suggested by the theme of the Eighth Gathering For Gardner: they are all infinite, and all 'ateful in one way or another. Each one is connected with an unsolved problem. The sequences are related to: hateful numbers, Angelini's 1995 puzzle, the persistence of a number, Alekseyev's 123 sequence, the curling number conjecture, Quet's prime-generating recurrence, the traveling salesman's problem, and the Riemann Hypothesis.

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arXiv2007

Generalizations of Schöbi's Tetrahedral Dissection

Let v_1, ..., v_n be unit vectors in R^n such that v_i . v_j = -w for i != j, where -1 = lambda_1 >= ... >= lambda_n >= 0, form a ``Hill-simplex of the first type'', denoted by Q_n(w). It was shown by Hadwiger in 1951 that Q_n(w) is equidissectable with a cube. In 1985, Schöbi gave a three-piece dissection of Q_3(w) into a triangular prism c Q_2(1/2) X I, where I denotes an interval and c = sqrt{2(w+1)/3}. The present paper generalizes Schöbi's dissection to an n-piece dissection of Q_n(w) into a prism c Q_{n-1}(1/(n-1)) X I, where c = sqrt{(n-1)(w+1)/n}. Iterating this process leads to a dissection of Q_n(w) into an n-dimensional rectangular parallelepiped (or ``brick'') using at most n! pieces. The complexity of computing the map from Q_n(w) to the brick is O(n^2). A second generalization of Schöbi's dissection is given which applies specifically in R^4. The results have applications to source coding and to constant-weight binary codes.

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arXiv2007

Descending Dungeons and Iterated Base-Changing

For real numbers a, b> 1, let as a_b denote the result of interpreting a in base b instead of base 10. We define ``dungeons'' (as opposed to ``towers'') to be numbers of the form a_b_c_d_..._e, parenthesized either from the bottom upwards (preferred) or from the top downwards. Among other things, we show that the sequences of dungeons with n-th terms 10_11_12_..._(n-1)_n or n_(n-1)_..._12_11_10 grow roughly like 10^{10^{n log log n}}, where the logarithms are to the base 10. We also investigate the behavior as n increases of the sequence a_a_a_..._a, with n a's, parenthesized from the bottom upwards. This converges either to a single number (e.g. to the golden ratio if a = 1.1), to a two-term limit cycle (e.g. if a = 1.05) or else diverges (e.g. if a = frac{100{99).

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arXiv2007

Constant Weight Codes: A Geometric Approach Based on Dissections

We present a novel technique for encoding and decoding constant weight binary codes that uses a geometric interpretation of the codebook. Our technique is based on embedding the codebook in a Euclidean space of dimension equal to the weight of the code. The encoder and decoder mappings are then interpreted as a bijection between a certain hyper-rectangle and a polytope in this Euclidean space. An inductive dissection algorithm is developed for constructing such a bijection. We prove that the algorithm is correct and then analyze its complexity. The complexity depends on the weight of the code, rather than on the block length as in other algorithms. This approach is advantageous when the weight is smaller than the square root of the block length.

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arXiv2007

The Optimal Isodual Lattice Quantizer in Three Dimensions

The mean-centered cuboidal (or m.c.c.) lattice is known to be the optimal packing and covering among all isodual three-dimensional lattices. In this note we show that it is also the best quantizer. It thus joins the isodual lattices Z, A_2 and (presumably) D_4, E_8 and the Leech lattice in being simultaneously optimal with respect to all three criteria.

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arXiv2006

Gleason's Theorem on Self-Dual Codes and Its Generalizations

One of the most remarkable theorems in coding theory is Gleason's 1970 theorem about the weight enumerators of self-dual codes. In the past 36 years there have been hundreds of papers written about generalizations and applications of this theorem to different types of codes, always on a case-by-case basis. In this paper I state the theorem and then describe the far-reaching generalization that Gabriele Nebe, Eric Rains and I have developed which includes all the earlier generalizations at once. The full proof has just appeared in our book "Self-Dual Codes and Invariant Theory" (Springer, 2006). This paper is based on my talk at the conference on Algebraic Combinatorics in honor of Eiichi Bannai, held in Sendai, Japan, June 26-30, 2006.

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arXiv2006

On the Integrality of n-th Roots of Generating Functions

Motivated by the discovery that the eighth root of the theta series of the E_8 lattice and the 24th root of the theta series of the Leech lattice both have integer coefficients, we investigate the question of when an arbitrary element f in R (where R = 1 + xZ[[x]]) can be written as f = g^n for g in R, n >= 2. Let P_n := {g^n : g in R} and let mu_n := n Product_{p|n} p. We show among other things that (i) for f in R, f in P_n <=> f mod mu_n in P_n, and (ii) if f in P_n, there is a unique g in P_n with coefficients mod mu_n/n such that f == g^n (mod mu_n). In particular, if f == 1 (mod mu_n) then f in P_n. The latter assertion implies that the theta series of any extremal even unimodular lattice in R^n (e.g. E_8 in R^8) is in P_n if n is of the form 2^i 3^j 5^k (i >= 3). There do not seem to be any exact analogues for codes, although we show that the weight enumerator of the r-th order Reed-Muller code of length 2^m is in P_{2^r}. We give a number of other results and conjectures, and establish a conjecture of Paul D. Hanna that there is a unique element f in P_n (n != 2) with coefficients restricted to the set {1, 2, ..., n}.

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arXiv2006

A Slow-Growing Sequence Defined by an Unusual Recurrence

The sequence starts with a(1) = 1; to extend it one writes the sequence so far as XY^k, where X and Y are strings of integers, Y is nonempty and k is as large as possible: then the next term is k. The sequence begins 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2, ... A 4 appears for the first time at position 220, but a 5 does not appear until about position 10^{10^{23}}. The main result of the paper is a proof that the sequence is unbounded. We also present results from extensive numerical investigations of the sequence and of certain derived sequences, culminating with a heuristic argument that t (for t=5,6, ...) appears for the first time at about position 2^(2^(3^(4^(5^...^({(t-2)}^{(t-1)}))))), where ^ denotes exponentiation. The final section discusses generalizations.

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arXiv2005

Sloping Binary Numbers: A New Sequence Related to the Binary Numbers

If the list of binary numbers is read by upward-sloping diagonals, the resulting ``sloping binary numbers'' 0, 11, 110, 101, 100, 1111, 1010, ... (or 0, 3, 6, 5, 4, 15, 10, ...) have some surprising properties. We give formulae for the n-th term and the n-th missing term, and discuss a number of related sequences.

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