English

A random analogue of Gilbreath's conjecture

Combinatorics 2022-01-12 v3 Number Theory Probability

Abstract

A well-known conjecture of Gilbreath, and independently Proth from the 1800s, states that if a0,n=pna_{0,n} = p_n denotes the nthn^{\text{th}} prime number and ai,n=ai1,nai1,n+1a_{i,n} = |a_{i-1,n}-a_{i-1,n+1}| for i,n1i, n \ge 1, then ai,1=1a_{i,1} = 1 for all i1i \ge 1. It has been postulated repeatedly that the property of having ai,1=1a_{i,1} = 1 for ii large enough should hold for any choice of initial (a0,n)n1(a_{0,n})_{n \ge 1} provided that the gaps a0,n+1a0,na_{0,n+1}-a_{0,n} are not too large and are sufficiently random. We prove (a precise form of) this postulate.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2005.00530,
  title  = {A random analogue of Gilbreath's conjecture},
  author = {Zachary Chase},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2005.00530},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

14 pages, 1 figure