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The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS) is an online database of
integer sequence In mathematics, an integer sequence is a sequence (i.e., an ordered list) of integers. An integer sequence may be specified ''explicitly'' by giving a formula for its ''n''th term, or ''implicitly'' by giving a relationship between its terms. For ...
s. It was created and maintained by Neil Sloane while researching at
AT&T Labs AT&T Labs, Inc. (formerly AT&T Laboratories, Inc.) is the research & development division of AT&T, the telecommunications company. It employs some 1,800 people in various locations, including: Bedminster, New Jersey; Middletown Township, New J ...
. He transferred the
intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
and hosting of the OEIS to the OEIS Foundation in 2009, and is its chairman. OEIS records information on integer sequences of interest to both professional and
amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
s, and is widely cited. , it contains over 370,000 sequences, and is growing by approximately 30 entries per day. Each entry contains the leading terms of the sequence, keywords, mathematical motivations, literature links, and more, including the option to generate a
graph Graph may refer to: Mathematics *Graph (discrete mathematics), a structure made of vertices and edges **Graph theory, the study of such graphs and their properties *Graph (topology), a topological space resembling a graph in the sense of discret ...
or play a
musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
representation of the sequence. The database is searchable by keyword, by
subsequence In mathematics, a subsequence of a given sequence is a sequence that can be derived from the given sequence by deleting some or no elements without changing the order of the remaining elements. For example, the sequence \langle A,B,D \rangle is a ...
, or by any of 16 fields. There is also an advanced search function called SuperSeeker which runs a large number of different algorithms to identify sequences related to the input.


History

Neil Sloane started collecting integer sequences as a graduate student in 1964 to support his work in
combinatorics Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and as an end to obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many ...
. The database was at first stored on
punched card A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a stiff paper-based medium used to store digital information via the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Developed over the 18th to 20th centuries, punched cards were widel ...
s. He published selections from the database in book form twice: #''A Handbook of Integer Sequences'' (1973, ), containing 2,372 sequences in
lexicographic order In mathematics, the lexicographic or lexicographical order (also known as lexical order, or dictionary order) is a generalization of the alphabetical order of the dictionaries to sequences of ordered symbols or, more generally, of elements of a ...
and assigned numbers from 1 to 2372. #''The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences'' with Simon Plouffe (1995, ), containing 5,488 sequences and assigned M-numbers from M0000 to M5487. The Encyclopedia includes the references to the corresponding sequences (which may differ in their few initial terms) in ''A Handbook of Integer Sequences'' as N-numbers from N0001 to N2372 (instead of 1 to 2372.) The Encyclopedia includes the A-numbers that are used in the OEIS, whereas the Handbook did not. These books were well-received and, especially after the second publication, mathematicians supplied Sloane with a steady flow of new sequences. The collection became unmanageable in book form, and when the database reached 16,000 entries Sloane decided to go online – first as an
email Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...
service (August 1994), and soon thereafter as a website (1996). As a spin-off from the database work, Sloane founded the '' Journal of Integer Sequences'' in 1998. The database continues to grow at a rate of some 10,000 entries a year. Sloane has personally managed 'his' sequences for almost 40 years, but starting in 2002, a board of associate editors and volunteers has helped maintain the omnibus database. In 2004, Sloane celebrated the addition of the 100,000th sequence to the database, , which counts the marks on the
Ishango bone The Ishango bone, discovered at the "Fisherman Settlement" of Ishango in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a bone tool and possible mathematical device that dates to the Upper Paleolithic era. The curved bone is dark brown in color, about ...
. In 2006, the user interface was overhauled and more advanced search capabilities were added. In 2010 an OEIS wiki was created to simplify the collaboration of the OEIS editors and contributors. The 200,000th sequence, , was added to the database in November 2011; it was initially entered as A200715, and moved to A200000 after a week of discussion on the SeqFan mailing list, following a proposal by OEIS Editor-in-Chief Charles Greathouse to choose a special sequence for A200000. A300000 was defined in February 2018, and by end of January 2023 the database contained more than 360,000 sequences.


