English

On Positive Integers $n$ with $\phi(n)=\frac{2}{3} \cdot (n+1)$

Number Theory 2025-04-29 v1

Abstract

While solving a special case of a question of Erd\H{o}s and Graham Steinerberger asks for all integers nn with ϕ(n)=23(n+1)\phi(n)=\frac{2}{3} \cdot (n+1). He discovered the solutions n{5,57,5737,57371297}n\in\{5, 5 \cdot 7, 5\cdot 7\cdot 37, 5\cdot 7\cdot 37\cdot 1297\} and found that any additional solution must be greater than 101010^{10}. He conjectured that there are no such additional solutions to this problem. We analyze this problem and prove: *) Every solution nn must be square-free. *) If pp and qq are prime factors of a solution nn then p(q1)p\nmid (q-1). *) Any solution additional to the set given by Steinerberger has to have at least 7 prime factors. *) For any additional solution it holds n1014n\geq 10^{14}.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2504.19915,
  title  = {On Positive Integers $n$ with $\phi(n)=\frac{2}{3} \cdot (n+1)$},
  author = {Christian Hercher},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.19915},
  year   = {2025}
}