OFFSET
1,1
COMMENTS
Numbers of the form p*q where p and q are primes, not necessarily distinct.
These numbers are sometimes called semiprimes or 2-almost primes.
Numbers n such that Omega(n) = 2 where Omega(n) = A001222(n) is the sum of the exponents in the prime decomposition of n.
The graph of this sequence appears to be a straight line with slope 4. However, the asymptotic formula shows that the linearity is an illusion and in fact a(n)/n ~ log(n)/log(log(n)) goes to infinity. See also the graph of A066265 = number of semiprimes < 10^n.
For numbers between 33 and 15495, semiprimes are more plentiful than any other k-almost prime. See A125149.
Numbers that are divisible by exactly 2 prime powers (not including 1). - Jason Kimberley, Oct 02 2011
An equivalent definition of this sequence is a'(n) = smallest composite number which is not divided by any smaller composite number a'(1),...,a'(n-1). - Meir-Simchah Panzer, Jun 22 2016
The above characterization can be simplified to "Composite numbers not divisible by a smaller term." This shows that this is the equivalent of primes computed via Eratosthenes's sieve, but starting with the set of composite numbers (i.e., complement of 1 union primes) instead of all positive integers > 1. It's easy to see that iterating the method (using Eratosthenes's sieve each time on the remaining numbers, complement of the previously computed set) yields numbers with bigomega = k for k = 0, 1, 2, 3, ..., i.e., {1}, A000040, this, A014612, etc. - M. F. Hasler, Apr 24 2019
For all n except n = 2, a(n) is a deficient number. - Amrit Awasthi, Sep 10 2024
It is reasonable to assume that the "comforting numbers" which John T. Williams found in Chapter 3 of Milne's book "The House at Pooh Corner" are these semiprimes. Winnie-the-Pooh wonders whether he has 14 or 15 honey pots and concludes: "It's sort of comforting." To arrange a semiprime number of honey pots in a rectangular way, let's say on a shelf, with the larger divisor parallel to the wall, there is only one solution and this is for a simple mind like Winnie-the-Pooh comforting. - Ruediger Jehn, Dec 12 2024
REFERENCES
Archimedeans Problems Drive, Eureka, 17 (1954), 8.
Raymond Ayoub, An Introduction to the Analytic Theory of Numbers, Amer. Math. Soc., 1963; Chapter II, Problem 60.
Edmund Landau, Handbuch der Lehre von der Verteilung der Primzahlen, Vol. 1, Teubner, Leipzig; third edition: Chelsea, New York (1974). See p. 211.
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).
John T. Williams, Pooh and the Philosophers, Dutton Books, 1995.
LINKS
N. J. A. Sloane, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..20000 (first 10000 terms from T. D. Noe)
Dragos Crisan and Radek Erban, On the counting function of semiprimes, INTEGERS, Vol. 21 (2021), #A122.
Daniel A. Goldston, Sidney W. Graham, János Pintz and Cem Y. Yildirim, Small gaps between primes or almost primes, Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, Vol. 361, No. 10 (2009), pp. 5285-5330, arXiv preprint, arXiv:math/0506067 [math.NT], 2005.
Richard K. Guy, Letters to N. J. A. Sloane, June-August 1968
Sh. T. Ishmukhametov and F. F. Sharifullina, On distribution of semiprime numbers, Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii. Matematika, 2014, No. 8, pp. 53-59. English translation, Russian Mathematics, Vol. 58, No. 8 (2014), pp. 43-48, alternative link.
Donovan Johnson, Jonathan Vos Post, and Robert G. Wilson v, Selected n and a(n). (2.5 MB)
Dixon Jones, Quickie 593, Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 47, No. 3, May 1974, p. 167.
Edmund Landau, Handbuch der Lehre von der Verteilung der Primzahlen, vol. 1 and vol. 2, Leipzig, Berlin, B. G. Teubner, 1909. See Vol. 1, p. 211.
Xianmeng Meng, On sums of three integers with a fixed number of prime factors, Journal of Number Theory, Vol. 114, No. 1 (2005), pp. 37-65.
Michael Penn, What makes a number "good"?, YouTube video, 2022.
Carlos Rivera, Conjecture 108: On the counting function of semiprimes, The Prime Puzzles & Problems Connection.
Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Semiprime.
Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Almost Prime.
Wikipedia, Almost prime.
Robert G. Wilson v, Subsequences at various powers of 10.
FORMULA
a(n) ~ n*log(n)/log(log(n)) as n -> infinity [Landau, p. 211], [Ayoub].
