A256596 a(n) is the number of iterations of the map x->sigma(x) when starting from n before arriving at a number with more than one ancestor, with a(1)=0 and where sigma is the sum of divisors.

0, 6, 5, 4, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

Offset

1,2

Comments

That is, before arriving at a number x such that A054973(x) > 1.

Links

Table of n, a(n) for n=1..88.

G. L. Cohen and H. J. J. te Riele, Iterating the sum-of-divisors function, Experimental Mathematics, 5 (1996), pp. 93-100.

Example

For n=2, the repeated map gives 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 7 -> 8 -> 15 -> 24 where 24 is the first fork with sigma(15)=sigma(23)=24, so with 6 iterations starting from 2 we have a(2)=6, a(3)=5, a(4)=4, a(7)=3, a(8)=2, and a(15)=1.

Prog

(PARI) isfork(n) = {my(nba = 0); for (i=2, n-1, if (sigma(i) == n, nba++); if (nba > 1, return (1)); ); }
a(n) = {if (n==1, return (0)); my(nbit = 0); ok = 0; while (! ok, newn = sigma(n); nbit++; ok = isfork(newn); n = newn; ); nbit; }

Crossrefs

Cf. A000203, A054973, A085790, A216200, A241954.

Sequence in context: A110390 A193178 A084448 * A173431 A263879 A085664

Adjacent sequences: A256593 A256594 A256595 * A256597 A256598 A256599

Keyword

nonn

Author

Michel Marcus, Apr 03 2015

Status

approved