A338042 - OEIS

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A338042

Draw n rays from each of two distinct points in the plane; a(n) is the number of vertices thus created. See Comments for details.

2, 2, 4, 2, 8, 4, 14, 8, 22, 14, 32, 22, 44, 32, 58, 44, 74, 58, 92, 74, 112, 92, 134, 112, 158, 134, 184, 158, 212, 184, 242, 212, 274, 242, 308, 274, 344, 308, 382, 344, 422, 382, 464, 422, 508, 464, 554, 508, 602, 554, 652, 602, 704, 652, 758, 704, 814, 758

(list; graph; refs; listen; history; text; internal format)

OFFSET

1,1

COMMENTS

The rays are evenly spaced around each point. The first ray of one point goes opposite to the direction to the other point. Should a ray hit the other point it terminates there, that is, it is converted to a line segment.

See A338041 for illustrations.

LINKS

Table of n, a(n) for n=1..58.

FORMULA

a(n) = (n^2 + 7)/4, n odd; (n^2 - 6*n + 16)/4, n even (conjectured).

Conjectured by Stefano Spezia, Oct 08 2020 after Lars Blomberg: (Start)

G.f.: 2*x*(1 - x^2 - x^3 + 2*x^4)/((1 - x)^3*(1 + x)^2).

a(n) = a(n-1) + 2*a(n-2) - 2*a(n-3) - a(n-4) + a(n-5) for n > 5. (End)

Hugo Pfoertner, Oct 08 2020: Apparently a(n)=2*(A008795(n-3)+1).

EXAMPLE

For n=1: <-----x x-----> so a(1)=2.

For n=2: <-----x<--->x-----> so a(2)=2.