In mathematics, the Golomb sequence, named after Solomon W. Golomb (but also called Silverman's sequence), is a monotonically increasing integer sequence where an is the number of times that n occurs in the sequence, starting with a1 = 1, and with the property that for n > 1 each an is the smallest positive integer which makes it possible to satisfy the condition. For example, a1 = 1 says that 1 only occurs once in the sequence, so a2 cannot be 1 too, but it can be 2, and therefore must be 2. The first few values are
a1 = 1
Therefore, 1 occurs exactly one time in this sequence.
a2 > 1
a2 = 2
2 occurs exactly 2 times in this sequence.
a3 = 2
3 occurs exactly 2 times in this sequence.
a4 = a5 = 3
4 occurs exactly 3 times in this sequence.
5 occurs exactly 3 times in this sequence.
a6 = a7 = a8 = 4
a9 = a10 = a11 = 5
etc.
Colin Mallows has given an explicit recurrence relation . An asymptotic expression for an is
where is the golden ratio (approximately equal to 1.618034).