Recurrence: a(1) = 4; for n > 1, a(n) = smallest composite number which is not a multiple of any of the previous terms. - Amarnath Murthy, Nov 10 2002
A174956(a(n)) = n. - Reinhard Zumkeller, Apr 03 2010
a(n) = A088707(n) - 1. - Reinhard Zumkeller, Feb 20 2012
Sum_{n>=1} 1/a(n)^s = (1/2)*(P(s)^2 + P(2*s)), where P is the prime zeta function. - Enrique Pérez Herrero, Jun 24 2012
sigma(a(n)) + phi(a(n)) - mu(a(n)) = 2*a(n) + 1. mu(a(n)) = ceiling(sqrt(a(n))) - floor(sqrt(a(n))). - Wesley Ivan Hurt, May 21 2013
mu(a(n)) = -Omega(a(n)) + omega(a(n)) + 1, where mu is the Moebius function (A008683), Omega is the count of prime factors with repetition, and omega is the count of distinct prime factors. - Alonso del Arte, May 09 2014
a(n) = A078840(2,n). - R. J. Mathar, Jan 30 2019
Conjecture: a(n)/n ~ (log(n)/log(log(n)))*(1-(M/log(log(n)))) as n -> oo, where M is the Mertens's constant (A077761). - Alain Rocchelli, Feb 02 2025
EXAMPLE
From Gus Wiseman, May 27 2021: (Start)
The sequence of terms together with their prime factors begins:
4 = 2*2 46 = 2*23 91 = 7*13 141 = 3*47
6 = 2*3 49 = 7*7 93 = 3*31 142 = 2*71
9 = 3*3 51 = 3*17 94 = 2*47 143 = 11*13
10 = 2*5 55 = 5*11 95 = 5*19 145 = 5*29
14 = 2*7 57 = 3*19 106 = 2*53 146 = 2*73
15 = 3*5 58 = 2*29 111 = 3*37 155 = 5*31
21 = 3*7 62 = 2*31 115 = 5*23 158 = 2*79
22 = 2*11 65 = 5*13 118 = 2*59 159 = 3*53
25 = 5*5 69 = 3*23 119 = 7*17 161 = 7*23
26 = 2*13 74 = 2*37 121 = 11*11 166 = 2*83
33 = 3*11 77 = 7*11 122 = 2*61 169 = 13*13
34 = 2*17 82 = 2*41 123 = 3*41 177 = 3*59
35 = 5*7 85 = 5*17 129 = 3*43 178 = 2*89
38 = 2*19 86 = 2*43 133 = 7*19 183 = 3*61
39 = 3*13 87 = 3*29 134 = 2*67 185 = 5*37
(End)
MAPLE
A001358 := proc(n) option remember; local a; if n = 1 then 4; else for a from procname(n-1)+1 do if numtheory[bigomega](a) = 2 then return a; end if; end do: end if; end proc:
seq(A001358(n), n=1..120) ; # R. J. Mathar, Aug 12 2010
MATHEMATICA
Select[Range[200], Plus@@Last/@FactorInteger[#] == 2 &] (* Zak Seidov, Jun 14 2005 *)
Select[Range[200], PrimeOmega[#]==2&] (* Harvey P. Dale, Jul 17 2011 *)
PROG
(PARI) select( isA001358(n)={bigomega(n)==2}, [1..199]) \\ M. F. Hasler, Apr 09 2008; added select() Apr 24 2019
(PARI) list(lim)=my(v=List(), t); forprime(p=2, sqrt(lim), t=p; forprime(q=p, lim\t, listput(v, t*q))); vecsort(Vec(v)) \\ Charles R Greathouse IV, Sep 11 2011
(PARI) A1358=List(4); A001358(n)={while(#A1358<n, my(t=A1358[#A1358]); until(bigomega(t++)==2, ); listput(A1358, t)); A1358[n]} \\ M. F. Hasler, Apr 24 2019
(Haskell)
a001358 n = a001358_list !! (n-1)
a001358_list = filter ((== 2) . a001222) [1..]
(Magma) [n: n in [2..200] | &+[d[2]: d in Factorization(n)] eq 2]; // Bruno Berselli, Sep 09 2015
(Python)
from sympy import factorint
def ok(n): return sum(factorint(n).values()) == 2
print([k for k in range(1, 190) if ok(k)]) # Michael S. Branicky, Apr 30 2022
(Python)
from math import isqrt
from sympy import primepi, prime
def A001358(n):
def f(x): return int(n+x-sum(primepi(x//prime(k))-k+1 for k in range(1, primepi(isqrt(x))+1)))
m, k = n, f(n)
while m != k:
m, k = k, f(k)
return m # Chai Wah Wu, Jul 23 2024
CROSSREFS
Cf. A064911 (characteristic function).
Cf. A048623, A048639, A000040 (primes), A014612 (products of 3 primes), A014613, A014614, A072000 ("pi" for semiprimes), A065516 (first differences).
Cf. A077554, A077555, A002024, A072966, A100592, A014673, A068318, A061299, A087718, A089994, A089995, A096916, A096932, A106550, A106554, A108541, A108542, A126663, A131284, A138510, A138511, A072931, A088183, A171963, A237040 (semiprimes of form n^3 + 1).
Sequences listing r-almost primes, that is, the n such that A001222(n) = r: A000040 (r=1), this sequence (r=2), A014612 (r=3), A014613 (r=4), A014614 (r=5), A046306 (r=6), A046308 (r=7), A046310 (r=8), A046312 (r=9), A046314 (r=10), A069272 (r=11), A069273 (r=12), A069274 (r=13), A069275 (r=14), A069276 (r=15), A069277 (r=16), A069278 (r=17), A069279 (r=18), A069280 (r=19), A069281 (r=20).
These are the Heinz numbers of length-2 partitions, counted by A004526.
Including primes gives A037143.
Partial sums are A062198.
Grouping by greater factor gives A087112.
Factorizations using these terms are counted by A320655.
KEYWORD
nonn,easy,nice,core,changed
AUTHOR
EXTENSIONS
More terms from James A. Sellers, Aug 22 2000
STATUS
approved