slug: oeis-a374568-catalan-double-composition-powers-of-four bibkey: hanna2024a374568 doi: null url: https://oeis.org/A374568 triage: theorem motivation_gids:

• D5/S1/Recurrence/Invariants/CatalanDoubleCompositionPowersOfFour

Powers-of-four parity of the A374568 coefficients

Problem

OEIS A374568 (Paul D. Hanna, Aug 14 2024) records the following NAME and COMMENT, quoted verbatim from Library/Arith/hanna2024a374568.md:

NAME:

Expansion of g.f. A(x) satisfying x = A(x - x^2) - A(x + x^2)^2.

COMMENT:

Conjecture: a(n) is odd iff n = 4^k for k >= 0.

Motivation

This is a first-tier recent OEIS conjecture. The KPI is open problems resolved, rather than module counts or finite checks. The target is the parity assertion for every positive coefficient index.

Gap

The search seat reported no proof found after reading the OEIS entry and revision history on 2026-09-08 and searching by identifier on arXiv, MathOverflow, and GitHub. This Stage-B seat had no network access and did not independently repeat that search. This bounded search report does not establish first-publication priority or exhaust the literature.

Route

Integer coefficient stabilization constructs generatingSeries. generating_equation bridges its fixed-point recursion to the exact OEIS equation and proves its constant and linear coefficients are 0 and 1. generating_unique uses degree induction to identify every zero-constant integer solution, without a separate linear-coefficient hypothesis.

Over ZMod 2, mod_two_identity identifies A(X + X^2) with the reduced Catalan series C. The frozen module D5/S1/Recurrence/Invariants/CatalanCompositionSquareParity supplies catalan_equation and catalan_unique. Its binary_catalan theorem gives the single Catalan series’ binary support, but the implemented proof does not invoke it: that support alone does not compute double-composition support. The local quadratic uniqueness argument identifies the reduced series directly. double_composition then identifies A modulo 2 with C(C), double_quartic proves C(C) = X + C(C)^4, and quartic_support uses Frobenius and strong induction to give support exactly at powers of four. The integer oddness bridge concludes hanna_conjecture.

The freeze prerequisite is that frozen Catalan module (generality G), with statement_id sha256:0033f4a50a501546a5f332ce1203c8cf1a936428e7a155a06a0443bb0f0f6232. The target module also has generality I.

Falsifier

A positive index n for which a(n) is odd but n is not a power of four, or for which n is a power of four but a(n) is even, would falsify the assertion. The orchestrator’s exact finite check is supporting evidence only; it does not replace the universal proof.

Evidence

• Lean module: D5/S1/Recurrence/Invariants/CatalanDoubleCompositionPowersOfFour.lean.
• Main public theorem: hanna_conjecture.
• Companions: generating_equation, generating_unique, mod_two_identity.
• Public definitions: generatingSeries, a.
• Axioms: std3 (propext, Classical.choice, Quot.sound), as reported by the implementation seat for each of the four public theorems.

Triage

theorem. The formal proof closes the stated parity assertion for every positive index, with existence and uniqueness of the normalized integer series supplied by the companion theorems.

ASSUMED-UNVERIFIED

The quotations, attribution, and date were supplied by the orchestrator and copied from the Library note. The OEIS revision history was read by the search seat on 2026-09-08, not by this Stage-B seat. The reported literature scope was the OEIS entry and revision history plus identifier searches on arXiv, MathOverflow, and GitHub; this seat had no network and did not exhaust private MathSciNet, zbMATH, or unlisted sources. First-publication priority and the source-to-Lean identification are not kernel-checked facts. The orchestrator’s finite check and full build, report, and emission checks were not independently rerun by this seat.