OFFSET
1,2
COMMENTS
Whittaker's root series formula is applied to 1 + Sum_{k>=1} prime(k) x^k. The following infinite series that converges to the negative inverse of Backhouse's constant (-x) is obtained:
x = -1/(1*2) - 3/(2*1) + 1/(1*1) + 1/(1*2) - 1/(2*3) + 5/(3*7) - 19/(7*10) - 9/(10*13) + 41/(13*21) - 103/(21*26) + 17/(26*33) + 289/(33*53) ...
The denominators of the infinite series are obtained by multiplying the absolute values of 2 consecutive terms from the sequence A030018.
LINKS
E. T. Whittaker and G. Robinson, The Calculus of Observations, London: Blackie & Son, Ltd. 1924, pp. 120-123.
FORMULA
a(1) = -1.
For n > 1, a(n) = -det ToeplitzMatrix((c(2),c(1),c(0),0,0,...,0),(c(2),c(3),c(4),...,c(n))), where c(0)=1 and c(n) is the n-th prime number.
EXAMPLE
a(1) = -1;
a(2) = -3;
a(3) = -det ToeplitzMatrix((3,2),(3,5)) = 1;
a(4) = -det ToeplitzMatrix((3,2,1),(3,5,7)) = 1;
a(5) = -det ToeplitzMatrix((3,2,1,0),(3,5,7,11)) = -1;
a(6) = -det ToeplitzMatrix((3,2,1,0,0),(3,5,7,11,13)) = 5;
a(7) = -det ToeplitzMatrix((3,2,1,0,0,0),(3,5,7,11,13,17)) = -19.
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
sign
AUTHOR
Raul Prisacariu, Jan 08 2024
EXTENSIONS
a(21)-a(38) from Stefano Spezia, Jan 09 2024
STATUS
approved