Analytical Study and Efficient Evaluation of the Josephus Function

arXiv2303.15457MaRDI QIDQ6431026FDOQ6431026

Authors: Yunier Bello-Cruz, Roy O. Quintero Contreras 

Publication date: 4 March 2023

Abstract: A new approach to analyzing intrinsic properties of the Josephus function, $J_{{}_k}$, is presented in this paper. The linear structure between extreme points of $J_{{}_k}$ is fully revealed, leading to the design of an efficient algorithm for evaluating $J_{{}_k}(n)$. Algebraic expressions that describe how recursively compute extreme points, including fixed points, are derived. The existence of consecutive extreme and also fixed points for all $kgeq2$ is proven as a consequence, which generalizes Knuth result for $k=2$. Moreover, an extensive comparative numerical experiment is conducted to illustrate the performance of the proposed algorithm for evaluating the Josephus function compared to established algorithms. The results show that the proposed scheme is highly effective in computing $J_{{}_k}(n)$ for large inputs.

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Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Special sequences and polynomials (11B83) Calculation of integer sequences (11Y55)

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