Comment on What are the most mindblowing fact in mathematics?

Artisian@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

An arithmetic miracle:

Let’s define a sequence. We will start with 1 and 1.

To get the next number, square the last, add 1, and divide by the second to last. a(n+1) = ( a(n)^2 +1 )/ a(n-1) So the fourth number is (2*2+1)/1 =5, while the next is (25+1)/2 = 13. The sequence is thus:

1, 1, 2, 5, 13, 34, …

If you keep computing (the numbers get large) you’ll see that every time we get an integer. But every step involves a division! Usually dividing things gives fractions.

This last is called the somos sequence, and it shows up in fairly deep algebra.

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