Alcuin's sequence

In mathematics, Alcuin's sequence, named

after Alcuin of York, is the sequence of
coefficients of the power-series expansion
of:[1]

The sequence begins with these integers:

0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 4, 3, 5, 4, 7, 5, 8,
7, 10, 8, 12, 10, 14, 12, 16, 14, 19, 16, 21
 (sequence A005044 in the OEIS)

The nth term is the number of triangles

with integer sides and perimeter n.[1] It is
also the number of triangles with distinct
integer sides and perimeter n + 6, i.e.
number of triples (a, b, c) such that
1 ≤ a < b < c < a + b, a + b + c = n + 6.

If one deletes the three leading zeros, then

it is the number of ways in which n empty
casks, n casks half-full of wine and n full
casks can be distributed to three persons
in such a way that each one gets the same
number of casks and the same amount of
wine. This is the generalization of problem
12 appearing in Propositiones ad
Acuendos Juvenes ("Problems to Sharpen
the Young") usually attributed to Alcuin.
That problem is given as,

Problem 12: A certain father died and

left as an inheritance to his three sons
30 glass flasks, of which 10 were full of
oil, another 10 were half full, while
another 10 were empty. Divide the oil
and flasks so that an equal share of the
commodities should equally come down
to the three sons, both of oil and
glass.[2]

The term "Alcuin's sequence" may be

traced back to D. Olivastro's 1993 book on
mathematical games, Ancient Puzzle:
Classical Brainteasers and Other Timeless
Mathematical Games of the Last 10
Centuries (Bantam, New York).[3]

The sequence with the three leading zeros

deleted is obtained as the sequence of
coefficients of the power-series expansion
of[4][5]

This sequence has also been called

Alcuin's sequence by some authors.[5]

References
1. Sloane, N. J. A. (ed.). "Sequence
A005044 (Alcuin's sequence)" . The
On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer
Sequences. OEIS Foundation.
2. Problems to Sharpen the Young , John
Hadley and David Singmaster, The
Mathematical Gazette, 76, #475
(March 1992), p. 109
3. Binder, Donald J.; Erickson, Martin
(2012), "Alcuin's Sequence", American
Mathematical Monthly, 119 (2): 115–
121,
doi:10.4169/amer.math.monthly.119.0
2.115
 4. Sloane, N. J. A. (ed.). "Sequence
A266755" . The On-Line Encyclopedia
of Integer Sequences. OEIS
Foundation.
5. Weisstein, Eric W. "Alcuin's Sequence" .
MathWorld.

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