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A054767
Period of the sequence of Bell numbers A000110 (mod n).
40
1, 3, 13, 12, 781, 39, 137257, 24, 39, 2343, 28531167061, 156, 25239592216021, 411771, 10153, 48, 51702516367896047761, 39, 109912203092239643840221, 9372, 1784341, 85593501183, 949112181811268728834319677753, 312, 3905, 75718776648063, 117, 1647084
OFFSET
1,2
COMMENTS
For p prime, a(p) divides (p^p-1)/(p-1) = A023037(p), with equality at least for p up to 19.
Wagstaff shows that N(p) = (p^p-1)/(p-1) is the period for all primes p < 102 and for primes p = 113, 163, 167 and 173. For p = 7547, N(p) is a probable prime, which means that this p may have the maximum possible period N(p) also. See A088790. - T. D. Noe, Dec 17 2008
LINKS
Jianing Song, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..102 (b-file based on the Wagstaff article)
J. Levine and R. E. Dalton, Minimum Periods, Modulo p, of First Order Bell Exponential Integrals, Mathematics of Computation, 16 (1962), 416-423.
W. F. Lunnon, P. A. B. Pleasants, and N. M. Stephens, Arithmetic properties of Bell numbers to a composite modulus I, Acta Arithmetica 35 (1979), pp. 1-16.
Samuel S. Wagstaff Jr., Aurifeuillian factorizations and the period of the Bell numbers modulo a prime, Math. Comp. 65 (1996), 383-391.
Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Bell Number.
FORMULA
If gcd(n,m) = 1, a(n*m) = lcm(a(n), a(m)). But the sequence is not in general multiplicative; e.g. a(2) = 3, a(9) = 39 and a(18) = 39. - Franklin T. Adams-Watters, Jun 06 2006
a(2^s) = 3*2^s for s >= 2 (Theorem 6.4 in the Lunnon article). For an odd prime p, if a(p) = (p^p-1)/(p-1) (which is conjectured to hold for all p), then a(p^s) = p^(s-1)*(p^p-1)/(p-1) (Theorem 6.2 in the Lunnon article). - Jianing Song, Jun 18 2025
In particular, a(p^s) divides p^(s-1)*(p^p-1)/(p-1) for all odd prime p, and the exponent of p on the right is optimal. See Theorem 6.2 in the Lunnon, Pleasants, & Stephens link, and note that it uses umbral notation. - Charles R Greathouse IV, Feb 02 2026
MATHEMATICA
(* Warning: this program is just a verification of the existing data
and should not be used to extend the sequence beyond a(28) *)
BellMod[k_, m_] := Mod[Sum[Mod[StirlingS2[k, j], m], {j, 1, k}], m];
BellMod[k_, 1] := BellB[k];
period[nn_List] := Module[{lgmin=2, lgmax=5, nn1},
lg=If[Length[nn]<=lgmax, lgmin, lgmax];
nn1 = nn[[1;; lg]];
km=Length[nn]-lg;
Catch[Do[If[nn1==nn[[k;; k+lg-1]], Throw[k-1]];
If[k==km, Throw[0]], {k, 2, km}]]];
dd[n_] := SelectFirst[Table[{d, n/d},
{d, Divisors[n][[2;; -2]]}], GCD@@#==1&];
a[1]=1;
a[p_?PrimeQ] := a[p] = (p^p-1)/(p-1);
a[n_/; n>4 && dd[n]!={}] := With[{g = dd[n]}, LCM[a[g[[1]]], a[g[[2]]]]];
a[n_/; MemberQ[FactorInteger[n][[All, 2]], 1]] := a[n]=
With[{pp = Select[FactorInteger[n], #1[[2]] ==1 &][[All, 1]]},
a[n/Times@@pp]*Times@@a/@pp];
a[n_/; n>4 && GCD @@ FactorInteger[n][[All, 2]]>1] := a[n]=
With[{g=GCD @@ FactorInteger[n][[All, 2]]}, n^(1/g)*a[n^(1-1/g)]];
a[n_] := period[Table[BellMod[k, n], {k, 1, 28}]];
Table[a[n], {n, 1, 28}] (* Jean-François Alcover, Jul 31 2012, updated May 06 2024 *)
CROSSREFS
Cf. A000110, A023037, A214810. A146093-A146122 gives Bell numbers read mod 3 to mod 32.
Sequence in context: A107733 A273076 A272825 * A137947 A168437 A076747
KEYWORD
nonn,hard,nice
AUTHOR
Eric W. Weisstein, Feb 09 2002
EXTENSIONS
More information from Phil Carmody, Dec 22 2002
Extended by T. D. Noe, Dec 18 2008
a(26) corrected by Jean-François Alcover, Jul 31 2012
a(18) corrected by Charles R Greathouse IV, Jul 31 2012
a(27)-a(28) from Charles R Greathouse IV, Sep 07 2016
STATUS
approved