Non-integers

Besides integer sequences, the OEIS also catalogs sequences of
fraction A fraction (from , "broken") represents a part of a whole or, more generally, any number of equal parts. When spoken in everyday English, a fraction describes how many parts of a certain size there are, for example, one-half, eight-fifths, thre ...
s, the digits of
transcendental number In mathematics, a transcendental number is a real or complex number that is not algebraic: that is, not the root of a non-zero polynomial with integer (or, equivalently, rational) coefficients. The best-known transcendental numbers are and . ...
s,
complex number In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the for ...
s and so on by transforming them into integer sequences. Sequences of fractions are represented by two sequences (named with the keyword 'frac'): the sequence of numerators and the sequence of denominators. For example, the fifth-order
Farey sequence In mathematics, the Farey sequence of order ''n'' is the sequence of completely reduced fractions, either between 0 and 1, or without this restriction, which have denominators less than or equal to ''n'', arranged in order of increasing size. Wi ...
, \textstyle , , , , , , , , , is catalogued as the numerator sequence 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3, 4 () and the denominator sequence 5, 4, 3, 5, 2, 5, 3, 4, 5 (). Important
irrational number In mathematics, the irrational numbers are all the real numbers that are not rational numbers. That is, irrational numbers cannot be expressed as the ratio of two integers. When the ratio of lengths of two line segments is an irrational number, ...
s such as π = 3.1415926535897... are catalogued under representative integer sequences such as
decimal The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers (''decimal fractions'') of th ...
expansions (here 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2, 6, 5, 3, 5, 8, 9, 7, 9, 3, 2, 3, 8, 4, 6, 2, 6, 4, 3, 3, 8, 3, 2, 7, 9, 5, 0, 2, 8, 8, ... ()), binary expansions (here 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, ... ()), or continued fraction expansions (here 3, 7, 15, 1, 292, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 14, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 84, 2, 1, 1, ... ()).


Conventions

The OEIS was limited to plain
ASCII ASCII ( ), an acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for representing a particular set of 95 (English language focused) printable character, printable and 33 control character, control c ...
text until 2011, and it still uses a linear form of conventional mathematical notation (such as ''f''(''n'') for functions, ''n'' for running variables, etc.).
Greek letters The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as we ...
are usually represented by their full names, ''e.g.'', mu for μ, phi for φ. Every sequence is identified by the letter A followed by six digits, almost always referred to with leading zeros, ''e.g.'', A000315 rather than A315. Individual terms of sequences are separated by commas. Digit groups are not separated by commas, periods, or spaces. In comments, formulas, etc., a(n) represents the ''n''th term of the sequence.


Special meaning of zero

Zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and compl ...
is often used to represent non-existent sequence elements. For example, enumerates the "smallest
prime A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
of ''n''2 consecutive primes to form an ''n'' × ''n''
magic square In mathematics, especially History of mathematics, historical and recreational mathematics, a square array of numbers, usually positive integers, is called a magic square if the sums of the numbers in each row, each column, and both main diago ...
of least magic constant, or 0 if no such magic square exists." The value of ''a''(1) (a 1 × 1 magic square) is 2; ''a''(3) is 1480028129. But there is no such 2 × 2 magic square, so ''a''(2) is 0. This special usage has a solid mathematical basis in certain counting functions; for example, the
totient In number theory, Euler's totient function counts the positive integers up to a given integer that are relatively prime to . It is written using the Greek letter phi as \varphi(n) or \phi(n), and may also be called Euler's phi function. In othe ...
valence function ''N''φ(''m'') () counts the solutions of φ(''x'') = ''m''. There are 4 solutions for 4, but no solutions for 14, hence ''a''(14) of A014197 is 0—there are no solutions. Other values are also used, most commonly −1 (see or ).


Lexicographical ordering

The OEIS maintains the
lexicographical order In mathematics, the lexicographic or lexicographical order (also known as lexical order, or dictionary order) is a generalization of the alphabetical order of the dictionaries to sequences of ordered symbols or, more generally, of elements of a ...
of the sequences, so each sequence has a predecessor and a successor (its "context"). OEIS normalizes the sequences for lexicographical ordering, (usually) ignoring all initial zeros and ones, and also the
sign A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...
of each element. Sequences of
weight distribution Weight distribution is the apportioning of weight within a vehicle, especially cars, airplanes, and trains. Typically, it is written in the form ''x''/''y'', where ''x'' is the percentage of weight in the front, and ''y'' is the percentage in t ...
codes often omit periodically recurring zeros. For example, consider: the
prime number A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a Product (mathematics), product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime ...
s, the palindromic primes, the
Fibonacci sequence In mathematics, the Fibonacci sequence is a Integer sequence, sequence in which each element is the sum of the two elements that precede it. Numbers that are part of the Fibonacci sequence are known as Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted . Many w ...
, the lazy caterer's sequence, and the coefficients in the
series expansion In mathematics, a series expansion is a technique that expresses a Function (mathematics), function as an infinite sum, or Series (mathematics), series, of simpler functions. It is a method for calculating a Function (mathematics), function that ...
of \textstyle . In OEIS lexicographic order, they are: * Sequence #1: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, ... * Sequence #2: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 101, 131, 151, 181, 191, 313, 353, 373, 383, 727, 757, 787, 797, 919, 929, ... * Sequence #3: 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, ... * Sequence #4: 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22, 29, 37, 46, 56, 67, 79, 92, 106, 121, 137, 154, ... * Sequence #5: 3, 8, 3, 24, 24, 48, 3, 8, 72, 120, 24, 168, 144, ... whereas unnormalized lexicographic ordering would order these sequences thus: #3, #5, #4, #1, #2.


