English

A sum of squares not divisible by a prime

Number Theory 2018-05-09 v1

Abstract

Let pp be a prime. We define S(p)S(p) the smallest number kk such that every positive integer is a sum of at most kk squares of integers that are not divisible by pp. In this article, we prove that S(2)=10S(2)=10, S(3)=6S(3)=6, S(5)=5S(5)=5, and S(p)=4S(p)=4 for any prime pp greater than 55. In particular, it is proved that every positive integer is a sum of at most four squares not divisible by 55, except the unique positive integer 7979.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.1805.03038,
  title  = {A sum of squares not divisible by a prime},
  author = {Kyoungmin Kim and Byeong-Kweon Oh},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1805.03038},
  year   = {2018}
}

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14 pages