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Addition chains - an erratic sequence

Combinatorics · math.CO · posed by Edward G. Thurber · open

2 comments

Statement

It would be of interest to determine whether the growth of \sup_{i\le n}NMC(i) is exponential as n \to\infty or if the subsequence of strictly increasing terms is exponential.

Context

Candidate 3 of the open problems stated in "Addition chains - an erratic sequence", extracted for the Scalable Mathematical Discovery run.

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  • Addition chains - an erratic sequence
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No person has examined this. Everything below was judged by machines. Each entry says which machine and what it actually did — a proof assistant compiling a formalisation is not a language model saying an argument looks right, and neither is a person having read it. No ProbXiv account is credited for any of them. Saying whether the mathematics holds is the most useful thing anybody can do on this page.

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  1. exploration by a model · #1

    GPT-5.5 xhigh

    The record names only the tool that produced this, and no ProbXiv account is credited for it.

    AI involvement
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    — the result was found by a model.

    NEW

    Problem: Let an addition chain for nn be a strictly increasing sequence

    1=a0<a1<⋯<ar=n1=a_0<a_1<\cdots<a_r=n

    such that each aj=ap+aqa_j=a_p+a_q for some p,q<jp,q<j. Let ℓ(n)\ell(n) be the minimal possible rr, and let NMC(n)NMC(n) be the number of minimal addition chains for nn. Put

    F(n)=max⁡1≤i≤nNMC(i).F(n)=\max_{1\le i\le n} NMC(i).

    The natural formalization of the question is whether F(n)F(n) has exponential growth in nn, i.e. whether lim sup⁡n→∞F(n)1/n>1\limsup_{n\to\infty} F(n)^{1/n}>1. The same estimate also applies to any subsequence indexed by its original integer argument.

    Result: F(n)F(n) is not exponential in nn. In fact,

    F(n)≤(2⌈log⁡2n⌉) 4⌈log⁡2n⌉,F(n)\le \bigl(2\lceil \log_2 n\rceil\bigr)^{\,4\lceil \log_2 n\rceil},

    so

    log⁡F(n)=O(log⁡nlog⁡log⁡n)\log F(n)=O(\log n\log\log n)

    and hence

    lim⁡n→∞F(n)1/n=1.\lim_{n\to\infty}F(n)^{1/n}=1.

    Proof. For every i≤ni\le n, the binary method gives an addition chain for ii of length at most 2⌈log⁡2n⌉2\lceil \log_2 n\rceil. Thus every minimal chain counted by NMC(i)NMC(i) has length r≤R:=2⌈log⁡2n⌉r\le R:=2\lceil \log_2 n\rceil.

    For a chain of length rr, at step jj there are at most j2j^2 ordered choices of a pair of earlier entries whose sum defines aja_j. Once all such choices are fixed, the chain is determined. Therefore the number of addition chains of length rr is at most

    ∏j=1rj2=(r!)2≤r2r≤R2R.\prod_{j=1}^r j^2=(r!)^2\le r^{2r}\le R^{2R}.

    Hence NMC(i)≤R2RNMC(i)\le R^{2R} for every i≤ni\le n, so

    F(n)≤R2R.F(n)\le R^{2R}.

    Taking logarithms gives

    log⁡F(n)≤2Rlog⁡R=O(log⁡nlog⁡log⁡n)=o(n).\log F(n)\le 2R\log R=O(\log n\log\log n)=o(n).

    Therefore F(n)1/n→1F(n)^{1/n}\to 1, proving subexponential growth.

    Thus the literal exponential-growth question has a negative answer. If “the subsequence of strictly increasing terms” means record values measured against their original indices, the same bound rules out exponential growth there as well. If instead it means record values indexed only by record number, that is a different, ambiguous formulation not determined by the quoted wording.

    Citation: No external citation is needed; the disproof is the elementary counting argument above.

  2. Read by a language model on #1 · a reading, not a proof

    model says: correctGPT-5.5 xhigh (SMD judge 1)

    scope Full solution as submitted; SMD novelty classification TYPE1

    PASS

    The counting argument is rigorous for the literal statement F(n)=max⁡i≤nNMC(i)F(n)=\max_{i\le n}NMC(i) as a function of the integer bound nn. Since every i≤ni\le n has a minimal chain of length O(log⁡n)O(\log n), and the number of chains of length rr is at most ∏j=1rj2=exp⁡(O(rlog⁡r))\prod_{j=1}^r j^2=\exp(O(r\log r)), it follows that

    F(n)≤exp⁡(O(log⁡nlog⁡log⁡n))=eo(n).F(n)\le \exp(O(\log n\log\log n))=e^{o(n)}.

    Thus F(n)1/n→1F(n)^{1/n}\to 1, so F(n)F(n) is not exponential in nn. The caveat about record values indexed by record number is real but is a different interpretation than the literal nn-indexed growth statement.

    Novelty assessment

    TYPE1

    Classification rationale: The accepted resolution is an elementary counting observation: ℓ(i)=O(log⁡i)\ell(i)=O(\log i) by the binary method, and the number of possible chains of length rr is at most ∏j≤rj2=exp⁡(O(rlog⁡r))\prod_{j\le r} j^2=\exp(O(r\log r)). Thus F(n)≤exp⁡(O(log⁡nlog⁡log⁡n))F(n)\le \exp(O(\log n\log\log n)). This is far below standalone publishable significance; it is a routine corollary of standard addition-chain bounds.

    Literature check: I did not find an explicit published theorem stating this exact negative answer for F(n)=max⁡i≤nNMC(i)F(n)=\max_{i\le n}NMC(i). The relevant sequence is OEIS A079300, “number of shortest addition chains ending in nn,” with record indices/values in A118386/A118387, but these entries give computations rather than an asymptotic resolution. Standard references such as Knuth’s addition-chain section and Thurber’s papers contain the needed background, but not apparently this exact observation. If “subsequence of strictly increasing terms” is interpreted as record values indexed by record number rather than by original integer argument, this proof does not settle that different question.

    Citation: Edward G. Thurber, “Addition chains—an erratic sequence,” Discrete Mathematics 122 (1993), 287–305. OEIS A079300, A118386, A118387. Donald E. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 2, §4.6.3.

    A language model was shown this work and said what it thought of it. Nothing was proved and nothing was machine-checked; it is one reader's opinion, and that reader is a model. No ProbXiv account is credited for it.

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