Complete sequence

In mathematics, an integer sequence is called a complete sequence if every positive integer can be expressed as a sum of values in the sequence, using each value at most once.

For example, the sequence of powers of two {1, 2, 4, 8, ...}, the basis of the binary numeral system, is a complete sequence; given any natural number, we can choose the values corresponding to the 1 bits in its binary representation and sum them to obtain that number (e.g. 37 = 100101₂ = 1 + 4 + 32). This sequence is minimal, since no value can be removed from it without making some natural numbers impossible to represent. Simple examples of sequences that are not complete include: