English

On sums of Egyptian fractions

Number Theory 2024-12-04 v1

Abstract

Let n,dn,d, and kk be positive integers where nn and dd are coprime. Our two main results are Theorem 1. There is a partition of the infinite interval [kd,)[kd,\infty) of positive integers into a family of finite sets XX for which the sum of the reciprocals of the elements in XX is n/dn/d. Theorem 1. There is a partition of [2kd,)[2kd,\infty) into an infinite family of infinite sets YY for which the sum of the reciprocals of the elements in YY is n/dn/d. Our method is grounded in the Vital Identity, 1/z=1/(z+1)+1/z(z+1)1/z = 1/(z+1) + 1/z(z+1), which holds for every complex number z{1,0}z \notin \{-1,0\}, and which gives rise to an eponymous algorithm that serves as our tool. At the core of our Theorems 1 and 2 is the number theoretic function :xx:=x(x+1)\star: x\mapsto \star x := x(x+1) into whose properties this paper continues an investigation initiated in [7].

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2412.02049,
  title  = {On sums of Egyptian fractions},
  author = {Donald Silberger},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2412.02049},
  year   = {2024}
}

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7 pages