Self-referential sequences

Very early in the history of the OEIS, sequences defined in terms of the numbering of sequences in the OEIS itself were proposed. "I resisted adding these sequences for a long time, partly out of a desire to maintain the dignity of the database, and partly because A22 was only known to 11 terms!", Sloane reminisced. One of the earliest self-referential sequences Sloane accepted into the OEIS was (later ) "''a''(''n'') = ''n''-th term of sequence A''n'' or −1 if A''n'' has fewer than ''n'' terms". This sequence spurred progress on finding more terms of . lists the first term given in sequence A''n'', but it needs to be updated from time to time because of changing opinions on offsets. Listing instead term ''a''(1) of sequence A''n'' might seem a good alternative if it were not for the fact that some sequences have offsets of 2 and greater. This line of thought leads to the question "Does sequence A''n'' contain the number ''n''?" and the sequences , "Numbers ''n'' such that OEIS sequence A''n'' contains ''n''", and , "''n'' is in this sequence
if and only if In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (often shortened as "iff") is paraphrased by the biconditional, a logical connective between statements. The biconditional is true in two cases, where either bo ...
''n'' is not in sequence A''n''". Thus, the
composite number A composite number is a positive integer that can be formed by multiplying two smaller positive integers. Accordingly it is a positive integer that has at least one divisor other than 1 and itself. Every positive integer is composite, prime numb ...
2808 is in A053873 because is the sequence of composite numbers, while the non-prime 40 is in A053169 because it is not in , the prime numbers. Each ''n'' is a member of exactly one of these two sequences, and in principle it can be determined ''which'' sequence each ''n'' belongs to, with two exceptions (related to the two sequences themselves): *It cannot be determined whether 53873 is a member of A053873 or not. If it is in the sequence then by definition it should be; if it is not in the sequence then (again, by definition) it should not be. Nevertheless, either decision would be consistent, and would also resolve the question of whether 53873 is in A053169. *It can be proved that 53169 both is and is not a member of A053169. If it is in the sequence then by definition it should not be; if it is not in the sequence then (again, by definition) it should be. This is a form of
Russell's paradox In mathematical logic, Russell's paradox (also known as Russell's antinomy) is a set-theoretic paradox published by the British philosopher and mathematician, Bertrand Russell, in 1901. Russell's paradox shows that every set theory that contains ...
. Hence it is also not possible to answer if 53169 is in A053873.


