OFFSET
1,1
COMMENTS
See A228929 for the definition of "optimal ascending continued fraction".
Conjecture: The terms from a(3) are all positive and can be generated by the recurrence relation a(k+1) = a(k)^2 - 2.
This relation was studied by Lucas with reference to Engel expansion.
This recurrence is not peculiar of sqrt(2) but is present in the expansion of the square root of many other numbers, starting from some term onward, but not for all numbers. Here is a list of the numbers in range 1..200 having the recurrence: 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 45, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 62, 63, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 87, 88, 90, 92, 93, 95, 96, 98, 99, 101, 102, 104, 105, 107, 110, 111, 112, 114, 117, 119, 120, 122, 123, 124, 126, 128, 130, 132, 133, 135, 136, 138, 140, 141, 142, 143, 145, 146, 147, 148, 150, 152, 155, 156, 158, 162, 164, 165, 167, 168, 170, 171, 174, 175, 178, 180, 182, 183, 185, 187, 188, 189, 192, 194, 195, 197, 198, 200
Essentially the same as A003423. - R. J. Mathar, Sep 21 2013
LINKS
Giovanni Artico, Proof of the conjecture
FORMULA
a(n) = a(n-1)^2 - 2, for n > 2.
For n>2, a(n) = (sqrt(2)+1)^(2^(n-1)) + (sqrt(2)-1)^(2^(n-1)). - Vaclav Kotesovec, Sep 20 2013
EXAMPLE
sqrt(2)=1+1/2*(1-1/6*(1+1/34*(1+1/1154*(1+1/1331714*(1+1/1773462177794*(1+.....))))))
MAPLE
ArticoExp := proc (n, q::posint)::list; local L, i, z; Digits := 50000; L := []; z := frac(evalf(n)); for i to q+1 do if z = 0 then break end if; L := [op(L), round(1/abs(z))*sign(z)]; z := abs(z)*round(1/abs(z))-1 end do; return L end proc
# List the first 8 terms of the expansion of sqrt(2)-1
ArticoExp(sqrt(2), 8)
MATHEMATICA
Flatten[{2, RecurrenceTable[{a[n] == a[n-1]^2 - 2, a[2] == -6}, a, {n, 2, 10}]}] (* Vaclav Kotesovec, Sep 20 2013 *)
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
sign,cofr,easy
AUTHOR
Giovanni Artico, Sep 09 2013
EXTENSIONS
Added a pdf file with a proof of the conjecture by Giovanni Artico
STATUS
approved