A252486 Smallest k such that n^6 = a_1^6+...+a_k^6 where all the a_i are positive integers less than n.

64, 36, 15, 29, 22, 21, 15, 19, 15, 17, 15, 16, 14, 15, 13, 12, 11, 11, 13, 14, 12, 13, 13, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 11, 11, 11, 11, 11, 13, 11, 11, 11, 10, 11, 11, 11, 11, 11, 10, 11, 11, 11, 11, 11, 11, 11, 11, 9, 11, 10, 11, 11, 11, 9, 10, 11, 11, 11, 11, 10

Offset

2,1

Comments

Inspired by Fermat's Last Theorem: 2 never occurs in this sequence.

No n is known for which a(n)<7, according to the MathWorld page. The values 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 occur first at indices 1141, 251, 54, 39, 18, cf. sequence A252476.

I conjecture that the sequence is bounded by the initial term. Probably even a(3)=36, a(5)=29, a(6)=22 and some more are followed only by smaller terms.

From results on Waring's problem, it is known that all a(n) <= A002804(6) = 73, and a(n) <= 24 for all sufficiently large n. - Robert Israel, Aug 17 2015

Links

Giovanni Resta, Table of n, a(n) for n = 2..200

Jean-Charles Meyrignac, Computing Minimal Equal Sums Of Like Powers

Manfred Scheucher, Sage Script

Eric W. Weisstein, Diophantine Equation--6th Powers

Eric W. Weisstein, Waring's Problem

Maple

M:= 10^8:
R:= Vector(M, 74, datatype=integer[4]):
for p from 1 to floor(M^(1/6)) do
  p6:= p^6;
  if p > 1 then A[p]:= R[p6] fi;
  R[p6]:= 1;
  for j from p6+1 to M do
    R[j]:= min(R[j], 1+R[j - p6]);
  od
od:
F:= proc(n, k, ub)
   local lb, m, bestyet, res;
   if ub <= 0 then return -1 fi;
   if n <= M then
     if n = 0 then return 0
     elif R[n] > ub then return -1
     else return R[n]
     fi
   fi;
   lb:= floor(n/k^6);
   if lb > ub then return -1 fi;
   bestyet:= ub;
   for m from lb to 0 by -1 do
     res:= procname(n-m*k^6, k-1, bestyet-m);
     if res >= 0 then
       bestyet:= res+m;
     fi
   od:
   return bestyet
end proc:
for n from floor(M^(1/6))+1 to 50 do
   A[n]:= F(n^6, n-1, 73)
od:
seq(A[n], n=2..50); # Robert Israel, Aug 17 2015

Mathematica

a[n_] := Module[{k}, For[k = 7, True, k++, If[IntegerPartitions[n^6, {k}, Range[n-1]^6] != {}, Print[n, " ", k]; Return[k]]]];
Table[a[n], {n, 2, 100}] (* Jean-François Alcover, Jul 29 2023 *)

Prog

(PARI) a(n, verbose=0, m=6)={N=n^m; for(k=3, 64, forvec(v=vector(k-1, i, [1, n\sqrtn(k+1-i, m)]), ispower(N-sum(i=1, k-1, v[i]^m), m, &K)&&K>0&&!(verbose&&print1("/*"n" "v"*/"))&&return(k), 1))}

Crossrefs

Cf. A161882, A161883, A161884, A161885.

Sequence in context: A033384 A073327 A169639 * A188828 A331224 A123994

Adjacent sequences: A252483 A252484 A252485 * A252487 A252488 A252489

Keyword

nonn

Author

M. F. Hasler, Dec 17 2014

Extensions

More terms from Manfred Scheucher, Aug 15 2015

a(53)-a(66) from Giovanni Resta, Aug 17 2015

Status

approved