What are some algorithms for finding a closed form function given an integer sequence?

Question

I'm looking form a programatic way to take an integer sequence and spit out a closed form function. Something like:

Given: 1,3,6,10,15

Return: n(n+1)/2

Samples could be useful; the language is unimportant.

Answer 1

This touches an extremely deep, sophisticated and active area of mathematics. The solution is damn near trivial in some cases (linear recurrences) and damn near impossible in others (think 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, ....) You could start by looking at generating functions for example and looking at Herb Wilf's incredible book (cf. page 1 (2e)) on the subject but that will only get you so far.

But I think your best bet is to give up, query Sloane's comprehensive Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences when you need to know the answer, and instead spend your time reading the opinions of one of the most eccentric personalities in this deep subject.

Anyone who tells you this problem is solvable is selling you snake oil (cf. page 118 of the Wilf book (2e).)

Answer 2

There is no one function in general.

For the sequence you specified, The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences finds 133 matches in its database of interesting integer sequences. I've copied the first 5 here.

A000217 Triangular numbers: a(n) = C(n+1,2) = n(n+1)/2 = 0+1+2+...+n.
0, 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, 55, 66, 78, 91, 105, 120, 136, 153, 171, 190, 210, 231, 253, 276, 300, 325, 351, 378, 406, 435, 465, 496, 528, 561, 595, 630, 666, 703, 741, 780, 820, 861, 903, 946, 990, 1035, 1081, 1128, 1176, 1225, 1275, 1326, 1378, 1431

A130484 Sum {0<=k<=n, k mod 6} (Partial sums of A010875).
0, 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 15, 16, 18, 21, 25, 30, 30, 31, 33, 36, 40, 45, 45, 46, 48, 51, 55, 60, 60, 61, 63, 66, 70, 75, 75, 76, 78, 81, 85, 90, 90, 91, 93, 96, 100, 105, 105, 106, 108, 111, 115, 120, 120, 121, 123, 126, 130, 135, 135, 136, 138, 141, 145, 150, 150, 151, 153

A130485 Sum {0<=k<=n, k mod 7} (Partial sums of A010876).
0, 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 21, 22, 24, 27, 31, 36, 42, 42, 43, 45, 48, 52, 57, 63, 63, 64, 66, 69, 73, 78, 84, 84, 85, 87, 90, 94, 99, 105, 105, 106, 108, 111, 115, 120, 126, 126, 127, 129, 132, 136, 141, 147, 147, 148, 150, 153, 157, 162, 168, 168, 169, 171, 174, 178, 183

A104619 Write the natural numbers in base 16 in a triangle with k digits in the k-th row, as shown below. Sequence gives the leading diagonal.
1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 2, 1, 1, 14, 3, 2, 2, 5, 12, 4, 4, 4, 13, 6, 7, 11, 6, 9, 9, 10, 7, 12, 13, 1, 0, 1, 10, 5, 1, 12, 8, 1, 1, 14, 1, 9, 7, 1, 4, 3, 1, 2, 2, 1, 3, 4, 2, 7, 9, 2, 14, 1, 2, 8, 12, 2, 5, 10, 3, 5, 11, 3, 8, 15, 3, 14, 6, 3, 7, 0, 4, 3, 13, 4, 2, 13, 4, 4, 0, 5, 9, 6, 5, 1, 15, 5, 12, 11, 6

A037123 a(n) = a(n-1) + Sum of digits of n.
0, 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, 46, 48, 51, 55, 60, 66, 73, 81, 90, 100, 102, 105, 109, 114, 120, 127, 135, 144, 154, 165, 168, 172, 177, 183, 190, 198, 207, 217, 228, 240, 244, 249, 255, 262, 270, 279, 289, 300, 312, 325, 330, 336, 343, 351, 360, 370, 381

If you restrict yourself to polynomial functions, this is easy to code up, and only mildly tedious to solve by hand.

Let , for some unknown

Now solve the equations



…

which simply a system of linear equations.