Erdős Problem a Daythe open tracker

Erdős Problem #422

OPENdatabase updated 2025-08-31

No proof or disproof is known, and it isn't known whether a finite computation could settle it.

What the community database records, not our verdict. erdosproblems.com no longer shows statuses (why).

`IsHofstadterQ f` means that \(f\) is Hofstadter's \(Q\)-sequence (OEIS A005185): \(f(1) = f(2) = 1\) and for \(n > 2\) \[ f(n) = f(n - f(n - 1)) + f(n - f(n - 2)), \] where the recurrence requires \(f(n - 1) < n\) and \(f(n - 2) < n\), so that both arguments on the right-hand side are positive integers. The sequence begins \(1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, \ldots\). At most one function satisfies this predicate. Some function satisfies it if and only if \(f(n)\) is well-defined for all \(n\), which is not known.

Let \(f(1) = f(2) = 1\) and for \(n > 2\) \[ f(n) = f(n - f(n - 1)) + f(n - f(n - 2)). \] Does \(f(n)\) miss infinitely many integers?
Statement as formalized in Formal Conjectures (Google DeepMind, Apache-2.0) · their label: research open · 3 further variants / known partial results in the Lean file. The authoritative wording is on erdosproblems.com/422.
Prizenone
Topicsnumber theory
Statement in LeanFormal Conjectures
Solution in Leanno
OEISA005185
Original pageerdosproblems.com/422
WORKING REPORT BY THIS SITE · JUL 28, 2026

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Live-page status is OPEN with 0 claimed proofs, but Rafikzeraoulia2025 is listed as “Currently working on this problem”; stopped before mathematical work to avoid colliding with a current worker.

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