[QUOTE=smh;303069]Take a look at the first few steps of sequence 276.[/QUOTE]
The first 100 are almost all 2^2 * 7?

Edit: :doh!:

My bad, thanks LaurV. I thought he was answering my first question, not the second.

PS It's since evolved to just 2^5 and now it's 2^6.

[QUOTE=Dubslow;303070]The first 100 are almost all 2^2 * 7?[/QUOTE]
No. I believe he wanted to say: they merge.
(what's the second and third term of 276? Bingo!)

edit: this 5-minutes-small-handmade-graph with their merging below 2k may clarify some things... :razz:
(well, don't laugh, Saturday afternoon... you know how it is... )

" [I]Goooooooooooo-ooooooooo-oooaaaaaal'[/I]! "

The long shot for 511554 brought a [URL="http://factordb.com/sequences.php?se=1&aq=511554&action=range&fr=1370&to=1380"]downer[/URL] at size 130. Sure, there's no way to say if it will stay around for two iterations ...or three, which seems to be frequently the case in my seqs, but I wanted to [I]sieze the capre diem[/I], :smile: you know. There are so few joys in life...

And here I've been [URL="http://factordb.com/sequences.php?se=1&aq=854628&action=range&fr=2000&to=2104"]waffling with a plain 2^2[/URL] for 100+ iterations...



(Always make me think '[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIyixC9NsLI"]Waffle waffle waffle waffle mushroom mushroom[/URL]')

That's par for the course, man. Just wait patiently - you will get a resolution eventually too.

Some progress on [URL="http://factordb.com/aliquot.php?type=1&aq=669696&big=1"]669696[/URL]

[QUOTE=Dubslow;303541]And here I've been [URL="http://factordb.com/sequences.php?se=1&aq=854628&action=range&fr=2000&to=2104"]waffling with a plain 2^2[/URL] for 100+ iterations...



(Always make me think '[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIyixC9NsLI"]Waffle waffle waffle waffle mushroom mushroom[/URL]')[/QUOTE]

2^2 has been called the down guide (its not a driver) but I think its more the 'stay the same guide'. It pick up and loses the 3 or 5 to alternate between rising and lowering. 2^2 is hard to lose too as it requires a single prime, or a pair of primes p,q = 1 mod 4.

My series I mentioned a bit above was stuck for 300 digits between 124 and finally pushed past 130 digits. It started increasing because it has a 3^3 term with the 2^2. If it drops that it will go back to flat again

In this range it took 14 weeks on a single cpu to go from 124 to 130 digits.

[URL]http://factorization.ath.cx/aliquot.php?type=1&aq=182196&big=1[/URL]

604770 went through [i]two[/i] [URL="http://factordb.com/aliquot.php?type=1&aq=604770&big=1"]downdriver runs[/URL]... back to 2*3 again (but hey, that's what it was after the first run!)

[URL="http://factordb.com/sequences.php?se=1&aq=669696&action=last20"]669696[/URL] got the downdriver at index 8207 size 142 :smile:

[QUOTE=unconnected;305586][URL="http://factordb.com/sequences.php?se=1&aq=669696&action=last20"]669696[/URL] got the downdriver at index 8207 size 142 :smile:[/QUOTE]Oooh, that means with a nice first run, this one has a chance of going over 10k lines! Good luck!

[QUOTE=unconnected;305586][URL="http://factordb.com/sequences.php?se=1&aq=669696&action=last20"]669696[/URL] got the downdriver at index 8207 size 142 :smile:[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=schickel;305626]Oooh, that means with a nice first run, this one has a chance of going over 10k lines! Good luck![/QUOTE]

Wow... that's a helluva graph! :grin: