OFFSET
1,1
COMMENTS
The construction rule is: (1) Start with a unit circle (big R-circle). (2) Pack circles at radius 1/2^n (small r-circles) on the diameter line of the big circle. (3) Pack small circles in the rows above and below the row packed in the previous step, maintaining a hexagonal packing pattern. The number of small circles in any row is limited so that the circumference of the last small circle does not cross (but is allowed to contact) the circumference of the big circle. (4) Repeat process to the top and bottom rows.
The contact points are the points where the circumference of a small circle contacts the circumference of the big circle, i.e., they are mutually tangent.
See illustration in links.
Also, the number of integer solutions to the equation (2^n-1)^2 = 3*x^2 + y^2. - Andrew Howroyd, May 27 2018
LINKS
Kival Ngaokrajang, Illustration of initial terms
Kival Ngaokrajang, Illustration for n = 9
FORMULA
a(n) = 2 + 4*A(n), n >= 1, with A(n) the number of integer solutions for x(n,j) = sqrt((2^n-1)^2 + 3*j^2), for j = 1, 2, ..., floor((2^n-1)/sqrt(3)). R = 2^n and r=1 (small radius) was used here. - Wolfdieter Lang, Apr 07 2014
a(n) = A033716((2^n - 1)^2). - Andrew Howroyd, May 27 2018
EXAMPLE
n=9 (see the link): In the first quadrant, shown there, there are 4 touching points with the large circle for rows x > 0, namely for the rows 52, 132, 280 and 292. With the trivial 2 touching points with the large circle for the row x=0 this adds to the total number 2 + 4*4 = 18 = a(9). - Wolfdieter Lang, Apr 06 2014
MATHEMATICA
a[1] = 2; a[n_] := Module[{f = FactorInteger[2^n - 1]}, 2*Product[If[Mod[ f[[i, 1]], 3] == 1, 2*f[[i, 2]] + 1, 1] , {i, 1, Length[f]}]];
Array[a, 70] (* Jean-François Alcover, Jul 03 2018, after Andrew Howroyd *)
PROG
(PARI) a(n) = {my(f=factor(2^n-1)); 2*prod(i=1, #f~, if(f[i, 1]%3==1, 2*f[i, 2]+1, 1))} \\ Andrew Howroyd, May 27 2018
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
nonn
AUTHOR
Kival Ngaokrajang, Apr 06 2014
EXTENSIONS
Corrected and extended by Wolfdieter Lang, Apr 06 2014
a(26)-a(70) from Andrew Howroyd, May 27 2018
STATUS
approved