A Class of Bounded Iterative Sequences of Integers

Abstract

In this note, we show that, for any real number τ∈[12,1), any finite set of positive integers K and any integer s1≥2, the sequence of integers s1,s2,s3,… satisfying si+1−si∈K if si is a prime number, and 2≤si+1≤τsi if si is a composite number, is bounded from above. The bound is given in terms of an explicit constant depending on τ,s1 and the maximal element of K only. In particular, if K is a singleton set and for each composite si the integer si+1 in the interval [2,τsi] is chosen by some prescribed rule, e.g., si+1 is the largest prime divisor of si, then the sequence s1,s2,s3,… is periodic. In general, we show that the sequences satisfying the above conditions are all periodic if and only if either K={1} and τ∈[12,34) or K={2} and τ∈[12,59).