The Connoisseur of Number Sequences

For more than 50 years, the mathematician Neil Sloane has curated the
authoritative collection of interesting and important integer sequences.
By: Erica Klarreich
August 6, 2015

Neil Sloane is considered by some to be one of the most influential mathematicians of

our time.
Thats not because of any particular theorem the 75-year-old Welsh native has proved,
though over the course of a more than 40-year research career at Bell Labs (later AT&T
Labs) he won numerous awards for papers in the fields of combinatorics, coding theory,
optics and statistics. Rather, its because of the creation for which hes most famous:
the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS), often simply called Sloane by its
users.
This giant repository, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, contains more than
a quarter of a million different sequences of numbers that arise in different mathematical
contexts, such as the prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7, 11 ) or the Fibonacci sequence (0, 1,
1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 ). Whats the greatest number of cake slices that can be made
with n cuts? Look up sequence A000125 in the OEIS. How many chess positions can be
created in n moves? Thats sequence A048987. The number of ways to arrangen circles
in a plane, with only two crossing at any given point, is A250001. That sequence just
joined the collection a few months ago. So far, only its first four terms are known; if you
can figure out the fifth, Sloane will want to hear from you.
A mathematician whose research generates a sequence of numbers can turn to the OEIS
to discover other contexts in which the sequence arises and any papers that discuss it.
The repository has spawned countless mathematical discoveries and has been cited
more than 4,000 times.
Many mathematical articles explicitly mention how they were inspired by OEIS, but for
each one that does, there are at least ten who do not mention it, not necessarily out of
malice, but because they take it for granted, wrote Doron Zeilberger, a mathematician
at Rutgers University.
Courtesy of Neil Sloane

The number of ways to arrange ncircles in a plane, with only two crossing at any given point, is sequence A250001 in the
OEIS.

The collection, which began in 1964 as a stack of handwritten index cards, gave rise to a
1973 book containing 2,372 sequences, and then a 1995 book, co-authored with
mathematicianSimon Plouffe, containing just over 5,000 sequences. By the following
year, so many people had submitted sequences to Sloane that the collection nearly
doubled in size, so he moved it onto the Internet. Since then, Sloane has personally
created entries for more than 170,000 sequences. Recently, however, hes had help

processing the torrent of submissions he receives each year from all over the world:
Since 2009 the collection has been run as a wiki, and it now boasts more than 100
volunteer editors.
But the OEIS is still very much Sloanes baby. He spends hours each day vetting new
submissions and adding sequences from archived papers and correspondence.
Quanta caught up with Sloane over Skype last month as he sorted through sequences in
his attic home office in Highland Park, N.J. Formerly a childrens playroom, its garish
wallpaper is tempered by giant stacks of papers, and, as Sloane put it, enough
computers so I dont need a heater. An edited and condensed version of the interview
follows.
QUANTA MAGAZINE: Tell me how you started the OEIS. Some sequences came
up in your research as a graduate student, right?
NEIL SLOANE: It was my thesis. I was looking into what are now called neural networks.
These are networks of [artificial] neurons, and each neuron fires or doesnt fire and is
connected to other neurons which fire or dont fire depending on the signal. I wanted to
know whether the activity in some of these networks was likely to die out or keep firing.
Some of the simplest cases gave rise to sequences. I took the simplest one and, with
some difficulty, worked out half a dozen terms. [It] goes 1, 8, 78, 944. I needed to
know how fast it grew, and I looked it up in the obvious places, and it wasnt there.
I started making a collection of sequences, so the next time this came up, Id have my
own table to look up. I made a little collection of file cards, and then they became
punched cards and then magnetic tape and eventually the book in 1973.
And when did you start sharing your collection with other people?
Oh, right away. I mean, within a year or two. The word got around, and you know, letters
started coming in. And as soon as the book came out, there was a flood of letters. Im
still going through the binders from that period. The project [now] is to sort through all
the interesting documents from the past, which now goes back 51 years. A lot of them
are in binders. A lot of them are not, unfortunately. Over there, theres about an eight- or
nine-feet stack of papers that havent been sorted.
Its very slow work. I have to go through these 50 binders and figure out whats worth
scanning, whats worth preserving, what is available online so we dont need to scan it.
But Im also finding lots of new sequences as I go along, that for one reason or another I
didnt include the first time around.
Besides the books about sequences, youve also co-authored two guidebooks
to rock climbing in New Jersey.
I did it with my climbing partner, Paul Nick. We spent a lot of time driving around New
Jersey climbing on crags and taking photographs and collecting route information. There
were a lot of restrictions. A lot of cliffs were on private property, so we couldnt officially
include them in the book.

Do you have any favorite mathematical discoveries that came about because
of the OEIS?
One of the most famous discoveries has to do with a formula discovered by Gregory, an
astronomer back in Newtons day, for /4. The formula says that /4 = 1 1/3 + 1/5 1/7
+ 1/9 and so on. Its a good way of computing if you dont have any better way. So
somebody did this, but wondered what would happen if you stopped after a while. So he
truncated the sum after 500,000 terms and looked at the number, and he worked it out
to many decimal places. He noticed, of course, that it was different from .

John Smock for Quanta Magazine

Sloane is discovering new integer sequences in unsorted stacks of documents collected over 51 years.

He looked at where it differed, and it differed after five decimal places. But then it agreed
for the next ten places, and then it disagreed for two decimal places. Then it agreed for
the next ten places, and then it disagreed. This was absolutely amazing, that it would
agree everywhere except at certain places.
Then I think it was Jonathan Borwein who looked at the differences [between and the
truncated sum]. When you subtract you get a sequence of numbers, and he looked it up
in the OEIS, and it wasnt there. But then he divided by 2 and looked it up, and there
they were. It was sequence A000364. It was the Euler numbers.
He and his two collaborators studied this, and they ended up with a formula for the error
term. If you truncate Gregorys series after not just 500,000 terms, but after n terms,
wheren can be anything you want, you can give an exact formula for the error.
It was absolutely miraculous that this was discovered. So, its a theorem that came into
existence because of the OEIS.
Tell me about some sequences you like. What makes a sequence appealing to
you?
Its a bit like saying, What makes a painting appealing? or What makes a piece of
music appealing? In the end, its just a matter of judgment, based on experience. If
there is some rule for generating the sequence which is a bit surprising, and the
sequence turns out to be not so easy to understand, that makes it interesting.
Theres a sequence of Leroy Quets which produces primes. It chugs along, but its like
Schrdingers cat; we dont know if it exists [as an infinitely long sequence] or not. I think
weve computed 600 million terms, and so far it hasnt died. It would be nicer or
maybe it would be less nice if we could actually analyze it.
How often do you get a new sequence that makes you say, I cant believe no
one has ever thought of this before?

This happens all the time. There are many gaps, even now. I fill in these gaps myself
quite often when I come across something in one of these old letters. Were a finite
community. Its easy to overlook even an obvious sequence.
To what extent is there a clear aesthetic about which sequences deserve to be
in the OEIS?
We have arguments about this, of course, because somebody will send in a sequence
that he or she thinks is wonderful, and we the editors, look at it and say, Well, thats
really not very interesting. Thats boring. Then the person who submitted it may get
really annoyed and say, No, no, youre wrong. I spent a lot of time on this sequence.
Its a matter of judgment, and in the end I have the final say. Of course, Im very
influenced by the other editors-in-chief.
One of our phrases is, This is too specialized. This is too arbitrary. This is not of general
interest. For instance, primes beginning with 1998 would not be so interesting. Too
specialized, too arbitrary, so that would be rejected.
It might not be rejected if it had been published somewhere if it was on a test, say. We
like to include sequences that appear on IQ tests. Its always been one of my goals to
help people do these silly tests.
One of the features on the OEIS is the option to listen to a sequence musically.
What do you think that adds?
Well, its another dimension of looking at the sequence. Some sequences, you get a good
feeling for them by listening to them. Some of the sequences almost sound like music.
Others just sound like rubbish.
Youve said that you think Bach would have loved the OEIS.
I think music is very mathematical, obviously, and so he would have appreciated the
OEIS. He would have understood it. He probably would have joined in, contributed some
sequences. Maybe he would have composed some pieces that we could use.
Do you have a sense of the magnitude of the OEIS impact?
Not really. I know its helped a lot of people, and its very famous. We have sequence
fans from all over the world. Youll see many references from unexpected places to the
OEIS: journals, books, theses from civil engineering or social studies that mention
sequences. They come up all over the place.
Are there other repositories of mathematical information that you wish
existed, but dont yet?
You would like an index to theorems, but its hard to imagine how that would work.