Abridged example of a comprehensive entry

This entry, , was chosen because it comprehensively contains every OEIS field, filled. A046970 Dirichlet inverse of the Jordan function J_2 (A007434). 1, -3, -8, -3, -24, 24, -48, -3, -8, 72, -120, 24, -168, 144, 192, -3, -288, 24, -360, 72, 384, 360, -528, 24, -24, 504, -8, 144, -840, -576, -960, -3, 960, 864, 1152, 24, -1368, 1080, 1344, 72, -1680, -1152, -1848, 360, 192, 1584, -2208, 24, -48, 72, 2304, 504, -2808, 24, 2880, 144, 2880, 2520, -3480, -576 OFFSET 1,2 COMMENTS B(n+2) = -B(n)*((n+2)*(n+1)/(4*Pi^2))*z(n+2)/z(n) = -B(n)*((n+2)*(n+1)/(4*Pi^2)) * Sum_ a(j)/j^(n+2). Apart from signs also Sum_ core(d)^2*mu(n/d) where core(x) is the squarefree part of x. - Benoit Cloitre, May 31 2002 REFERENCES M. Abramowitz and I. A. Stegun, Handbook of Mathematical Functions, Dover Publications, 1965, pp. 805-811. T. M. Apostol, Introduction to Analytic Number Theory, Springer-Verlag, 1986, p. 48. LINKS Reinhard Zumkeller, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..10000 M. Abramowitz and I. A. Stegun, eds., Handbook of Mathematical Functions, National Bureau of Standards, Applied Math. Series 55, Tenth Printing, 1972 lternative scanned copy P. G. Brown, Some comments on inverse arithmetic functions, Math. Gaz. 89 (516) (2005) 403-408. Paul W. Oxby, A Function Based on Chebyshev Polynomials as an Alternative to the Sinc Function in FIR Filter Design, arXiv:2011.10546 ess.SP 2020. Wikipedia, Riemann zeta function. FORMULA Multiplicative with a(p^e) = 1 - p^2. a(n) = Sum_ mu(d)*d^2. abs(a(n)) = Product_ (p^2 - 1). - Jon Perry, Aug 24 2010 From Wolfdieter Lang, Jun 16 2011: (Start) Dirichlet g.f.: zeta(s)/zeta(s-2). a(n) = J_(n)*n^2, with the Jordan function J_k(n), with J_k(1):=1. See the Apostol reference, p. 48. exercise 17. (End) a(prime(n)) = -A084920(n). - R. J. Mathar, Aug 28 2011 G.f.: Sum_ mu(k)*k^2*x^k/(1 - x^k). - Ilya Gutkovskiy, Jan 15 2017 EXAMPLE a(3) = -8 because the divisors of 3 are and mu(1)*1^2 + mu(3)*3^2 = -8. a(4) = -3 because the divisors of 4 are and mu(1)*1^2 + mu(2)*2^2 + mu(4)*4^2 = -3. E.g., a(15) = (3^2 - 1) * (5^2 - 1) = 8*24 = 192. - Jon Perry, Aug 24 2010 G.f. = x - 3*x^2 - 8*x^3 - 3*x^4 - 24*x^5 + 24*x^6 - 48*x^7 - 3*x^8 - 8*x^9 + ... MAPLE Jinvk := proc(n, k) local a, f, p ; a := 1 ; for f in ifactors(n) do p := op(1, f) ; a := a*(1-p^k) ; end do: a ; end proc: A046970 := proc(n) Jinvk(n, 2) ; end proc: # R. J. Mathar, Jul 04 2011 MATHEMATICA muDD _:= MoebiusMu d^2; Table lus @@ muDD[Divisors[n, ">ivisors[n.html" ;"title="lus @@ muDD[Divisors[n">lus @@ muDD[Divisors[n, (Lopez) Flatten[Table[, (* Jon Perry, Aug 24 2010 *) a[ n_] := If[ n < 1, 0, Sum[ d^2 MoebiusMu[ d], (* Michael Somos, Jan 11 2014 *) a[ n_] := If[ n < 2, Boole[ n

1], Times @@ (1 - #[ ^2 & /@ FactorInteger @ n)] (* Michael Somos, Jan 11 2014 *) PROG (PARI) A046970(n)=sumdiv(n, d, d^2*moebius(d)) \\ Benoit Cloitre (Haskell) a046970 = product . map ((1 -) . (^ 2)) . a027748_row -- Reinhard Zumkeller, Jan 19 2012 (PARI) /* Michael Somos, Jan 11 2014 */ CROSSREFS Cf. A007434, A027641, A027642, A063453, A023900. Cf. A027748. Sequence in context: A144457 A220138 A146975 * A322360 A058936 A280369 Adjacent sequences: A046967 A046968 A046969 * A046971 A046972 A046973 KEYWORD sign,easy,mult AUTHOR Douglas Stoll, dougstoll(AT)email.msn.com EXTENSIONS Corrected and extended by Vladeta Jovovic, Jul 25 2001 Additional comments from Wilfredo Lopez (chakotay147138274(AT)yahoo.com), Jul 01 2005


