A method for obtaining the algebraic generating function from a series

Abstract

We describe here an experimental method that permits to compute a good candidate for the closed form of a generating function if we know the first few terms of a series. The method is based on integer relations algorithms and uses either two programs of symbolic computation: Maple or Pari-Gp. Some results are presented in the appendix. This method was tested on a set of sequences that were part of the incoming book on integer sequences (as of 1993). This method was presented at the FPSAC, Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics, Florence, June 1993.