OFFSET
0,1
COMMENTS
Spaces and punctuation are ignored when determining the position of the letter.
a(n) is well-defined as n and n+1 always share a letter (see formulas). - Michael S. Branicky, Aug 20 2022
FORMULA
For n > 1000, a(n) = 1 unless n = b + 1000^e - 1 (for e >= 1, 1 <= b <= 999) in which case a(n) = a(b). Subsequently, 1 <= a(n) <= 3. - Michael S. Branicky, Aug 20 2022
EXAMPLE
For n = 4, a(4) = 1 since the 1st letter of 'four' can also be found in 'five'.
For n = 59, a(59) = 2 since the 2nd letter of 'fifty-nine' can be found in 'sixty'.
PROG
(Python)
from num2words import num2words as n2w
def a(i):
w1 = n2w(i).replace(' ', '').replace('-', '')
w2 = n2w(i+1).replace(' ', '').replace('-', '')
for j in range(len(w1)):
if w1[j] in w2:
return j+1
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
nonn,easy,word
AUTHOR
Ray G. Opao, Aug 16 2022
STATUS
approved