Entry fields

; ID number : Every sequence in the OEIS has a
serial number A serial number (SN) is a unique identifier used to ''uniquely'' identify an item, and is usually assigned incrementally or sequentially. Despite being called serial "numbers", they do not need to be strictly numerical and may contain letters ...
, a six-digit positive
integer An integer is the number zero (0), a positive natural number (1, 2, 3, ...), or the negation of a positive natural number (−1, −2, −3, ...). The negations or additive inverses of the positive natural numbers are referred to as negative in ...
, prefixed by A (and zero-padded on the left prior to November 2004). The letter "A" stands for "absolute". Numbers are either assigned by the editor(s) or by an A number dispenser, which is handy for when contributors wish to send in multiple related sequences at once and be able to create cross-references. An A number from the dispenser expires a month from issue if not used. But as the following table of arbitrarily selected sequences shows, the rough correspondence holds. : Even for sequences in the book predecessors to the OEIS, the ID numbers are not the same. The 1973 ''Handbook of Integer Sequences'' contained about 2400 sequences, which were numbered by lexicographic order (the letter N plus four digits, zero-padded where necessary), and the 1995 ''Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences'' contained 5487 sequences, also numbered by lexicographic order (the letter M plus 4 digits, zero-padded where necessary). These old M and N numbers, as applicable, are contained in the ID number field in parentheses after the modern A number. ; Sequence data : The sequence field lists the numbers themselves, to about 260 characters. More terms of the sequences can be provided in so-called B-files. The sequence field makes no distinction between sequences that are finite but still too long to display and sequences that are infinite; instead, the keywords "fini", "full", and "more" are used to distinguish such sequences. To determine to which ''n'' the values given correspond, see the offset field, which gives the ''n'' for the first term given. ; Name : The name field usually contains the most common name for the sequence, and sometimes also the formula. For example, 1, 8, 27, 64, 125, 216, 343, 512, () is named "The
cubes A cube or regular hexahedron is a three-dimensional space, three-dimensional solid object in geometry, which is bounded by six congruent square (geometry), square faces, a type of polyhedron. It has twelve congruent edges and eight vertices. It i ...
: a(n) = n^3.". ; Comments : The comments field is for information about the sequence that does not quite fit in any of the other fields. The comments field often points out interesting relationships between different sequences and less obvious applications for a sequence. For example, Lekraj Beedassy in a comment to A000578 notes that the cube numbers also count the "total number of
triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...
s resulting from criss-crossing cevians within a triangle so that two of its sides are each ''n''-partitioned", and Neil Sloane points out an unexpected relationship between
centered hexagonal number In mathematics and combinatorics, a centered hexagonal number, or centered hexagon number, is a centered polygonal number, centered figurate number that represents a hexagon with a dot in the center and all other dots surrounding the center dot ...
s () and second
Bessel polynomials In mathematics, the Bessel polynomials are an orthogonal polynomials, orthogonal sequence of polynomials. There are a number of different but closely related definitions. The definition favored by mathematicians is given by the series :y_n(x)=\sum ...
() in a comment to A003215. ; References : References to printed documents (books, papers, ...). ; Links : Links, i.e. URLs, to online resources. These may be: :# references to applicable articles in journals :# links to the index :# links to text files which hold the sequence terms (in a two column format) over a wider range of indices than held by the main database lines :# links to images in the local database directories which often provide combinatorial background related to
graph theory In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of ''graph (discrete mathematics), graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of ''Vertex (graph ...
:# others related to computer codes, more extensive tabulations in specific research areas provided by individuals or research groups ; Formula : Formulas, recurrences,
generating function In mathematics, a generating function is a representation of an infinite sequence of numbers as the coefficients of a formal power series. Generating functions are often expressed in closed form (rather than as a series), by some expression invo ...
s, etc. for the sequence. ; Example : Some examples of sequence member values. ; Maple :
Maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...
code. ; Mathematica :
Wolfram Language The Wolfram Language ( ) is a proprietary, very high-level multi-paradigm programming language developed by Wolfram Research. It emphasizes symbolic computation, functional programming, and rule-based programming and can employ arbitrary stru ...
code. ; Program : Originally
Maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...
and
Mathematica Wolfram (previously known as Mathematica and Wolfram Mathematica) is a software system with built-in libraries for several areas of technical computing that allows machine learning, statistics, symbolic computation, data manipulation, network ...
were the preferred programs for calculating sequences in the OEIS, each with their own field labels. , Mathematica was the most popular choice with 100,000 Mathematica programs followed by 50,000
PARI/GP PARI/GP is a computer algebra system with the main aim of facilitating number theory computations. Versions 2.1.0 and higher are distributed under the GNU General Public License. It runs on most common operating systems. System overview The P ...
programs, 35,000 Maple programs, and 45,000 in other languages. : As for any other part of the record, if there is no name given, the contribution (here: program) was written by the original submitter of the sequence. ; Crossrefs : Sequence cross-references originated by the original submitter are usually denoted by "
Cf. The abbreviation cf. (short for either Latin or , both meaning 'compare') is generally used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. However some sources offer differing or even contr ...
" : Except for new sequences, the "see also" field also includes information on the lexicographic order of the sequence (its "context") and provides links to sequences with close A numbers (A046967, A046968, A046969, A046971, A046972, A046973, in our example). The following table shows the context of our example sequence, A046970: ; Keyword : The OEIS has its own
lexicon A lexicon (plural: lexicons, rarely lexica) is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word () ...
: a standard set of mostly four-letter keywords which characterizes each sequence: :*allocated – An A-number which has been set aside for a user but for which the entry has not yet been approved (and perhaps not yet written). :*base – The results of the calculation depend on a specific positional base. For example, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 101, 131, 151, 181 ... are prime numbers regardless of base, but they are
