English

Sums of triangular numbers and sums of squares

Number Theory 2021-07-05 v1

Abstract

For non-negative integers a,b,a,b, and nn, let N(a,b;n)N(a, b; n) be the number of representations of nn as a sum of squares with coefficients 11 or 33 (aa of ones and bb of threes). Let N(a,b;n)N^*(a,b; n) be the number of representations of nn as a sum of odd squares with coefficients 11 or 33 (aa of ones and bb of threes). We have that N(a,b;8n+a+3b)N^*(a,b;8n+a+3b) is the number of representations of nn as a sum of triangular numbers with coefficients 11 or 33 (aa of ones and bb of threes). It is known that for aa and bb satisfying 1a+3b71\leq a+3b \leq 7, we have N(a,b;8n+a+3b)=22+(a4)+abN(a,b;8n+a+3b) N^*(a,b;8n+a+3b)= \frac{2}{2+{a\choose4}+ab} N(a,b;8n+a+3b) and for aa and bb satisfying a+3b=8a+3b=8, we have N(a,b;8n+a+3b)=22+(a4)+ab(N(a,b;8n+a+3b)N(a,b;(8n+a+3b)/4)). N^*(a,b;8n+a+3b) = \frac{2}{2+{a\choose4}+ab} \left( N(a,b;8n+a+3b) - N(a,b; (8n+a+3b)/4) \right). %& t(8,0;{n}) = \frac{1}{36} \left( N(8,0;8n+8) - N(8,0;2n+2) \right). \label{eq31_5} Such identities are not known for a+3b>8a+3b>8. In this paper, for general aa and bb with a+ba+b even, we prove asymptotic equivalence of formulas similar to the above, as nn\rightarrow\infty. One of our main results extends a theorem of Bateman, Datskovsky, and Knopp where the case b=0b=0 and general aa was considered. Our approach is different from Bateman-Datskovsky-Knopp's proof where the circle method and singular series were used. We achieve our results by explicitly computing the Eisenstein components of the generating functions of N(a,b;8n+a+3b)N^*(a,b;8n+a+3b) and N(a,b;8n+a+3b)N(a,b;8n+a+3b). The method we use is robust and can be adapted in studying the asymptotics of other representation numbers with general coefficients.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2107.00787,
  title  = {Sums of triangular numbers and sums of squares},
  author = {Amir Akbary and Zafer Selcuk Aygin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2107.00787},
  year   = {2021}
}