Were trying to get a collaboration going with the Zentralblatt the German equivalent
of Math Reviews MathSciNet about making it possible to search for formulas in the
OEIS. Suppose you want the summation of xn over n2 + 3, where the sum goes from one
to infinity. Its very hard to look that up in the OEIS at present.
Youre retired from AT&T Labs, but looking at your list of recent publications
and your activity with the OEIS, you seem anything but retired.
I have an office at Rutgers, and I give lectures there, and I have students, and Im even
busier back here in my study running the OEIS and doing research and going around the
world giving talks and so on. Im busier than ever.
There are more than 4,000 people registered on the OEIS website. They range
from professional mathematicians to recreational mathematicians, right?
A child just registered the other day, and said, Im ten years old, and Im very smart.
So its a wide-ranging group of people all over the world, from many different
occupations. One of the things people like about the OEIS is this opportunity to
collaborate, to exchange emails with professionals. Its one of the few opportunities that
most people have to talk to a real mathematician.
Do you feel that there is a divide between serious mathematics and
recreational mathematics? Or do you tend not to think in those terms?
I dont think in those terms. I dont think theres much difference. If you look hard
enough, you can find interesting mathematics anywhere.

A000125
1, 2,
1351,
6580,
15226

Cake numbers: maximal number of pieces resulting from n planar cuts through a cube (or cake):
C(n+1,3)+n+1.
(Formerly M1100 N0419)
4, 8, 15, 26, 42, 64, 93, 130, 176, 232, 299, 378, 470, 576, 697, 834, 988, 1160,
1562, 1794, 2048, 2325, 2626, 2952, 3304, 3683, 4090, 4526, 4992, 5489, 6018,
7176, 7807, 8474, 9178, 9920, 10701, 11522, 12384, 13288, 14235,
(list; graph; refs; listen; history; text; internal format)

OFFSET

0,2

COMMENTS

Note that a(n) = a(n-1) + A000124(n-1). This has the following geometrical
interpretation: Define a number of planes in space to be in general
arrangement when
(1) no two planes are parallel,
(2) there are no two parallel intersection lines,
(3) there is no point common to four or more planes.
Suppose there are already n-1 planes in general arrangement, thus defining
the maximal number of regions in space obtainable by n-1 planes and now
one more plane is added in general arrangement. Then it will cut each of
the n-1 planes and acquire intersection lines which are in general
arrangement. (See the comments on A000124 for general arrangement with