palindromic A palindrome ( /ˈpæl.ɪn.droʊm/) is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as ''madam'' or '' racecar'', the date " 02/02/2020" and the sentence: "A man, a plan, a canal – Pana ...
specifically in base 10. Most of them are not palindromic in binary. Some sequences rate this keyword depending on how they are defined. For example, the
Mersenne prime In mathematics, a Mersenne prime is a prime number that is one less than a power of two. That is, it is a prime number of the form for some integer . They are named after Marin Mersenne, a French Minim friar, who studied them in the early 1 ...
s 3, 7, 31, 127, 8191, 131071, ... does not rate "base" if defined as "primes of the form 2^n − 1". However, defined as " repunit primes in binary," the sequence would rate the keyword "base". :* bref – "sequence is too short to do any analysis with", for example, , the number of
isomorphism class In mathematics, an isomorphism is a structure-preserving mapping or morphism between two structures of the same type that can be reversed by an inverse mapping. Two mathematical structures are isomorphic if an isomorphism exists between them ...
es of
associative In mathematics, the associative property is a property of some binary operations that rearranging the parentheses in an expression will not change the result. In propositional logic, associativity is a valid rule of replacement for express ...
non-
commutative In mathematics, a binary operation is commutative if changing the order of the operands does not change the result. It is a fundamental property of many binary operations, and many mathematical proofs depend on it. Perhaps most familiar as a pr ...
non-anti-associative
anti-commutative In mathematics, anticommutativity is a specific property of some non-commutative mathematical operations. Swapping the position of two arguments of an antisymmetric operation yields a result which is the ''inverse'' of the result with unswapped ...
closed
binary operation In mathematics, a binary operation or dyadic operation is a rule for combining two elements (called operands) to produce another element. More formally, a binary operation is an operation of arity two. More specifically, a binary operation ...
s on a
set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...
of order ''n''. :* changed The sequence is changed in the last two weeks. :* cofr – The sequence represents a
continued fraction A continued fraction is a mathematical expression that can be written as a fraction with a denominator that is a sum that contains another simple or continued fraction. Depending on whether this iteration terminates with a simple fraction or not, ...
, for example the continued fraction expansion of ''e'' () or π (). :* cons – The sequence is a decimal expansion of a
mathematical constant A mathematical constant is a number whose value is fixed by an unambiguous definition, often referred to by a special symbol (e.g., an Letter (alphabet), alphabet letter), or by mathematicians' names to facilitate using it across multiple mathem ...
, such as ''e'' () or π (). :* core – A sequence that is of foundational importance to a branch of mathematics, such as the prime numbers (), the Fibonacci sequence (), etc. :* dead – This keyword used for erroneous sequences that have appeared in papers or books, or for duplicates of existing sequences. For example, is the same as . :* dumb – One of the more subjective keywords, for "unimportant sequences," which may or may not directly relate to mathematics, such as
popular culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of cultural practice, practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art
f. pop art F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 (number), 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distributi ...
or mass art, sometimes contraste ...
references, arbitrary sequences from Internet puzzles, and sequences related to
numeric keypad A numeric keypad, number pad, numpad, or ten key, is the calculator-style group of ten numeric keys accompanied by other keys, usually on the far right side of computer keyboard. This grouping allows quick number entry with right hand, ...
entries. , "Mix digits of pi and e" is one example of lack of importance, and , "Price is Right wheel" (the sequence of numbers on the Showcase Showdown wheel used in the U.S. game show ''
The Price Is Right ''The Price Is Right'' is an American television game show where contestants compete by guessing the prices of merchandise to win cash and prizes. A 1972 revival by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman of their The Price Is Right (1956 American game ...
'') is an example of a non-mathematics-related sequence, kept mainly for trivia purposes. :* easy – The terms of the sequence can be easily calculated. Perhaps the sequence most deserving of this keyword is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ... , where each term is 1 more than the previous term. The keyword "easy" is sometimes given to sequences "primes of the form ''f''(''m'')" where ''f''(''m'') is an easily calculated function. (Though even if ''f''(''m'') is easy to calculate for large ''m'', it might be very difficult to determine if ''f''(''m'') is prime). :* eigen – A sequence of
eigenvalue In linear algebra, an eigenvector ( ) or characteristic vector is a vector that has its direction unchanged (or reversed) by a given linear transformation. More precisely, an eigenvector \mathbf v of a linear transformation T is scaled by a ...
s. :* fini – The sequence is finite, although it might still contain more terms than can be displayed. For example, the sequence field of shows only about a quarter of all the terms, but a comment notes that the last term is 3888. :* frac – A sequence of either numerators or denominators of a sequence of fractions representing
rational number In mathematics, a rational number is a number that can be expressed as the quotient or fraction of two integers, a numerator and a non-zero denominator . For example, is a rational number, as is every integer (for example, The set of all ...
s. Any sequence with this keyword ought to be cross-referenced to its matching sequence of numerators or denominators, though this may be dispensed with for sequences of Egyptian fractions, such as , where the sequence of numerators would be . This keyword should not be used for sequences of continued fractions; cofr should be used instead for that purpose. :* full – The sequence field displays the complete sequence. If a sequence has the keyword "full", it should also have the keyword "fini". One example of a finite sequence given in full is that of the supersingular primes , of which there are precisely fifteen. :* hard – The terms of the sequence cannot be easily calculated, even with raw number crunching power. This keyword is most often used for sequences corresponding to unsolved problems, such as "How many ''n''-spheres can touch another ''n''-sphere of the same size?" lists the first ten known solutions. :* hear – A sequence with a graph audio deemed to be "particularly interesting and/or beautiful", some examples are collected at th
OEIS site
:* less – A "less interesting sequence". :* look – A sequence with a graph visual deemed to be "particularly interesting and/or beautiful". Two examples out of several thousands ar
A331124A347347
