English

On The Prime Numbers In Intervals

Number Theory 2017-06-06 v1

Abstract

Bertrand's postulate establishes that for all positive integers n>1n>1 there exists a prime number between nn and 2n2n. We consider a generalization of this theorem as: for integers nk2n\geq k\geq 2 is there a prime number between knkn and (k+1)n(k+1)n? We use elementary methods of binomial coefficients and the Chebyshev functions to establish the cases for 2k82\leq k\leq 8. We then move to an analytic number theory approach to show that there is a prime number in the interval (kn,(k+1)n)(kn, (k+1)n) for at least nkn\geq k and 2k5192\leq k\leq 519. We then consider Legendre's conjecture on the existence of a prime number between n2n^2 and (n+1)2 (n+1)^2 for all integers n1n\geq 1. To this end, we show that there is always a prime number between n2n^2 and (n+1)2.000001(n+1)^{2.000001} for all n1n\geq 1. Furthermore, we note that there exists a prime number in the interval [n2,(n+1)2+ε][n^2,(n+1)^{2+\varepsilon}] for any ε>0\varepsilon>0 and nn sufficiently large. We also consider the question of how many prime numbers there are between nn and knkn for positive integers kk and nn for each of our results and in the general case. Furthermore, we show that the number of prime numbers in the interval (n,kn)(n,kn) is increasing and that there are at least k1k-1 prime numbers in (n,kn)(n,kn) for nk2n\geq k\geq 2. Finally, we compare our results to the prime number theorem and obtain explicit lower bounds for the number of prime numbers in each of our results.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1706.01009,
  title  = {On The Prime Numbers In Intervals},
  author = {Kyle D. Balliet},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1706.01009},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

71 pages, Master's Thesis (2015)

R2 v1 2026-06-22T20:08:25.444Z