English

Egyptian Fractions with Restrictions

Number Theory 2014-09-16 v1

Abstract

Let To(k)T_o(k) denote the number of solutions of i=1k1xi=1\sum_{i=1}^k\frac 1{x_i}=1 in odd numbers 1<x1<x2<...<xk1<x_1<x_2<...<x_k. It is clear that To(2k)=0T_o(2k)=0. For distinct primes p1,p2,...,ptp_1, p_2,..., p_t, let S(p_1, p_2,..., p_t)=\{p_1^{\alpha_1}...p_t^{\alpha_t}\mid \alpha_i\in \mathbb{N}_0, i=1,2,..., t}. Let Tk(p1,...,pt)T_k(p_1,..., p_t) be the number of solutions i=1k1xi=1\sum_{i=1}^{k}\frac 1{x_i}=1 with 1<x1<x2<...<xk1<x_1<x_2<...<x_{k} and xiS(p1,p2,...,pt)x_i\in S(p_1, p_2,..., p_t). It is clear that if Tk(p1,...,pt)0T_k(p_1,..., p_t)\not= 0 for some kk, then the inverse sum of all elements sj>1s_j>1 in S(p1,p2,...,pt)S(p_1, p_2,..., p_t) is more than 1. In this paper we study To(k)T_o(k) and Tk(p1,...,pt)T_k(p_1,..., p_t). Three of our results are: 1) To(2k+1)(2)(k+1)(k4)T_o(2k+1)\ge (\sqrt 2)^{(k+1)(k-4)} for all k4k\ge 4; 2) if the inverse sum of all elements sj>1s_j>1 in S(p1,p2,...,pt)S(p_1, p_2,..., p_t) is more than 1, then Tk(p1,...,pt)0T_k(p_1,..., p_t)\not= 0 for infinitely many kk and the set of these kk is the union of finitely many arithmetic progressions; 3) there exists two constants k0=k0(p1,...,pt)>1k_0=k_0(p_1,..., p_t)>1 and c=c(p1,...,pt)>1c=c(p_1,..., p_t)>1 such that for any k>k0k>k_0 we have either Tk(p1,...,pt)=0T_k(p_1,..., p_t)= 0 or Tk(p1,...,pt)>ckT_k(p_1,..., p_t)>c^k.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1108.6118,
  title  = {Egyptian Fractions with Restrictions},
  author = {Yong-Gao Chen and Christian Elsholtz and Li-Li Jiang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1108.6118},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

18pages