English

Divisibility of Power Sums and the Generalized Erdos-Moser Equation

Number Theory 2012-11-27 v4

Abstract

Using elementary methods, we determine the highest power of 2 dividing a power sum 1^n + 2^n + . . . + m^n, generalizing Lengyel's formula for the case where m is itself a power of 2. An application is a simple proof of Moree's result that, if (a,m,n) is any solution of the generalized Erdos-Moser Diophantine equation 1^n + 2^n + . . . + (m-1)^n = am^n, then m is odd.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1010.2275,
  title  = {Divisibility of Power Sums and the Generalized Erdos-Moser Equation},
  author = {Kieren MacMillan and Jonathan Sondow},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1010.2275},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

4 pages, simplified proof of Proposition 1, added reference [4]