:* more – More terms of the sequence are wanted. Readers can submit an extension. :* mult – The sequence corresponds to a
multiplicative function In number theory, a multiplicative function is an arithmetic function f of a positive integer n with the property that f(1)=1 and f(ab) = f(a)f(b) whenever a and b are coprime. An arithmetic function is said to be completely multiplicative (o ...
. Term ''a''(1) should be 1, and term ''a''(''mn'') can be calculated by multiplying ''a''(''m'') by ''a''(''n'') if ''m'' and ''n'' are
coprime In number theory, two integers and are coprime, relatively prime or mutually prime if the only positive integer that is a divisor of both of them is 1. Consequently, any prime number that divides does not divide , and vice versa. This is equiv ...
. For example, in , ''a''(12) = ''a''(3)''a''(4) = −8 × −3. :* new – For sequences that were added in the last couple of weeks, or had a major extension recently. This keyword is not given a checkbox in the Web form for submitting new sequences; Sloane's program adds it by default where applicable. :* nice – Perhaps the most subjective keyword of all, for " exceptionally nice sequences." :* nonn – The sequence consists of nonnegative integers (it may include zeroes). No distinction is made between sequences that consist of nonnegative numbers only because of the chosen offset (e.g., ''n''3, the cubes, which are all nonnegative from ''n'' = 0 forwards) and those that by definition are completely nonnegative (e.g., ''n''2, the squares). :* obsc – The sequence is considered obscure and needs a better definition. :* recycled – When the editors agree that a new proposed sequence is not worth adding to the OEIS, an editor blanks the entry leaving only the keyword line with keyword:recycled. The A-number then becomes available for allocation for another new sequence. :* sign – Some (or all) of the values of the sequence are negative. The entry includes both a Signed field with the signs and a Sequence field consisting of all the values passed through the
absolute value In mathematics, the absolute value or modulus of a real number x, is the non-negative value without regard to its sign. Namely, , x, =x if x is a positive number, and , x, =-x if x is negative (in which case negating x makes -x positive), ...
function. :* tabf – "An irregular (or funny-shaped) array of numbers made into a sequence by reading it row by row." For example, , "Triangle read by rows giving successive states of
cellular automaton A cellular automaton (pl. cellular automata, abbrev. CA) is a discrete model of computation studied in automata theory. Cellular automata are also called cellular spaces, tessellation automata, homogeneous structures, cellular structures, tessel ...
generated by "rule 62." :* tabl – A sequence obtained by reading a geometric arrangement of numbers, such as a triangle or square, row by row. The quintessential example is
Pascal's triangle In mathematics, Pascal's triangle is an infinite triangular array of the binomial coefficients which play a crucial role in probability theory, combinatorics, and algebra. In much of the Western world, it is named after the French mathematician Bla ...
read by rows, . :* uned – The sequence has not been edited but it could be worth including in the OEIS. The sequence may contain computational or typographical errors. Contributors are encouraged to edit these sequences. :* unkn – "Little is known" about the sequence, not even the formula that produces it. For example, , which was presented to the
Internet Oracle The Internet Oracle (historically known as The Usenet Oracle) is an effort at collective humor in a pseudo- Socratic question-and-answer format. A user sends a question ("tellme") to the Oracle via e-mail, or the Internet Oracle website, and it i ...
to ponder. :* walk – "Counts walks (or self-avoiding paths)." :* word – Depends on the words of a specific language. For example, zero, one, two, three, four, five, etc. For example, 4, 3, 3, 5, 4, 4, 3, 5, 5, 4, 3, 6, 6, 8, 8, 7, 7, 9, 8, 8 ... , "Number of letters in the English name of ''n'', excluding spaces and hyphens." : Some keywords are mutually exclusive, namely: core and dumb, easy and hard, full and more, less and nice, and nonn and sign. ; Offset : The offset is the index of the first term given. For some sequences, the offset is obvious. For example, if we list the sequence of square numbers as 0, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25 ..., the offset is 0; while if we list it as 1, 4, 9, 16, 25 ..., the offset is 1. The default offset is 0, and most sequences in the OEIS have offset of either 0 or 1. Sequence , the magic constant for ''n'' × ''n''
magic square In mathematics, especially History of mathematics, historical and recreational mathematics, a square array of numbers, usually positive integers, is called a magic square if the sums of the numbers in each row, each column, and both main diago ...
with prime entries (regarding 1 as a prime) with smallest row sums, is an example of a sequence with offset 3, and , "Number of stars of visual magnitude ''n''." is an example of a sequence with offset −1. Sometimes there can be disagreement over what the initial terms of the sequence are, and correspondingly what the offset should be. In the case of the lazy caterer's sequence, the maximum number of pieces you can cut a pancake into with ''n'' cuts, the OEIS gives the sequence as 1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22, 29, 37, ... , with offset 0, while
Mathworld ''MathWorld'' is an online mathematics reference work, created and largely written by Eric W. Weisstein. It is sponsored by and licensed to Wolfram Research, Inc. and was partially funded by the National Science Foundation's National Science ...
gives the sequence as 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22, 29, 37, ... (implied offset 1). It can be argued that making no cuts to the pancake is technically a number of cuts, namely ''n'' = 0, but it can also be argued that an uncut pancake is irrelevant to the problem. Although the offset is a required field, some contributors do not bother to check if the default offset of 0 is appropriate to the sequence they are sending in. The internal format actually shows two numbers for the offset. The first is the number described above, while the second represents the index of the first entry (counting from 1) that has an absolute value greater than 1. This second value is used to speed up the process of searching for a sequence. Thus , which starts 1, 1, 1, 2 with the first entry representing ''a''(1) has 1, 4 as the internal value of the offset field. ; Author(s) : The author(s) of the sequence is (are) the person(s) who submitted the sequence, even if the sequence has been known since ancient times. The name of the submitter(s) is given first name (spelled out in full), middle initial(s) (if applicable) and last name; this in contrast to the way names are written in the reference fields. The e-mail address of the submitter is also given before 2011, with the @ character replaced by "(AT)" with some exceptions such as for associate editors or if an e-mail address does not exist. Now it has been the policy for OEIS not to display e-mail addresses in sequences. For most sequences after A055000, the author field also includes the date the submitter sent in the sequence. ; Extension : Names of people who extended (added more terms to) the sequence or corrected terms of a sequence, followed by date of extension.


