OFFSET
1,2
COMMENTS
A permutation of the natural numbers. Proof: Let k be the smallest number that does not appear. Let n_0 be such that by term n_0 every number < k has appeared. Let m be smallest multiple of k > n_0. Then T(2m) is divisible by k and so a(2m) = k, a contradiction.
Known cycles are: (1), (2, 3), (4, 5, 15, 8, 6, 7), (9), (16, 17, 51, 34, 35, 30, 31), (25) and {28, 29, 87, 58, 59, 118, 119, 68, 46, 47, 94, 95, 48} and the additional fixed-points 49, 57, 65, 81, 85, 93, 121, 133, 153, 169, 185, 201, 209, 217, 225, 253, 261, 289, 297, ... - John W. Layman, Nov 09 2005
The trajectory of 10 begins {10, 11, 22, 23, 12, 13, 91, 161, 189, 285, 429, 473, 869, 957, 1437, 2157, 3237, 4857, 7287, 4164, 3470, 4511, 2256, 1464, 1172, 782, 783, 392, 294, 413, 531, 342, 343, 172, 173, 519, 346, 347, 694, 1735, 1388, 926, 927, 464, 248, 166, 167, 84, 70, 71, 36, 37, 703, 352, 353, 1059, 706, 2471, 1412, 1413, 2121, 7427, 6366, 6367, 3184, 1820, 1214, 1215, 608, 336, 337, 4381, 28483, ...) and cannot be further determined without calculating at least the first 28483 terms of {a(n)}. - John W. Layman, Nov 09 2005
Conjecture: For all odd primes p, a(p-1) = p. Equivalently, it appears that if an initial 0 is appended (the smallest divisor of 0, the zeroth triangular number), then the fixed points in this include the odd primes. - Enrique Navarrete, Jul 24 2019 [Wording of the equivalent property corrected by Peter Munn, Jul 27 2019]
From Peter Munn, Jul 27 2019: (Start)
The above conjecture is true.
For odd k, k appears by term k. Proof: choose m such that k-1 <= m <= k and T(m) is odd. k is a divisor of T(m) and (by induction) all smaller odd divisors have occurred earlier, so a(m) = k if k has not occurred earlier.
For even k, k appears by term 2k-1, as k divides T(2k-1) and by induction all smaller divisors have occurred earlier.
For odd prime p, the first triangular number p divides is T(p-1) = p*(p-1)/2. But (p-1)/2 and any smaller divisors have occurred by term (p-1)-1, so a(p-1) = p.
(End)
For a generalization of the construction, see A309200. - N. J. A. Sloane, Jul 25 2019
Regarding iteration cycles, for length 2 there are many additional ones after the mentioned (2,3): (50, 75), (122, 183), (174, 203), (194, 291), (338, 507), etc.; for length 3: (1734, 4335, 2312), (4804, 6005, 8407), (7494, 18735, 9992), (8994, 10493, 13491), (12548, 18822, 21959), etc.; for length 4: (84326, 126489, 149487, 91992), (94138, 98417, 135761, 141207), (255206, 382809, 638015, 364580), (345928, 487444, 609305, 680063), (384350, 422785, 499655, 399724), etc. The trajectories of 10 and other families (14, 40, 60, 72, 78, 88, 96, etc.) are best thought of as being continuations of sequences arriving from infinity: ..., 451160, 300774, 300775, 186140, 124094, 124095, 62048, 31304, 25044, 20870, 20871, 13914, 13915, 10934, 10935, 7290, 7291, 14582, 14583, 9722, 9723, 6482, 6483, 4322, 4323, 2882, 4061, 12183, 9138, 9139, 11882, 17823, 8912, 6684, 5570, 5571, 2786, 4179, 2090, 2091, 1394, 1395, 698, 1047, 524, 350, 351, 176, 132, 114, 115, 145, 365, 915, 458, 459, 414, 415, 208, 152, 102, 103, 52, 53, 159, 80, 54, 55, 44, 45, 69, 105, 265, 371, 186, 341, 589, 1121, 1947, 1298, 1299, 866, 867, 578, 579, 290, 435, 218, 219, 146, 147, 74, 111, 56, 38, 39, 26, 27, 18, 19, 10, 11, 22, 23, 12, 13, 91, 161, 189, 285, 429, 473, 869, 957, 1437, 2157, 3237, 4857, 7287, 4164, 3470, 4511, 2256, 1464, 1172, 782, 783, 392, 294, 413, 531, 342, 343, 172, 173, 519, 346, 347, 694, 1735, 1388, 926, 927, 464, 248, 166, 167, 84, 70, 71, 36, 37, 703, 352, 353, 1059, 706, 2471, 1412, 1413, 2121, 7427, 6366, 6367, 3184, 1820, 1214, 1215, 608, 336, 337, 4381, 28483, 49847, 28484, 35605, 89015, 74180, 74181, 101041, 210061, 8297449, ... - Hans Havermann, Jul 26 2019
LINKS
Donovan Johnson, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..10000
Enrique Navarrete, Daniel Orellana, Finding Prime Numbers as Fixed Points of Sequences, arXiv:1907.10023 [math.NT], 2019.
MAPLE
S:= {}:
for n from 1 to 1000 do
A111273[n]:= min(numtheory:-divisors(n*(n+1)/2) minus S);
S:= S union {A111273[n]};
od:
seq(A111273[n], n=1..1000); # Robert Israel, Jan 16 2019
MATHEMATICA
a[n_] := a[n] = Do[If[FreeQ[Array[a, n-1], d], Return[d]], {d, Divisors[n (n+1)/2]}]; Array[a, 100] (* Jean-François Alcover, Mar 22 2019 *)
PROG
(PARI) {m=69; v=Set([]); for(n=1, m, d=divisors(n*(n+1)/2); j=1; while(setsearch(v, d[j])>0, j++); a=d[j]; v=setunion(v, Set(a)); print1(a, ", "))} \\ Klaus Brockhaus, Nov 03 2005
(Sage)
def A111273list(upto):
A = []
for n in (1..upto):
D = divisors((n*(n+1)/2))
A.append(next(d for d in D if d not in A))
return A
print(A111273list(69)) # Peter Luschny, Jul 26 2019
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
nonn
AUTHOR
N. J. A. Sloane, Nov 03 2005
EXTENSIONS
More terms from Klaus Brockhaus, Nov 03 2005
STATUS
approved