Tetranacci Number

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The tetranacci numbers are a generalization of the Fibonacci numbers defined by T_0=0, T_1=1, T_2=1, T_3=2, and the recurrence relation

 T_n=T_(n-1)+T_(n-2)+T_(n-3)+T_(n-4)
(1)

for n>=4. They represent the n=4 case of the Fibonacci n-step numbers. The first few terms for n=0, 1, ... are 0, 1, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 29, 56, 108, 208, ... (OEIS A000078).

The first few prime tetranacci numbers have indices 3, 7, 11, 12, 36, 56, 401, 2707, 8417, 14096, 31561, 50696, 53192, 155182, ... (OEIS A104534), corresponding to 2, 29, 401, 773, 5350220959, ... (OEIS A104535), with no others for n<=236965 (E. W. Weisstein, Mar. 21, 2009).

An exact expression for the nth tetranacci number for n>1 can be given explicitly by

 T_n=(2-(beta+gamma+delta)+(betagamma+gammadelta+deltabeta))/((alpha-beta)(alpha-gamma)(alpha-delta))alpha^(n-1)+...,
(2)

where the three additional terms are obtained by cyclically permuting (alpha,beta,gamma,delta), which are the four roots of the polynomial

 P(x)=x^4-x^3-x^2-x-1.
(3)

Alternately,

 T_n=(alpha^n)/(-alpha^3+6alpha-1)+(beta^n)/(-beta^3+6beta-1) 
 +(gamma^n)/(-gamma^3+6gamma-1)+(delta^n)/(-delta^3+6delta-1).
(4)

This can be written in slightly more concise form as

 T_n=r_1alpha^n+r_2beta^n+r_3gamma^n+r_4delta^n,
(5)

where r_n is the nth root of the polynomial

 Q(y)=563y^4-20y^2-5y-1
(6)

and (alpha,beta,gamma,delta) and (r_1,r_2,r_3,r_4) are in the ordering of the Wolfram Language's Root object.

The tetranacci numbers have the generating function

 x/(1-x-x^2-x^3-x^4)=1+x+2x^2+4x^3+8x^4+15x^5+....
(7)

The ratio of adjacent terms tends to the positive real root of P(x), namely 1.92756... (OEIS A086088), which is sometimes known as the tetranacci constant.

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