English

On the unsolvability of certain equations of Erd\H{o}s-Moser type

Number Theory 2019-01-10 v2

Abstract

Let Sk(m):=j=1m1jkS_k(m):=\sum_{j=1}^{m-1}j^k denote a power sum. In 2011, Kellner proposed the conjecture that for m>3m>3 the ratio Sk(m+1)/Sk(m)S_k(m+1)/S_k(m) is never an integer, or, equivalently, that for any positive integer aa, the equation aSk(m)=mkaS_k(m)=m^k has no solutions in positive integers kk and mm with m>3m>3. In this paper, we show that for many integers aa the equation aTk(m)=(2m+1)kaT_k(m)=(2m+1)^k, where Tk(m):=j=1m(2j1)kT_k(m):=\sum_{j=1}^m(2j-1)^k, has no solutions in positive integers kk and mm. This leads us to the conjecture that for m>1m>1 the ratio Tk(m+1)/Tk(m)T_k(m+1)/T_k(m) is never an integer.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1804.04646,
  title  = {On the unsolvability of certain equations of Erd\H{o}s-Moser type},
  author = {Ioulia N. Baoulina},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1804.04646},
  year   = {2019}
}

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8 pages