OFFSET
1,1
COMMENTS
Let b > 1 be an integer, and write the base b expansion of any nonnegative integer n as n = x_0 + x_1 b + ... + x_d b^d with x_d > 0 and 0 <= x_i < b for i=0,...,d.
Consider the map S_{x^2,b}: N to N, with S_{x^2,b}(n) := x_0^2+ ... + x_d^2.
It is known that the orbit set {n, S_{x^2,b}(n), S_{x^2,b}(S_{x^2,b}(n)), ...} is finite for all n > 0. Each orbit contains a finite cycle, and for a given b, the union of such cycles over all orbit sets is finite. Let us denote by L(x^2,i) the set of bases b such that the set of cycles associated to S_{x^2,b} consists of exactly i elements. In this notation, the sequence is the set of known elements of L(x^2,2).
A 1978 conjecture of Hasse and Prichett describes the set L(x^2,2). New elements have been added to this set in the paper Integer Dynamics, by D. Lorenzini, M. Melistas, A. Suresh, M. Suwama, and H. Wang. The sequence contains all b <= 10^6 that are in L(x^2,2).
LINKS
H. Hasse and G. Prichett, A conjecture on digital cycles, J. reine angew. Math. 298 (1978), 8--15. Also on GDZ.
D. Lorenzini, M. Melistas, A. Suresh, M. Suwama, and H. Wang, Integer Dynamics, preprint.
EXAMPLE
For instance, b = 10 is in this sequence since in the decimal system, there are exactly two cycles (1) and (4, 16, 37, 58, 89, 145, 42, 20).
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
nonn,base,hard,more
AUTHOR
Makoto Suwama, Aug 03 2020
STATUS
approved