A NEW KIND OF SEQUENCE

FELIPE BOTTEGA DINIZ ABSTRACT. First, we dene a new kind of function over N. For each i N we have an associated function, which will be called Si . Then we dene a new kind of sequence, to be made from the functions Si . Finally, we will see that some of these sequences has a self-similarity.

1. Introduction

There are sequences that are of great value for mathematics, many sequences are also important for other sciences. For these reasons the study of sequences is very important. But we can not forget that creativity in mathematics is also important, and this is more true when we are dealing with sequences, it is not enough just to study sequences, we also need to create sequences. This work deals with a new kind of sequence, we will see that this kind of sequence has interesting properties, that is reason enough to make this work worthwhile.
2. Functions

For this work, we are considering N = {0, 1, 2, 3, . . .}. Consider t N, such that t has n N digits, in other words, t = an an1 . . . a2 a1 . We can divide t in blocks of i digits (except at most one block), from right to left, with i N and i n. If i|n, all blocks has i digits, otherwise the last block will last n i Z/iZ digits.1 Below are some examples to get a better understanding. Consider the number 123456, we divide it into blocks of i digits, also consider that each block will be bracketed, and if the number of digits is less than i, then the block will have the greatest possible number of digits. blocks of 1 digit: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] blocks of 2 digits:[12] [34] [56] blocks of 3 digits:[123] [456]
1 We

are considering Z/iZ = {0, 1, . . . , i 1}

blocks of blocks of blocks of blocks of . . .

4 digits:[12] [3456] 5 digits:[1] [23456] 6 digits:[123456] 7 digits:[123456]

Now that we have the intuitive idea of division into blocks, we will formalize this idea. Consider t N, such that t has n digits, and let [wj ] [wj1 ] . . . [w2 ] [w1 ] be the j blocks of i digits (except perhaps for wj ) of t, considering each block as a natural, we have all the blocks, given by {wj , wj1 , . . . , w2 , w1 }, is contained2 in Nj . Thus, we can i dene the function Bi : N Nj dened as follows: i
Bi (t) = Bi (an an1 . . . a1 ) = {wj , wj1 , . . . , w1 }

Consider the function T : Bi N such that

T (wk ) = T (am am1 . . . amq+1 ) = = (am + am1 + . . . + amq+1 ) am am1 . . . amq+1 = (am + am1 + . . . + amq+1 ) wk

We are considering that wk has q digits, note also that is necessary to have q = i or q = n i Z/iZ. For each t this function is restricted to only one block, but we can make a generalization of the function T , so that for every t there is a single number associated, taking into account all the blocks at once. Consider the function Si : N N such that

Si (t) = Si (an an1 . . . a1 ) = T (wj ) + T (wj1 ) + . . . + T (w1 ) =

k=1

T (wk )

Note that the Si depends on T , this in turn depends on Bi , as these two are well dened, we have that Si is also well dened. Set S0 (t) = 0 for all t N, thus we have that for every t N with n digits, there are n + 1 Si functions. Below we show some examples to clarify. Consider again the number 123456, we can associate 7 Si functions at this number.
2 Consider

that Ni = {x N; x has a maximum of i digits}

S0 (123456) = 0 S1 (123456) = T (1) + T (2) + T (3) + T (4) + T (5) + T (6) = = 1 1 + 2 2 + 3 3 + 4 4 + 5 5 + 6 6 = 1 + 4 + 9 + 16 + 25 + 36 = 91 S2 (123456) = T (12) + T (34) + T (56) = (1 + 2) 12 + (3 + 4) 34 + (5 + 6) 56 = = 3 12 + 7 34 + 11 56 = 890 S3 (123456) = T (123) + T (456) = (1 + 2 + 3) 123 + (4 + 5 + 6) 456 = = 6 123 + 15 456 = 7578 S4 (123456) = T (12) + T (3456) = (1 + 2) 12 + (3 + 4 + 5 + 6) 3456 = = 3 12 + 18 3456 = 62244 S5 (123456) = T (1) + T (23456) = 1 1 + (2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6) 23456 = = 1 + 20 23456 = 469121 S6 (123456) = T (123456) = (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6) 123456 = = 21 123456 = 2592576 S7 (123456) = T (123456) = (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6) 123456 = = 21 123456 = 2592576

. . .

Note that if T has n i digits, we have that Si (t) = Ti (t). Thus, we can say that
j

Si (t) = Si (wj ) + Si (wj1 ) + . . . + Si (w1 ) =

k=1

Si (wk )

(1)

From now on, when referring to Si , that is the denition that we will be using. We can also dene S (t), which of course means t(sum of the digits of t ), so this denition of S (t) coincides with the denition of the sequence A057147, hence, this characterization represents a more general view.

