A362600 a(1) = 1, a(2) = 6, a(3) = 10; for n > 3, a(n) is the smallest positive number that has not yet appeared that shares a factor with a(n-1) and a(n-2) and also contains as factors the smallest primes that are not factors of both a(n-1) and a(n-2).

1, 6, 10, 15, 12, 20, 30, 42, 35, 40, 60, 84, 70, 45, 18, 50, 75, 24, 80, 90, 105, 14, 36, 120, 140, 21, 48, 150, 210, 154, 33, 54, 110, 135, 66, 100, 165, 72, 130, 180, 126, 175, 160, 168, 195, 170, 78, 225, 190, 96, 240, 280, 63, 102, 270, 315, 28, 108, 300, 350, 147, 114, 330, 420, 77, 22

Offset

1,2

Comments

No term can be a prime power as each term must contain at least two distinct prime factors. This make the sequence similar to A362754, A360519 and A361606. Some small composite numbers take many terms to appear, e.g., a(354476) = 65. Such terms are usually preceded by a term that contains all the lower primes as factors. In the first 500000 terms, other than the first term, there are no fixed points, and it is unknown if any exist.

Links

Table of n, a(n) for n=1..66.

Michael De Vlieger, Log log scatterplot of a(n), n = 1..2^16.

Michael De Vlieger, Log log scatterplot of a(n), n = 1..2^12, showing squarefree numbers in green and nonsquarefree numbers in blue, highlighting nonsquarefree numbers that are powerful (in A001694) with large light blue dots.

Scott R. Shannon, Image of the first 250000 terms. The green line is a(n) = n.

Scott R. Shannon, Image of the first 250000 terms in color. Terms with a lowest prime factor 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, >=13 are colored white, red, yellow, green, blue, violet and light gray respectively.

Example

a(4) = 15 as a(2) = 6 = 2*3 and a(3) = 10 = 2*5, and 15 is the smallest unused number that shares a factor with 6 and 10 while also containing 5 and 3 as prime factors, the smallest primes not factors of 6 and 10 respectively. This is the first term to differ from A362754.

Mathematica

nn = 120; c[_] := False;
f[x_] := If[OddQ[x], 2, y = 3; While[Divisible[x, y], y = NextPrime[y]]; y];
MapIndexed[Set[{a[First[#2]], c[#1]}, {#1, First[#2]}] &, {1, 6, 10}];
i = a[2]; j = a[3]; q = 5; u = 12;
Do[qq = f[j]; k = Ceiling[u/#] &[q*qq];
  While[Or[c[#], CoprimeQ[i, #], CoprimeQ[i, j]] &[k*q*qq], k++];
  k *= q*qq;
  Set[{a[n], c[k], i, j, q}, {k, True, j, k, qq}];
  If[k == u, While[Or[c[u], PrimePowerQ[u]], u++]], {n, 4, nn}];
Array[a, nn] (* Michael De Vlieger, May 09 2023 *)

Crossrefs

Cf. A362754, A337687, A351495, A064413, A360519, A361606, A053669.

Sequence in context: A074980 A363172 A059218 * A361606 A095678 A339116

Adjacent sequences: A362597 A362598 A362599 * A362601 A362602 A362603

Keyword

nonn

Author

Scott R. Shannon, May 02 2023

Status

approved