Trying to define a way to generate the terms of a sequence, and starting with the number 5, I found, surprisingly, that the way I used generated this sequence:

5, 8, 11, 5, 8, 11, 5, 8, 11, ...

And these 3 numbers repeat in this order indefinitely.

Define a simple way to generate this sequence.

1. Subtract 1
2. Switch the digits (drop leading zeroes)
3. Add 4

 5 ... - 1 = 4  =>  4 ... + 4 = ...
 8 ... - 1 = 7  =>  7 ... + 4 = ...
11 ... - 1 = 10 =>  1 ... + 4 = ...
 5 ... - 1 = 4  =>  4 ... + 4 = ...
 8 ... - 1 = 7  =>  7 ... + 4 = ...
11 ... - 1 = 10 =>  1 ... + 4 = ...
 5 ...

Posted by Dej Mar on 2009-03-10 10:44:37