A history-dependent random sequence defined by Ulam (Q1826193)

Let \(\{a_ n\}\) be a random sequence of integers defined by the recursion \(a_{n+1}=a_ n+a_{X(n)}\) where X(n) is uniformly distributed on the set \(\{\) 1,2,...,n\(\}\). It is shown that the expectation and the second moment of \(a_ n\) is asymptotic to exp(2\(\sqrt{n})\) and exp(\(\sqrt{2(5+\sqrt{17})n})\). Even this short note shows the virtuosity of the author. In the proofs he uses the method of generating functions and steepest descent. The author died in 1985, the present paper is a reproduction of the Los Alamos Report LA-4289, UC-32, Math. Comput. TID 4500, written in 1969.