Hamming Numbers
August 30, 2011
The sequence of Hamming numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36, … (A051037) consists of all numbers of the form 2i·3j·5k where i, j and k are non-negative integers. Edsger Dijkstra introduced this sequence to computer science in his book A Discipline of Programming, and it has been a staple of beginning programming courses ever since. Dijkstra wrote a program based on three axioms:
Axiom 1: The value 1 is in the sequence.
Axiom 2: If x is in the sequence, so are 2 * x, 3 * x, and 5 * x.
Axiom 3: The sequence contains no other values other than those that belong to it on account of Axioms 1 and 2.
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Your task is to write a program to compute the first thousand terms of the Hamming sequence. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.
Programming Praxis 