62

REFERENCES

LINKS

lines.) These lines on the new plane define the maximal number of
regions in 2-space definable by n-1 straight lines, hence this
is A000124(n-1). Each of this regions acts as a dividing wall, thereby
creating as many new regions in addition to the a(n-1) regions already
there, hence a(n)=a(n-1)+A000124(n-1). - Peter C. Heinig
(algorithms(AT)gmx.de), Oct 19 2006
More generally, we have: A000027(n) = binomial(n,0) + binomial(n,1) (the
natural numbers), A000124(n) = binomial(n,0) + binomial(n,1) +
binomial(n,2) (the Lazy Caterer's sequence), a(n) = binomial(n,0) +
binomial(n,1) + binomial(n,2) + binomial(n,3) (Cake Numbers). - Peter C.
Heinig (algorithms(AT)gmx.de), Oct 19 2006
If Y is a 2-subset of an n-set X then, for n>=3, a(n-3) is the number of
3-subsets of X which have no exactly one element in common with Y.
- Milan Janjic, Dec 28 2007
a(n) is the number of compositions (ordered partitions) of n+1 into four
or fewer parts or equivalently the sum of the first four terms in the nth row of Pascal's triangle. - Geoffrey Critzer, Jan 23 2009
{a(k): 0 <= k < 4} = divisors of 8. - Reinhard Zumkeller, Jun 17 2009
a(n) is also the maximum number of different values obtained by summing n
consecutive positive integers with all possible 2^n sign combinations.
This maximum is first reached when summing the interval [n, 2n-1].
- Olivier Grard, Mar 22 2010
a(n) contains only 5 perfect squares > 1: 4, 64, 576, 676000, and
75203584. The incidences of > 0 are given by A047694. - Frank M Jackson,
Mar 15 2013
Given n tiles with two values - an A value and a B value - a player may
pick either the A value or the B value. The particular tiles are [n, 0],
[n-1, 1], ..., [2, n-2] and [1, n-1]. The sequence is the number of
different final A:B counts. For example, with n=4, we can have final
total [5, 3] = [4, _] + [_, 1] + [_, 2] + [1, _] = [_, 0] + [3, _] + [2,
_] + [_, 3], so a(4) = 2^4 - 1 = 15. The largest and smallest final A+B
counts are given by A077043 and A002620 respectively. -Jon Perry, Oct 24
2014
V. I. Arnold (ed.), Arnold's Problems, Springer, 2004, comments on Problem
1990-11 (p. 75), pp. 503-510. Numbers N_3.
R. B. Banks, Slicing Pizzas, Racing Turtles and Further Adventures in
Applied Mathematics, Princeton Univ. Press, 1999. See p. 27.
L. Comtet, Advanced Combinatorics, Reidel, 1974, p. 72, Problem 2.
H. E. Dudeney, Amusements in Mathematics, Nelson, London, 1917, page 177.
N. J. A. Sloane, A Handbook of Integer Sequences, Academic Press, 1973
(includes this sequence).
N. J. A. Sloane and Simon Plouffe, The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences,
Academic Press, 1995 (includes this sequence).
T. H. Stickels, Mindstretching Puzzles. Sterling, NY, 1994 p. 85.
W. A. Whitworth, DCC Exercises in Choice and Chance, Stechert, NY, 1945,
p. 30.
A. M. Yaglom and I. M. Yaglom: Challenging Mathematical Problems with
Elementary Solutions. Vol. I. Combinatorial Analysis and Probability
Theory. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1987, p. 13, #45 (First
published: San Francisco: Holden-Day, Inc., 1964)
T. D. Noe, Table of n, a(n) for n=0..1000
A. M. Baxter, L. K. Pudwell, Ascent sequences avoiding pairs of patterns,
2014.
D. A. Lind, On a class of nonlinear binomial sums, Fib. Quart., 3 (1965),
292-298.
Svante Linusson, The number of M-sequences and f-vectors, Combinatorica,
vol 19 no 2 (1999) 255-266.
Alexsandar Petojevic, The Function vM_m(s; a; z) and Some Well-Known
Sequences, Journal of Integer Sequences, Vol. 5 (2002), Article 02.1.7
Simon Plouffe, Approximations de sries gnratrices et quelques
conjectures, Dissertation, Universit du Qubec Montral, 1992.
Simon Plouffe, 1031 Generating Functions and Conjectures, Universit du

FORMULA

EXAMPLE

Qubec Montral, 1992.