Sloane's gap

In 2009, the OEIS database was used by Philippe Guglielmetti to measure the "importance" of each integer number. The result shown in the plot on the right shows a clear "gap" between two distinct point clouds, the " uninteresting numbers" (blue dots) and the "interesting" numbers that occur comparatively more often in sequences from the OEIS. It contains essentially prime numbers (red), numbers of the form ''a''''n'' (green) and
highly composite number A highly composite number is a positive integer that has more divisors than all smaller positive integers. If ''d''(''n'') denotes the number of divisors of a positive integer ''n'', then a positive integer ''N'' is highly composite if ''d''(' ...
s (yellow). This phenomenon was studied by Nicolas Gauvrit, Jean-Paul Delahaye and Hector Zenil who explained the speed of the two clouds in terms of algorithmic complexity and the gap by social factors based on an artificial preference for sequences of primes, even numbers, geometric and Fibonacci-type sequences and so on. Sloane's gap was featured on a
Numberphile ''Numberphile'' is an Educational entertainment, educational YouTube channel featuring videos that explore topics from a variety of fields of mathematics. In the early days of the channel, each video focused on a specific number, but the channe ...
video in 2013.


See also

* List of OEIS sequences *
Abramowitz and Stegun ''Abramowitz and Stegun'' (''AS'') is the informal name of a 1964 mathematical reference work edited by Milton Abramowitz and Irene Stegun of the United States National Bureau of Standards (NBS), now the National Institute of Standards and T ...


Notes


References

* * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * * *


External links

* {{official website, //oeis.org/
Wiki
at OEIS Mathematical databases * Encyclopedias of mathematics Multilingual websites Mathematical projects 20th-century encyclopedias 21st-century encyclopedias American online encyclopedias