A381050 Triangle T(n,k) read by rows, where row n is a permutation of the numbers 1 through n, such that if a deck of n cards is prepared in this order, and down-under-down dealing is used, then the resulting cards will be dealt in increasing order.

1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1, 4, 2, 3, 1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 1, 5, 2, 3, 6, 4, 1, 7, 2, 3, 6, 4, 5, 1, 6, 2, 3, 7, 4, 5, 8, 1, 7, 2, 3, 9, 4, 5, 8, 6, 1, 10, 2, 3, 8, 4, 5, 9, 6, 7, 1, 8, 2, 3, 9, 4, 5, 11, 6, 7, 10, 1, 9, 2, 3, 12, 4, 5, 10, 6, 7, 11, 8, 1, 12, 2, 3, 10, 4, 5, 11, 6, 7, 13, 8, 9

Offset

1,3

Comments

Down-under-down dealing is a dealing pattern where the top card is dealt, the second card is placed at the bottom of the deck, then the third card is dealt. This pattern repeats until all of the cards have been dealt.

This card dealing is related to a variation on the Josephus problem, where the first person is eliminated, the second person is skipped, and the third person is eliminated. The card in row n and column k is x if and only if in the corresponding Josephus problem with n people, the person number x is the k-th person eliminated. Equivalently, each row of Josephus triangle A383076 is an inverse permutation of the corresponding row of this triangle.

The total number of moves for row n is A032766(n) = floor(3n/2).

The index of the largest number in row n is A381051(n), corresponding to the index of the freed person in the corresponding Josephus problem.

Links

Table of n, a(n) for n=1..91.

Eric Huang, Tanya Khovanova, Timur Kilybayev, Ryan Li, Brandon Ni, Leone Seidel, Samarth Sharma, Nathan Sheffield, Vivek Varanasi, Alice Yin, Boya Yun, and William Zelevinsky, Card Dealing Math, arXiv:2509.11395 [math.NT], 2025. See p. 17.

Formula

T(n,3j) = 2j, for 3j <= n. T(n,3j+1) = 2j+1, for 3j+1 <= n.

Example

Consider a deck of four cards arranged in the order 1,4,2,3. In round 1, card 1 is dealt, card 4 goes under, card 2 is dealt. Now the deck is ordered 3,4. In round 2, card 3 is dealt, card 4 goes under, then card 4 is dealt. The dealt cards are in order. Thus, the fourth row of the triangle is 1,4,2,3.
Table begins:
  1;
  1, 2;
  1, 3, 2;
  1, 4, 2, 3;
  1, 4, 2, 3, 5;
  1, 5, 2, 3, 6, 4;
  1, 7, 2, 3, 6, 4, 5;
  1, 6, 2, 3, 7, 4, 5, 8;

Mathematica

row[n_]:=Module[{ds, res, k, i=1, len}, ds=CreateDataStructure["Queue", Range[n]]; res=CreateDataStructure["FixedArray", n]; While[(ds["Length"]>=2), res["SetPart", i++, ds["Pop"]]; ds["Push", ds["Pop"]]; If[ds["Length"]>1, res["SetPart", i++, ds["Pop"]]; ]]; res["SetPart", n, ds["Pop"]]; Flatten[PositionIndex[res["Elements"]]/@Range[n]]];
Array[row, 13, 1] // Flatten (* Shenghui Yang, May 11 2025 *)

Prog

(Python)
def row(n):
    i, J, out = 0, list(range(1, n+1)), []
    while len(J) > 1:
        i = i%len(J)
        out.append(J.pop(i))
        i = (i + 1)%len(J)
        #i = i%len(J)
        if len(J) > 1:
            out.append(J.pop(i))
    out += [J[0]]
    return [out.index(j)+1 for j in list(range(1, n+1))]
print([e for n in range(1, 14) for e in row(n)]) # Michael S. Branicky, Apr 28 2025

Crossrefs

Cf. A006257, A032766, A225381, A321298, A378635, A381050, A381051, A383076, A378674.

Sequence in context: A294733 A275724 A375025 * A193278 A337632 A389606

Adjacent sequences: A381047 A381048 A381049 * A381051 A381052 A381053

Keyword

nonn,tabl

Author

Tanya Khovanova, Nathan Sheffield, and the MIT PRIMES STEP junior group, Apr 14 2025

Status

approved