D. J. Price, Some unusual series occurring in n-dimensional geometry,
Math. Gaz., 30 (1946), 149-150.
L. Pudwell, A. Baxter, Ascent sequences avoiding pairs of patterns, 2014.
Luis Manuel Rivera, Integer sequences and k-commuting permutations, arXiv
preprint arXiv:1406.3081, 2014
H. P. Robinson, Letter to N. J. A. Sloane, Aug 16 1971, with attachments
Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Cake Number
Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Cube Division by Planes
Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Cylinder Cutting
Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Space Division by Planes
R. Zumkeller, Enumerations of Divisors [From Reinhard Zumkeller, Jun 17
2009]
Index entries for linear recurrences with constant coefficients, signature
(4,-6,4,-1).
a(n) = (n+1)*(n^2-n+6)/6 = (n^3 + 5*n + 6) / 6.
G.f.: (1-2*x+2x^2)/(1-x)^4; - [Simon Plouffe in his 1992 dissertation.]
E.g.f.: (1+x+x^2/2+x^3/6)*exp(x).
a(n) = binomial(n,3)+binomial(n,2)+binomial(n,1)+binomial(n,0). [Peter C.
Heinig (algorithms(AT)gmx.de), Oct 19 2006]
Paraphrasing the previous comment: the sequence is the binomial transform
of [1,1,1,1,0,0,0,...]. - Gary W. Adamson, Oct 23 2007
a(4)=15 because there are 15 compositions of 5 into four or fewer parts.
a(6)=42 because the sum of the first four terms in the 6th row of
Pascal's triangle is 1+6+15+20=42. - Geoffrey Critzer, Jan 23 2009
For n=5, (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 35) and their
opposite are the 26 different sums obtained by summing 5,6,7,8,9 with
any sign combination. -Olivier Grard, Mar 22 2010

MAPLE

A000125 := n->(n+1)*(n^2-n+6)/6;

MATHEMATICA

Table[(n^3+5n+6)/6, {n, 0, 50}] (* or *) LinearRecurrence[{4, -6, 4, -1},

{1, 2, 4, 8}, 50] (* Harvey P. Dale, Jan 19 2013 *)
(PARI) a(n)=(n^2+5)*n/6+1 \\ Charles R Greathouse IV, Jun 15 2011
(MAGMA) [(n^3+5*n+6)/6: n in [0..50]]; // Vincenzo Librandi, Nov 08 2014
Cf. A000124, A003600.
Bisections give A100503, A100504.
Row sums of A077028.
A005408, A000124, A016813, A086514, A058331, A002522, A161701 - A161705, A
000127,A161706 - A161708, A080856, A161710 - A161713, A161715, A006261.
- Reinhard Zumkeller, Jun 17 2009
Cf. A063865. - Olivier Grard, Mar 22 2010
Cf. A051601. - Bruno Berselli, Aug 02 2013
Cf. A077043, A002620.
Sequence in context: A159243 A089140 A204555 * A129961 A133551 A114226
Adjacent sequences: A000122 A000123 A000124 * A000126 A000127 A000128

PROG
CROSSREFS

KEYWORD

nonn,easy,nice

AUTHOR

N. J. A. Sloane

EXTENSIONS

More terms from James A. Sellers, Feb 22 2000

STATUS

approved

List of OEIS sequences

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article provides a list of integer sequences in the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences that have their
ownWikipedia entries.
OEI
S
link

Name

First elements

Short description

A0000
10

Euler's totient
function (n)

1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 2, 6, 4, 6, 4

(n) is the number of the positive integers not greater than n

A0000
27

Natural number

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The natural numbers

A0000
32

Lucas number

2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47,

76

L(n) = L(n 1) + L(n 2)

A0000
40

Prime number

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19,

23, 29

The prime numbers

A0000
45

Fibonacci number

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34

F(n) = F(n 1) + F(n 2) with F(0) = 0 and F(1) = 1

A0000
58

Sylvester's
sequence

2, 3, 7, 43, 1807, 3263443,

10650056950807,
1134237130554218443610
00443

a(n + 1) = a(n)2 a(n) + 1, with a(0) = 2

A0000
73

Tribonacci
number

0, 1, 1, 2, 4, 7, 13, 24, 44,

81

T(n) = T(n 1) + T(n 2) + T(n 3) with T(0) = 0, T(1) = T(2)

=1

A0001
08

Catalan number

1, 1, 2, 5, 14, 42, 132, 429,

1430, 4862

that are prime to n

for n 0.

