Look-and-say sequence

E29421

combinatorial object integer sequence recursively defined sequence

The look-and-say sequence is a famous integer sequence where each term is generated by verbally describing the digits of the previous term, studied for its surprising combinatorial and growth properties.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (5)

Label	Occurrences
Conway constant	2
A005150	1
Conway sequence	1
Look-and-say sequence canonical	1
look and say sequence	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T231140 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Look-and-say sequence
Context triple: [John H. Conway, notableWork, Look-and-say sequence]

A. Pascal's triangle
Pascal's triangle is a triangular array of numbers in which each entry is the sum of the two directly above it, widely used in combinatorics, algebra, and probability.
B. Numbers
Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, recounting the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings and organizing laws and censuses.
C. Gauss’s constant
Gauss’s constant is a mathematical constant arising in number theory and complex analysis, particularly in connection with the lemniscate and elliptic functions.
D. A Loop
A Loop is a modern streetcar route in Portland, Oregon, that provides circulator service through the central city and adjacent neighborhoods as part of the Portland Streetcar system.
E. Aitken
Aitken is a Scottish-origin surname notably borne by Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, a prominent Canadian-British newspaper magnate and politician.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Look-and-say sequence
Target entity description: The look-and-say sequence is a famous integer sequence where each term is generated by verbally describing the digits of the previous term, studied for its surprising combinatorial and growth properties.

A. Pascal's triangle
Pascal's triangle is a triangular array of numbers in which each entry is the sum of the two directly above it, widely used in combinatorics, algebra, and probability.
B. Numbers
Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, recounting the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings and organizing laws and censuses.
C. Gauss’s constant
Gauss’s constant is a mathematical constant arising in number theory and complex analysis, particularly in connection with the lemniscate and elliptic functions.
D. A Loop
A Loop is a modern streetcar route in Portland, Oregon, that provides circulator service through the central city and adjacent neighborhoods as part of the Portland Streetcar system.
E. Aitken
Aitken is a Scottish-origin surname notably borne by Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, a prominent Canadian-British newspaper magnate and politician.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	combinatorial object ⓘ integer sequence ⓘ recursively defined sequence ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	Look-and-say sequence ⓘ surface form: Conway sequence Look-and-say sequence ⓘ surface form: look and say sequence
definedByRule	each term describes the digits of the previous term in order of appearance ⓘ
growthConstantName	Look-and-say sequence self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Conway constant
hasApproximateConwayConstant	1.303577269034 ⓘ
hasAsymptoticBehavior	length of nth term grows like lambda^n where lambda is the Conway constant ⓘ
hasCombinatorialStructure	decomposes into irreducible subsequences called atoms ⓘ
hasConstructionMethod	start with a seed term and iteratively describe runs of identical digits ⓘ
hasDescriptionLanguage	English digit names and counts ⓘ
hasDigitAlphabet	1 ⓘ 2 ⓘ 3 ⓘ
hasExampleTerm	1113213211 ⓘ 13112221 ⓘ 312211 ⓘ
hasFifthTerm	111221 ⓘ
hasFirstTerm	1 ⓘ
hasFourthTerm	1211 ⓘ
hasGeneralization	look-and-say sequences in other bases ⓘ look-and-say sequences using other symbol alphabets ⓘ
hasGrowthRate	approximately 1.303577269 ⓘ
hasMathematicalArea	combinatorics ⓘ discrete mathematics ⓘ number theory ⓘ
hasNamedConstant	Look-and-say sequence self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Conway constant
hasOEISId	Look-and-say sequence self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: A005150
hasProperty	admits a finite set of irreducible elements under the evolution rule ⓘ different seeds lead to different look-and-say sequences ⓘ digits eventually stabilize to a finite set of allowed blocks ⓘ local patterns evolve independently in the limit ⓘ no term contains the digit 4 or higher when written in standard form ⓘ sequence is not eventually periodic ⓘ terms do not converge in value but lengths diverge to infinity ⓘ terms grow in length roughly exponentially ⓘ
hasSecondTerm	11 ⓘ
hasThirdTerm	21 ⓘ
isDescribedIn	On Numbers and Games ⓘ
isFamousFor	nontrivial asymptotic growth analysis by Conway ⓘ unexpected regularities in digit patterns ⓘ
isRelatedTo	cellular automata ⓘ formal languages ⓘ run-length encoding ⓘ
studiedBy	John H. Conway ⓘ surface form: John Horton Conway
typicalSeed	1 ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (6)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

John H. Conway → notableWork → Look-and-say sequence ⓘ

Look-and-say sequence → alsoKnownAs → Look-and-say sequence ⓘ

this entity surface form: look and say sequence

Look-and-say sequence → alsoKnownAs → Look-and-say sequence ⓘ

this entity surface form: Conway sequence

Look-and-say sequence → hasOEISId → Look-and-say sequence self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: A005150

Look-and-say sequence → growthConstantName → Look-and-say sequence self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Conway constant

Look-and-say sequence → hasNamedConstant → Look-and-say sequence self-linksurface differs ⓘ