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Partitions with prescribed sum of reciprocals: asymptotic bounds

Number Theory 2025-07-25 v2

Abstract

In 19631963 Graham proved that every positive integer n78n \ge 78 can be written as a sum of distinct positive integers a1,a2,,ara_1, a_2, \ldots, a_r for which 1a1+1a2++1ar\frac{1}{a_1} + \frac{1}{a_2} + \ldots + \frac{1}{a_r} is equal to 11. In the same paper he managed to further generalize this, and showed that for all positive rationals α\alpha and all positive integers mm, there exists an nα,mn_{\alpha, m} such that every positive integer nnα,mn \ge n_{\alpha, m} has a partition with distinct parts, all larger than or equal to mm, and such that the sum of reciprocals is equal to α\alpha. No attempt was made to estimate the quantity nα,mn_{\alpha, m}, however. With nα:=nα,1n_{\alpha} := n_{\alpha, 1}, in this paper we provide near-optimal upper bounds on nαn_{\alpha} and nα,mn_{\alpha, m}, as well as bounds on the cardinality of the set {α:nαn}\{\alpha : n_{\alpha} \le n\}.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2502.02200,
  title  = {Partitions with prescribed sum of reciprocals: asymptotic bounds},
  author = {Wouter van Doorn},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.02200},
  year   = {2025}
}

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12 pages