English

Sets without $k$-term progressions can have many shorter progressions

Combinatorics 2020-08-10 v2 Number Theory

Abstract

Let fs,k(n)f_{s,k}(n) be the maximum possible number of ss-term arithmetic progressions in a sequence a1<a2<<ana_1<a_2<\ldots<a_n of nn integers which contains no kk-term arithmetic progression. For all integers k>s3k > s \geq 3, we prove that limnlogfs,k(n)logn=2,\lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{\log f_{s,k}(n)}{\log n} = 2, which answers an old question of Erd\H{o}s. In fact, we prove upper and lower bounds for fs,k(n)f_{s,k}(n) which show that its growth is closely related to the bounds in Szemer\'edi's theorem.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1908.09905,
  title  = {Sets without $k$-term progressions can have many shorter progressions},
  author = {Jacob Fox and Cosmin Pohoata},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1908.09905},
  year   = {2020}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T10:57:21.963Z