[seqfan] Re: Contributing sequences with holes and infinities

[Alonso Del Arte]

As long as our knowledge of a particular sequence is ad hoc, the solution
has to be ad hoc as well.

Here is the ad hoc solution I suggest: write a page in the OEIS Wiki in
which you list the sequence with question marks for placeholders. Then, as
soon as you know enough consecutive terms for a decently refined search,
then you submit it for OEIS Main.

Al

On Fri, Jun 17, 2016 at 11:33 AM, Christian Stump <christian.stump at gmail.com
> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> > Regarding 2: As Felix said, you should use a placeholder, typically -1
> in a
> > case of "the number of". See e.g. A215418.
>
> Okay, this seems to be a reasonable solution (as otherwise, the
> sequence is just not an integer sequence).
>
> > Regarding 1: the procedure would be to have the Data include the entries
> > before the hole, i.e. a(0) to a(3) in your example, and state a(8) and
> a(24)
> > in a Comment.
>
> This seems wired, though -- what if I know the sequence everywhere
> except for powers of 2 then? Is this saying that well-defined
> sequences for which the terms are both know and unknown for infinitely
> many entries not suited?
>
> There is no problem in searching for partial sequences, and to me it
> seems better to be able to recognize a partially known sequence than
> not to find it.
>
> > In this case (where 0 cannot occur) I'd put 0 for infinity.
> > Sometimes -1 is a (somewhat fugly) way out if known terms
> > are non-negative.
> > It's often a judgement call: if looking at it makes you unwell.
> > then it may be the better option to not submit.
>
> I think it is best to have a well-chosen general convention rather
> than an adhoc solution. This is certainly better to maintain integrity
> of the sequences.
>
> Cheers, Christian
>
> --
> Seqfan Mailing list - http://list.seqfan.eu/
>



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Alonso del Arte
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<https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AlonsoDelarte>
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