English

Ternary universal sums of generalized pentagonal numbers

Number Theory 2009-11-09 v1

Abstract

For any m3m\ge3, every integer of the form pm(x)=(m2)x2(m4)x2p_m(x)=\frac{(m-2)x^2-(m-4)x}2 with x\zx \in \z is said to be a generalized mm-gonal number. Let abca\le b\le c be positive integers. For every non negative integer nn, if there are integers x,y,zx,y,z such that n=apk(x)+bpk(y)+cpk(z)n=ap_k(x)+bp_k(y)+cp_k(z), then the quadruple (k;a,b,c)(k;a,b,c) is said to be {\it universal}. Sun gave in \cite{s1} all possible quadruple candidates that are universal and proved some quadruples to be universal (see also \cite{gs}). He remains the following quadruples (5,1,1,k)(5,1,1,k) for k=6,8,9,10k=6,8,9,10, (5,1,2,8)(5,1,2,8), and (5,1,3,s)(5,1,3,s) for 7s87 \le s \le 8 as candidates and conjectured the universality of them. In this article we prove that the remaining 7 quadruples given above are, in fact, universal.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0911.1181,
  title  = {Ternary universal sums of generalized pentagonal numbers},
  author = {Byeong-Kweon Oh},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0911.1181},
  year   = {2009}
}