OFFSET
1,6
COMMENTS
For each n from 9 through 48, the most frequently occurring difference between consecutive primes is 6. On p. 108 of the article by Odlyzko et al., the authors estimate that around n=117, the jumping champion (i.e., the most frequently occurring difference between consecutive primes) becomes 30, and around n=1412 it becomes 210. Successive jumping champions are conjecturaly the primorial numbers A002110.
Data for n >= 15 taken from Marek Wolf's prime gaps computation.
For the number of pairs of consecutive primes below 10^n having a difference of 6, see A093738.
For the number of sexy primes less than 10^n, see A080841.
There are 8 known cases in which a power of 2 falls between the members of the sexy consecutive prime pair (see A220951), but if a pair (p, p+6) is such that p < 2^n < p+6, that pair is not counted in a(n).
LINKS
Artur Jasinski, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..48
Andrew Odlyzko, Michael Rubinstein, Marek Wolf, Jumping-champions, Experimental Mathematics 8:2, pp. 108-118, 1999.
Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Sexy Primes. [The definition in this webpage is unsatisfactory, because it defines a "sexy prime" as a pair of primes.- N. J. A. Sloane, Mar 07 2021].
Marek Wolf, Counted prime gaps for range x from 2^15 to 2^48.
EXAMPLE
a(6)=4 because 2^6=64 and we have 4 sexy consecutive prime pairs less than 64: {23,29}, {31,37}, {47,53}, {53,59}.
MATHEMATICA
pp = {}; Do[kk = 0; Do[If[Prime[m + 1] - Prime[m] == 6, kk = kk + 1], {m, 2, PrimePi[2^n] - 1}]; AppendTo[pp, kk], {n, 4, 20}]; pp
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
nonn,hard
AUTHOR
Artur Jasinski, Feb 21 2021
STATUS
approved