Proposition 1:

t {0, 1, . . . , 9} N i N, Si (t) = t2

Proof: If i = 0 then S0 (t) = 0 = 02 , if 0 < i < 10 then Si (t) = (t) t = t2 . Let k, t N such that t = an an1 . . . a1 and k|am for each m {1, 2, . . . , n} N. Then for all i N, we have that b N such that Si (t) = k 2 Si (b).
Proposition 2:

Proof: Since k divides all the digits of t, for each digit am of t there is a natural bm such that am = k bm . Thus, we have that t = an an1 . . . a1 = k bn k bn1 . . . k b1 .
Si (t) = Si (k bn k bn1 . . . k b1 ) = = Si (kbn kbn1 . . . kbnq )+ . . . +Si (kbi . . . kb1 ) = = (kbn +kbn1 + . . . +kbnq )(kbn kbn1 . . . kbnq )+ . . . +(kbi +. . .+kb1 )(kbi . . . kb1 ) = = k(bn +bn1 + . . . +bnq )(kbn kbn1 . . . kbnq )+ . . . +k(bi +. . .+b1 )(kbi . . . kb1 ) = = k (bn +bn1 + . . . +bnq )(kbn kbn1 . . . kbnq )+ . . . +(bi +. . .+b1 )(kbi . . . kb1 ) =

Note that any number of the form k bx k bx1 . . . k bxy can be written as 10y k bx + 10y1 k bx1 + . . . + 100 k bxy . We can write the last equation as follows:
k (bn +bn1 + . . . +bnq )(10q kbn +10q1 kbn1 + . . . +100 kbnq )+ . . . +(bi +. . .+b1 )(10i kbi . . . 100 kb1 ) = = k (bn +bn1 + . . . +bnq )k(10q bn +10q1 bn1 + . . . +100 bnq )+ . . . +(bi +. . .+b1 )k(10i bi . . . 100 b1 ) = = k 2 (bn +bn1 + . . . +bnq )(10q bn +10q1 bn1 + . . . +100 bnq )+ . . . +(bi +. . .+b1 )(10i bi . . . 100 b1 ) = = k 2 (bn +bn1 + . . . +bnq )(bn bn1 . . . bnq )+ . . . +(bi +. . .+b1 )(bi . . . b1 )

Set b N such that b = bn bn1 . . . b1 , the existence of b is guaranteed, because it is guaranteed the existence of each of bm . Also note that the above equation is equivalent to k 2 Si (b), as we wanted to prove.

Corollary 2.1:

Consider a N such that 0 a 9, then for each i N, Si (a a . . . a) = a2 Si (1 1 . . . 1).

n times n times

Proof: aa . . . a = a 1 a 1 . . . a 1, then dening b = 11 . . . 1 and k = a, according to the statement above we have Si (a a . . . a) = a2 Si (1 1 . . . 1).
n times n times n times

Corollary 2.2:

If Si (t) is a prime number, then there is not a number (greater than 1) that divides all the digits of t. Proof: By Proposition 2, if all the digits of t are divisible by a number (greater than 1), then Si (t) can not be prime because it is the product of two numbers greater than 1. This statement is equivalent to the corollary.

Proposition 3:

No function Si , with i > 0 is injective.

Proof: For every i > 0, we have that Si (1) = 1, we also have that
i+1 digits i zeros

Si (10i ) = Si (100 . . . 0) = Si (1) + Si (00 . . . 0) = 1 + (0 + 0 + . . . + 0) 0 = 1 + 0 0 = 1.

Then Si (1) = Si (10i ), so Si is not injective.

Proposition 4:

Every function Si , with i > 0 is surjective.

Proof: Set n, t N such that n is an arbitrary natural number and t = 1 00 . . . 01 00 . . . 01 . . . 00 . . . 01.

i digits i digits n1 times i digits

Then Si (t) = 1+1 + 1 . . . + 1 = 1+1(n1) = n, so Si is surjective.

n1 times

3. Sequences

We can construct some special sequences from these functions. Let t N, when considering an ordering of the elements, we can consider the whole image of each Si as a sequence. Let us call these sequences Si .
S1 = S1 (1), S1 (2), S1 (3), . . . S2 = S2 (1), S2 (2), S2 (3), . . . S3 = S3 (1), S3 (2), S3 (3), . . .

. . .

Proposition 5:

For all i N, i > 0, lim Si = .

Proof: Given n N arbitrary, consider the number t N, such that t = 10 . . . 0 10 . . . 0 . . . 10 . . . 0 > n, so that it has n i digits.
i digits i digits n times i digits

Si (t) = Si (10 . . . 0 10 . . . 0 . . . 10 . . . 0) = Si (10 . . . 0) + Si (10 . . . 0) + . . . + Si (10 . . . 0) =

i digits i digits i digits i digits i digits i digits

Si (10 . . . 0) + Si (10 . . . 0) + . . . + Si (10 . . . 0) = n Si (10 . . . 0) = n 10 . . . 0 > n

i digits i digits n times i digits i digits i digits

Then Si (x) > n, so lim Si = .

4. Charts

Below are the charts of some of these sequences. These charts clearly show that there is a kind of pattern. In particular, the charts of S1 , S2 and S7 look the same when we take an interval [10x , 10y ], with x, y N and x < y . This features shows some self-similarity to the charts3 .
S1 (t), t = 1...100000 S1 (t), t = 1...10000000

S2 (t), t = 1...100000

S2 (t), t = 1...10000000

3 This

characteristic has been experimentally veried for several intervals.

S3 (t), t = 1...100000

S3 (t), t = 1...10000000

S4 (t), t = 1...100000

S4 (t), t = 1...10000000

S5 (t), t = 1...100000

S5 (t), t = 1...10000000

S6 (t), t = 1...100000

S6 (t), t = 1...10000000

S7 (t), t = 1...100000

S7 (t), t = 1...10000000

5. Conclusion

This work was the result of the exploitation of new ideas about sequences. This kind of sequence is entirely new, so it is worthwhile to explore it and nd out how far it may be of benet to the advancement of mathematics. The author hopes that the ideas put forward here can be appreciated, and if possible, get improved.
Email adress:

felipebottega@gmail.com

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