OFFSET
0,1
COMMENTS
The present sequence is the case x = 3 of the following general remarks. For other cases see A219163 (x = 4), A219164 (x = 5) and A219165 (x = 6).
Let x > 2 and let alpha := {x + sqrt(x^2 - 4)}/2. Define a sequence a(n) (which depends on x) by setting a(n) = alpha^(4^n) + (1/alpha)^(4^n). Then it is easy to verify that the sequence a(n) satisfies the recurrence equation a(n+1) = a(n)^4 + 4*a(n)^2 - 2 with the initial condition a(0) = x.
We have the product expansion sqrt((x + 2)/(x - 2)) = Product_{n >= 0} ((1 + 2/a(n))/(1 - 2/a(n)^2)).
FORMULA
Let alpha = 1/2*(3 + sqrt(5)) then a(n) = (alpha)^(4^n) + (1/alpha)^(4^n).
Product {n >= 0} ((1 + 2/a(n))/(1 - 2/a(n)^2)) = sqrt(5).
From Peter Bala, Dec 06 2022: (Start)
a(n) = 2*T(4^n,3/2), where T(n,x) denotes the n-th Chebyshev polynomial of the first kind.
Let b(n) = a(n) - 3. The sequence {b(n)} appears to be a strong divisibility sequence, that is, gcd(b(n),b(m)) = b(gcd(n,m)) for n, m >= 1. (End)
PROG
(PARI) a(n)={if(n==0, 3, a(n-1)^4-4*a(n-1)^2+2)} \\ Edward Jiang, Sep 11 2014
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
nonn,easy
AUTHOR
Peter Bala, Nov 13 2012
STATUS
approved