a(m+1)=sum{k|m}mu(k)a(k), & Hidden Negatives

Leroy Quet qq-quet at mindspring.com
Tue Aug 17 22:03:52 CEST 2004


Let a(1) = 1;

Let a(m+1) = sum{k|m} mu(k) a(k),

where mu is the Mobius (Moebius) function.

I get, by hand, the sequence beginning:

1,1,0,1,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,0,...

I get that a(52) = 2, so not every term is either 0 or 1.
 
(I am betting that not every term is necessarily nonnegative either.)

Could someone extend this sequence?
When is the first negative term?

---

A good question is brought up by the above sequence (a question which 
probably has already been dealt with before by seq.fan).

Assume, for the sake of argument, that we have a sequence which consists 
of only nonnegative terms for, say, the first 200 terms. But the 201st 
term is negative (which may or may not be known to the sequence's author).
Now, if only 100 terms of the sequence are given in the OEIS, is the 
sequence listed as 'nonn' or 'sign'?

My personal opinion is that such a sequence should be listed as 'nonn', 
if only because there are probably many sequences in the EIS where the 
authors do not know if these sequences are eventually negative, and only 
know about the terms submitted.
Care should be taken, however, by those extending a sequence listed as 
'nonn', if extending the sequence uncovers any negative terms.

thanks,
Leroy Quet





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