A0001
10

Bell number

A00011 Euler number

1, 1, 2, 5, 15, 52, 203, 877,

4140, 21147

The number of partitions of a set with n elements

1, 1, 1, 2, 5, 16, 61, 272,

The number of linear extensions of the "zig-zag" poset

OEI
S
link

Name

First elements

Short description

1385, 7936

A0001
24

Lazy caterer's
sequence

1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22, 29,

37, 46

The maximal number of pieces formed when slicing a pancake

with ncuts

A0001
29

Pell number

0, 1, 2, 5, 12, 29, 70, 169,

408, 985

a(0) = 0, a(1) = 1; for n > 1, a(n) = 2a(n 1) + a(n 2)

A0001
42

Factorial

1, 1, 2, 6, 24, 120, 720,

5040, 40320, 362880

n! = 1234...n

A0002
17

Triangular number

0, 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28,

36, 45

a(n) = C(n + 1, 2) = n(n + 1)/2 = 0 + 1 + 2 + ... + n

A0002
92

Tetrahedral
number

0, 1, 4, 10, 20, 35, 56, 84,

120, 165

The sum of the first n triangular numbers

A0003
30

Square pyramidal
number

0, 1, 5, 14, 30, 55, 91, 140,

204, 285

Perfect number

6, 28, 496, 8128,

33550336, 8589869056,
137438691328,
2305843008139952128

n is equal to the sum of the proper divisors of n

A0006
68

Mersenne prime

3, 7, 31, 127, 8191,

131071, 524287,
2147483647,
2305843009213693951,
6189700196426901374495
62111

2p 1 if p is a prime

A0075
88

Stella octangula
number

0, 1, 14, 51, 124, 245, 426,

679, 1016, 1449, 1990,
2651, 3444, 4381, ...

Stella octangula numbers: n*(2*n2 - 1).

A0007
93

Landau's function

1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 6, 12, 15, 20

The largest order of permutation of n elements

A0007
96

Decimal
expansion of Pi

3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2, 6, 5, 3

A0009
31

Padovan sequence

1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9

P(0) = P(1) = P(2) = 1, P(n) = P(n2)+P(n3)

A0009

EuclidMullin

2, 3, 7, 43, 13, 53, 5,

a(1) = 2, a(n+1) is smallest prime factor of a(1)a(2)...a(n)+1.

A0003
96

(n(n+1)(2n+1)) / 6
The number of stacked spheres in a pyramid with a square base

OEI
S
link

Name

First elements

Short description

45

sequence

6221671,
38709183810571, 139

A0009
59

Lucky number

1, 3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 21, 25,

31, 33

A natural number in a set that is filtered by a sieve

A0010
06

Motzkin number

1, 1, 2, 4, 9, 21, 51, 127,

323, 835

The number of ways of drawing any number of nonintersecting

chords joining n (labeled) points on a circle

A0010
45

Jacobsthal number

0, 1, 1, 3, 5, 11, 21, 43, 85,

171, 341

a(n) = a(n 1) + 2a(n 2), with a(0) = 0, a(1) = 1

A0010
65

sequence
ofAliquot
sumss(n)

0, 1, 1, 3, 1, 6, 1, 7, 4, 8

s(n) is the sum of the proper divisors of the integer n

Decimal
A00111 expansion of e
3
(mathematical
constant)

2, 7, 1, 8, 2, 8, 1, 8, 2, 8

A0011
90

Wedderburn
Etherington
number

0, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 23, 46

The number of binary rooted trees (every node has out-degree 0

or 2) with n endpoints (and 2n 1 nodes in all)

