made with Mathematica technology MathWorld

Octagonal Hexagonal Number

A number which is simultaneously octagonal and hexagonal. Let O_n denote the nth octagonal number and H_m the mth hexagonal number, then a number which is both octagonal and hexagonal satisfies the equation O_n=H_m, or

 n(3n-2)=m(2m-1).
(1)

Completing the square and rearranging gives

 8(3n-1)^2-3(4m-1)^2=5.
(2)

Therefore, defining

x=2(3n-1)
(3)
y=4m-1
(4)

gives the second-order Diophantine equation

 2x^2-3y^2=5
(5)

The first few solutions are (x,y)=(2,1), (4, 3), (16, 13), (38, 31), (158, 129), (376, 307), .... These give the solutions (n,m)=(2/3,1/2), (1, 1), (3, 7/2), (20/3, 8), (80/3, 65/2), (63, 77), ..., of which the integer solutions are (1, 1), (63, 77), (6141, 7521), (601723, 736957), ... (Sloane's A046190 and A046191), corresponding to the octagonal hexagonal numbers 1, 11781, 113123361, 1086210502741, ... (Sloane's A046192).

SEE ALSO: Hexagonal Number, Octagonal Number, Octagonal Pentagonal Number, Octagonal Square Number, Octagonal Triangular Number

REFERENCES:

Sloane, N. J. A. Sequences A046190, A046191, and A046192 in "The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences."




CITE THIS AS:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Octagonal Hexagonal Number." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/OctagonalHexagonalNumber.html

The Wolfram Demonstrations Project Browse Topics View Latest
JUST RELEASED: Wolfram Mathematica 7