pith. sign in

arxiv: 0710.3217 · v3 · submitted 2007-10-17 · 🧮 math.NT

A natural prime-generating recurrence

classification 🧮 math.NT
keywords primesrecurrencearbitrarybehaviorconditiondefinedevolutiongeneralization
0
0 comments X
read the original abstract

For the sequence defined by a(n) = a(n-1) + gcd(n, a(n-1)) with a(1) = 7 we prove that a(n) - a(n-1) takes on only 1s and primes, making this recurrence a rare "naturally occurring" generator of primes. Toward a generalization of this result to an arbitrary initial condition, we also study the limiting behavior of a(n)/n and a transience property of the evolution.

This paper has not been read by Pith yet.

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.