English

Almost a Complete Proof of the Generalized Erd\H{o}s-Straus Conjecture: ${5}/{a} = {1}/{b} + {1}/{c} + {1}/{d}$

Number Theory 2025-08-12 v1

Abstract

The generalized Erd\H{o}s-Straus conjecture, proposed by Wac\l{}aw Sierpi\'{n}ski in 1956, asks whether the Diophantine equation 5a=1b+1c+1d \frac{5}{a} = \frac{1}{b} + \frac{1}{c} + \frac{1}{d} admits positive integer solutions b,c,dNb,c,d \in \mathbb{N} for every integer a2a \ge 2. In this work we present explicit solutions for all integers a2a \ge 2. We begin with the simplest known cases where ai(mod5)a \equiv i \pmod{5} for i{0,2,3,4}i \in \{0,2,3,4\}, providing direct decompositions. The remaining open case, a1(mod5)a \equiv 1 \pmod{5}, is addressed for a=5q+1a = 5q + 1 with q≢0(mod252)q \not\equiv 0 \pmod{252}, where we give explicit decompositions, often with qq expressed as three-variable polynomials. For q0(mod252)q \equiv 0 \pmod{252}, we conjecture that a specific polynomial p1(x,y,z)=z(x(5y1)y)x, x,y,zNp_{1}(x,y,z)=z (x (5 y-1)-y)-x,~ x,y,z \in \mathbb{N}^*, which exactly satisfies the generalized Erd\H{o}s--Straus equation, generates all such multiples of 252252. This conjecture has been verified computationally for 5q+15q+1 up to approximately 101010^{10}, and the corresponding \textit{Mathematica} implementation is included.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.07367,
  title  = {Almost a Complete Proof of the Generalized Erd\H{o}s-Straus Conjecture: ${5}/{a} = {1}/{b} + {1}/{c} + {1}/{d}$},
  author = {Bilal Ghermoul},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.07367},
  year   = {2025}
}