[seqfan] Re: A173279 and A173280

[Robert Munafo]

On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 14:09, Klaus Brockhaus <klaus-brockhaus at t-online.de>
 wrote:

> Robert Munafo schrieb:
> > On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 09:43, Klaus Brockhaus <
> klaus-brockhaus at t-online.de>
> >  wrote:
> >> ... and does it make sense to repeat the %N line (essentially) in the %F
> >> line?
> >>
> >
> > No, because %F is for formulas.
> >
> Does that suffice? What about
>
> %N A173317 a(n)=5*n!-1
>
 %F A173317 a(n)=5*n!-1
>

Of course not Klaus. I was answering your question about A173279 and A173280,
for which, as you know, the %F lines were not formulas. My answer was meant
to address them only.

My statement "%F is for formulas" is based on the Internal Format
specification here:
http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/eishelp1.html which you can see
describes %F as being for formulas that are not given in the %N field.

But the problem is bigger than that. If one asks a question about one
sequence and then tries to apply an answer (*any* answer, not just "my"
answer) as a context-free principle to other sequences, one will run across
all sorts of contradictions like this -- mainly because OEIS is the
collected work of so many different people. Even the Internal Format
document does not seem to cover the great diversity we have now.

-- 
 Robert Munafo  --  mrob.com