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Metadata
bibkey: forberg2013a002620
authors: Richard R. Forberg; OEIS Foundation Inc.
year: 2013
title: "Forberg's empirical exponential formula for OEIS A002620"
doi: null
url: https://oeis.org/A002620/internal
claim: "For positive integers n, the floor of n/(exp(4/n)-1) equals the shifted quarter-square a(n-1)."
strata_touched:
  - D5/S3/Analytic/SeriesInequalities/ForbergExponentialFloor
license: citation-only
triage: anchor

Verified locator

Source: https://oeis.org/A002620/internal

Machine-readable entry: https://oeis.org/search?q=id:A002620&fmt=json

Revision history: https://oeis.org/history?seq=A002620

Revision 880 has source timestamp 2026-10-21T11:11:28-04:00. The independently authenticated JSON payload has SHA-256 ac674d2f66044fb747bee82995293f0a3f285677bfc2e220e390e28bf63a4888. The formula section attributes the following line to Richard R. Forberg:

Empirical: a(n-1) = floor(n/(e^(4/n)-1)). - Richard R. Forberg, Jul 24 2013

Mathematical statement

The entry defines the quarter-squares by a(m) = floor(m/2)*ceiling(m/2) = floor(m^2/4), with offset zero. For every natural number n satisfying 1 <= n, the asserted identity is floor(n/(exp(4/n)-1)) = floor((n-1)^2/4). All arithmetic inside the floors is real arithmetic, with n coerced before division and subtraction; exp is the real exponential and both floors are integer-valued. The endpoint n=1, both parities and unbounded n are included.

The analytic argument places the quotient, for real r >= 2, between (r-1)^2/4 and r^2/4-r/2+1, with a strict upper inequality. A logarithmic series bound supplies the lower inequality and the quadratic exponential bound supplies the upper inequality. Parity identifies the common integer floor; the endpoint n=1 is handled separately.

Literature boundary

The bounded clearance covers the current complete entry and target attribution, and the reported MathDB, MSE/MO, Crossref, benchmark and relevant linked-source search scopes. It identifies no concrete prior proof of this exact assertion. Failed reads, unread papers, historical indexing corrections and the truncated benchmark tree remain unverified. Neither this bounded clearance nor the word “Empirical” certifies worldwide openness or novelty. An unindexed or differently worded prior proof remains possible. No source PDF or bulk entry is redistributed.