A0013
58

Semiprime

4, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15, 21, 22,

25, 26

Products of two primes

A0014
62

Golomb sequence

1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5

a(n) is the number of times n occurs, starting with a(1) = 1

A0016
08

Perrin number

3, 0, 2, 3, 2, 5, 5, 7, 10, 12

P(0) = 3, P(1) = 0, P(2) = 2; P(n) = P(n2) + P(n3) for n > 2

A0016
20

EulerMascheroni
constant

5, 7, 7, 2, 1, 5, 6, 6, 4, 9

A0016
22

Decimal
expansion of
the golden ratio

1, 6, 1, 8, 0, 3, 3, 9, 8, 8

A0020
64

Cullen number

1, 3, 9, 25, 65, 161, 385,

897, 2049, 4609, 10241,
22529, 49153, 106497

n 2n + 1

A0021
10

Primorial

1, 2, 6, 30, 210, 2310,

30030, 510510, 9699690,
223092870

The product of first n primes

A0021
13

Palindromic
number

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

A number that remains the same when its digits are reversed

A0021
82

Highly composite
number

1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48,

60, 120

A positive integer with more divisors than any smaller positive

integer

A0021
93

Decimal
expansion
ofsquare root of 2

1, 4, 1, 4, 2, 1, 3, 5, 6, 2

A0022
01

Superior highly
composite number

2, 6, 12, 60, 120, 360,

2520, 5040, 55440, 720720

A positive integer n for which there is an e>0 such

that d(n)/ne d(k)/ke for all k>1

OEI
S
link

Name

First elements

Short description

A0023
78

Pronic number

0, 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, 56,

72, 90

n(n+1)

A0028
08

Composite
number

4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15,

16, 18

The numbers n of the form xy for x > 1 and y > 1

A0028
58

Ulam number

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16,

18

a(1) = 1; a(2) = 2; for n>2, a(n) = least number > a(n-1) which
is a unique sum of two distinct earlier terms; semiperfect

A0029
97

Carmichael
number

561, 1105, 1729, 2465,

2821, 6601, 8911, 10585,
15841, 29341

Composite numbers n such that a(n1) == 1 (mod n) if a is prime

to n

A0032
61

Woodall number

1, 7, 23, 63, 159, 383, 895,

2047, 4607

n 2n - 1

A0034
59

Permutable prime

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 31,

37, 71

The numbers for which every permutation of digits is a prime

A0050
44

Alcuin's sequence

0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 2,
4, 3, 5, 4, 7, 5, 8, 7, 10, 8,
12, 10, 14

number of triangles with integer sides and perimeter n

A0051
00

Deficient number

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

The numbers n such that (n) < 2n

A0051
01

Abundant number

12, 18, 20, 24, 30, 36, 40,

42, 48, 54

The sum of divisors of n exceeds 2n

A0051
50

Look-and-say
sequence

1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221,

312211, 13112221,
1113213211,
31131211131221,
13211311123113112211,

A = 'frequency' followed by 'digit'-indication

A0052
24

Aronson's
sequence

1, 4, 11, 16, 24, 29, 33, 35,

39, 45

"t" is the first, fourth, eleventh, ... letter in this sentence, not
counting spaces or commas

A0052
35

Fortunate number

3, 5, 7, 13, 23, 17, 19, 23,

37, 61

The smallest integer m > 1 such that pn# + m is a prime

number, where the primorial pn# is the product of the first n
prime numbers

A0053
49

Harshad
numbers in base
10

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
12

a Harshad number in base 10 is an integer that is divisible by

the sum of its digits (when written in base 10)

