OEIS conjecture that the Hofstadter consecutive-sum sequence omits infinitely many integers

From papers

Let (an)n1(a_n)_{n\ge1} be the strictly increasing sequence defined by

a1=1,a2=2,a_1=1,\qquad a_2=2,

and, for k3k\ge3, let aka_k be the least integer greater than ak1a_{k-1} that can be written as a sum of at least two consecutive earlier terms:

ak=i=pqaia_k=\sum_{i=p}^{q}a_i

for some 1pqk11\le p\le q\le k-1 with qp1q-p\ge1. OEIS conjecture. The sequence (an)n1(a_n)_{n\ge1} omits infinitely many positive integers. The conjecture concerns the distribution of the classical Hofstadter consecutive-sum sequence, whose asymptotic behavior was previously posed as an open problem. The paper proves this assertion, so the conjecture is now settled.

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Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Quanyu Tang, “The Hofstadter consecutive-sum sequence omits infinitely many positive integers”, arXiv:2603.09939 (2026).

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