Abstract

We start with finitely many 1's and possibly some 0's in between. Then each entry in the other rows is obtained from the Base 2 sum of the two numbers diagonally above it in the preceding row. We may formulate the game as follows: Define d1,j recursively for 1, a non-negative integer, and j an arbitrary integer by the rules:d0,j={1     for   j=0,k         (I)0   or   1   for   0<j<kd0,j=0   for   j<0   or   j>k              (II)di+1,j=di,j+1(mod2)   for   i≥0.      (III)Now, if we interpret the number of 1's in row i as the coefficient ai of a formal power series, then we obtain a growth function, f(x)=∑i=0∞aixi. It is interesting that there are cases for which this growth function factors into an infinite product of polynomials. Furthermore, we shall show that this power series never represents a rational function.