A0053
84

Sophie Germain
prime

2, 3, 5, 11, 23, 29, 41, 53,

83, 89

A prime number p such that 2p+1 is also prime

A0058
35

Semiperfect
number

6, 12, 18, 20, 24, 28, 30,

36, 40, 42

A natural number n that is equal to the sum of all or some of its

proper divisors

A0060
37

Weird number

70, 836, 4030, 5830, 7192,

7912, 9272, 10430, 10570,
10792

A natural number that is abundant but not semiperfect

A0068
42

Farey
sequencenumerato
rs

0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 1

A0068
43

Farey
sequencedenomin

1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 3, 2, 3, 1

OEI
S
link

Name

First elements

Short description

ators
A0068
62

Euclid number

2, 3, 7, 31, 211, 2311,

30031, 510511, 9699691,
223092871

1 + product of first n consecutive primes

A0068
86

Kaprekar number

1, 9, 45, 55, 99, 297, 703,

999, 2223, 2728

X = Abn + B, where 0 < B < bn X = A + B

A0073
04

Sphenic number

30, 42, 66, 70, 78, 102,

105, 110, 114, 130

Products of 3 distinct primes

A0073
18

Pascal's triangle

1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 3, 3, 1

Pascal's triangle read by rows

A0077
70

Happy number

1, 7, 10, 13, 19, 23, 28, 31,

32, 44

The numbers whose trajectory under iteration of sum of squares

of digits map includes 1

A0100
60

ProuhetThue
Morse constant

0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0

A0140
80

Factorion

1, 2, 145, 40585

A natural number that equals the sum of the factorials of its

decimal digits

A0145
77

Regular
paperfolding
sequence

1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1

At each stage an alternating sequence of 1s and 0s is inserted

between the terms of the previous sequence

A0161
14

Circular prime

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 37,

79, 113

The numbers which remain prime under cyclic shifts of digits

A0182
26

Magic number
(physics)

2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 126

A number of nucleons (either protons or neutrons) such that

they are arranged into complete shells within the atomic
nucleus.

A0192
79

Superperfect
number

2, 4, 16, 64, 4096, 65536,

262144, 1073741824,
1152921504606846976,
3094850098213450687247
81056

A0276
41

Bernoulli number

1, -1, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,

5, 0, -691, 0, 7, 0, -3617, 0,
43867, 0

A0312
14

First elements in
1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
all OEISsequences 1, 1, 1, 1,

One of sequences referring to the OEIS itself

A0333
07

Decimal
expansion
ofChampernowne
constant

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 1

formed by concatenating the positive integers

A0355
13

Wythoff array

1, 2, 4, 3, 7, 6, 5, 11, 10, 9

A matrix of integers derived from the Fibonacci sequence

A0362
62

Gilbreath's
conjecture

2, 1, 3, 1, 2, 5, 1, 0, 2, 7

Triangle of numbers arising from Gilbreath's conjecture

A0372
74

Home prime

1, 2, 3, 211, 5, 23, 7,
3331113965338635107,

For n 2, a(n) = the prime that is finally reached when you start
withn, concatenate its prime factors (A037276) and repeat until

OEI
S
link

Name

First elements

Short description

311, 773

a prime is reached; a(n) = 1 if no prime is ever reached

Undulating
number

101, 121, 131, 141, 151,

161, 171, 181, 191, 202

A number that has the digit form ababab

A0502
78

Pandigital number

1023456789, 1023456798,
1023456879, 1023456897,
1023456978, 1023456987,
1023457689, 1023457698,
1023457869, 1023457896

Numbers containing the digits 0-9 such that each digit appears
exactly once

A0524
86

Achilles number

72, 108, 200, 288, 392,

432, 500, 648, 675, 800

Powerful but imperfect

A0600
06

Decimal
expansion
ofPisot
Vijayaraghavan
number

1, 3, 2, 4, 7, 1, 7, 9, 5, 7

real root of x3x1

A0763
36

Sierpinski number

78557, 271129, 271577,

322523, 327739, 482719,
575041, 603713, 903983,
934909

Odd k for which

composite numbers

consists only of

A0763
37

Riesel number

509203, 762701, 777149,

790841, 992077

Odd k for which

composite numbers

consists only of

A0867
47

BaumSweet
sequence

1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1

a(n) = 1 if binary representation of n contains no block of

consecutive zeros of odd length; otherwise a(n) = 0

A0946
83

Juggler sequence

0, 1, 1, 5, 2, 11, 2, 18, 2, 27

If n mod 2 = 0 then floor(n) else floor(n3/2)

A0979
42

Highly totient
number

1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24, 48, 72,

144, 240

Each number k on this list has more solutions to the equation

(x) =k than any preceding k

A1002
64

Decimal
expansion
ofChaitin's
constant

0, 0, 7, 8, 7, 4, 9, 9, 6, 9

A1042
72

Ramanujan prime

2, 11, 17, 29, 41, 47, 59, 67

A1220
45

Euler number

1, 0, 1, 0, 5, 0, 61, 0,
1385, 0

A0460
75

The nth Ramanujan prime is the least integer Rn for

which

n, for all x Rn.