OFFSET
1,4
COMMENTS
See A046737 for more information about the reduced period.
For the Fibonacci 3-step (tribonacci) sequence, only 1 and 3 appear. A116515 is the analogous sequence for Fibonacci numbers. Let the terms in the reduced period be denoted by R. When the ratio is 3, the full period can be written as R,aR,bR, where a and b are multipliers that are the two solutions of the equation x^2+x+1 = 0 (mod p). What order do the solutions appear as a and b? See A154755 and A154756 for the primes that produce ratios of 1 and 3, respectively. Observe that there are approximately three times as many 1's as 3's.
EXAMPLE
The tribonacci sequence (starting with 1) mod 7 is 1,1,2,4,0,6,3,2,4, 2,1,0,3,4,0,0,4,4,1,2,0,3,5,1,2,1,4,0,5,2,0,0,2,2,4,1,0,5,6,4,1,4,2,0, 6,1,0,0, which has 3 pairs of 0-0 terms. Hence a(4)=3.
MATHEMATICA
Table[p=Prime[i]; a={1, 0, 0}; a0=a; k=0; zeros=0; While[k++; s=Mod[Plus@@a, p]; a=RotateLeft[a]; a[[ -1]]=s; If[Rest[a]=={0, 0}, zeros++ ]; a!=a0]; zeros, {i, 200}]
CROSSREFS
Cf. A000073.
KEYWORD
nonn
AUTHOR
T. D. Noe, Jan 15 2009
STATUS
approved
