OFFSET
0,3
COMMENTS
For n = 0..17 the sequence is similar to the known toothpick sequences.
The surprising fact is that for n >= 18 the sequence has a periodic tail. More precisely, it has period 8: repeat [32, 80, 16, 16, 16, 64, 48, 48]. This tail is in accordance with the expansion of the four arms of the cross. The tail also can be written starting from the 20th stage, with period 8: repeat [16, 16, 16, 64, 48, 48, 32, 80], (see example).
This sequence is essentially the first differences of A289840. The behavior is similar to A290221 and A294021 in the sense that these three sequences from cellular automata have the property that after the initial terms the continuation is a periodic sequence. - Omar E. Pol, Oct 29 2017
LINKS
Colin Barker, Table of n, a(n) for n = 0..1000
N. J. A. Sloane, Catalog of Toothpick and Cellular Automata Sequences in the OEIS
Index entries for linear recurrences with constant coefficients, signature (0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1).
FORMULA
G.f.: x*(1 + 2*x + 8*x^2 + 8*x^3 + 8*x^4 + 8*x^5 + 32*x^6 + 16*x^7 + 15*x^8 + 14*x^9 + 40*x^10 + 8*x^11 + 8*x^12 + 8*x^13 + 32*x^14 + 32*x^15 + 16*x^16 + 16*x^17 + 32*x^18 + 16*x^24) / ((1 - x)*(1 + x)*(1 + x^2)*(1 + x^4)). - Colin Barker, Nov 12 2017
EXAMPLE
For n = 0..17 the sequence is 0, 1, 2, 8, 8, 8, 8, 32, 16, 16, 16, 48, 16, 16, 16, 64, 48, 32;
Terms 18 and beyond can be arranged in a rectangular array with eight columns as shown below:
32, 80, 16, 16, 16, 64, 48, 48;
32, 80, 16, 16, 16, 64, 48, 48;
32, 80, 16, 16, 16, 64, 48, 48;
32, 80, 16, 16, 16, 64, 48, 48;
32, 80, 16, 16, 16, 64, 48, 48;
...
On the other hand, in accordance with the periodic structure of the arms of the square cross, the terms 20 and beyond can be arranged in a rectangular array with eight columns as shown below:
16, 16, 16, 64, 48, 48, 32, 80;
16, 16, 16, 64, 48, 48, 32, 80;
16, 16, 16, 64, 48, 48, 32, 80;
16, 16, 16, 64, 48, 48, 32, 80;
16, 16, 16, 64, 48, 48, 32, 80;
...
PROG
(PARI) concat(0, Vec(x*(1 + 2*x + 8*x^2 + 8*x^3 + 8*x^4 + 8*x^5 + 32*x^6 + 16*x^7 + 15*x^8 + 14*x^9 + 40*x^10 + 8*x^11 + 8*x^12 + 8*x^13 + 32*x^14 + 32*x^15 + 16*x^16 + 16*x^17 + 32*x^18 + 16*x^24) / ((1 - x)*(1 + x)*(1 + x^2)*(1 + x^4)) + O(x^100))) \\ Colin Barker, Nov 12 2017
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
nonn,tabf,easy
AUTHOR
Omar E. Pol, Jul 14 2017
STATUS
approved