English

On the congruence properties and growth rate of a recursively defined sequence

Number Theory 2024-06-17 v1

Abstract

Let a1=1a_1 = 1 and, for n>1n > 1, an=an1+an2a_n = a_{n-1} + a_{\left \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \right \rfloor}. In this paper we will look at congruence properties and the growth rate of this sequence. First we will show that if x{1,2,3,5,6,7}x \in \{1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 \}, then the natural density of nn such that anx(mod8)a_n \equiv x \pmod{8} exists and equals 16\frac{1}{6}. Next we will prove that if m15m \le 15 is not divisible by 44, then the lower density of nn such that ana_n is divisible by mm, is strictly positive. To put these results in a broader context, we will then posit a general conjecture about the density of nn such that anx(modm)a_n \equiv x \pmod{m} for any given xx and any mm not divisible by 3232. Finally, we will show that there exists a function ff such that nf(n)<an<nf(n)+ϵn^{f(n)} < a_n < n^{f(n) + \epsilon} for all ϵ>0\epsilon > 0 and all large enough nn.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2406.09532,
  title  = {On the congruence properties and growth rate of a recursively defined sequence},
  author = {Wouter van Doorn},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.09532},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

18 pages