The reverse Goldbach problem and a refined Zsiflaw--Legeis theorem
Abstract
We prove new results on the additive theory of reversed primes ; that is, primes which are written backwards in a fixed base . In particular, we study a variant of Goldbach's conjecture, looking at representations of integers as the sum of primes and reversed primes. We show that: (1) Every large odd integer is the sum of a prime and two reversed primes (). (2) Every large odd integer is the sum of two primes and a reversed prime (). (3) Almost all even integers are the sum of a prime and a reversed prime (). (4) All large integers are the sum of a reversed prime and a square-free number (, ). To obtain our results, along with associated asymptotics, we apply the Hardy--Littlewood circle method and a novel refinement of the ``Zsiflaw--Legeis" theorem on the distribution of reversed primes in arithmetic progressions. Notably, our variant of the Zsiflaw--Legeis theorem does not require one to fix the digit length unlike previous versions.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2605.21876,
title = {The reverse Goldbach problem and a refined Zsiflaw--Legeis theorem},
author = {Michael Harm and Daniel R. Johnston},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.21876},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
34 pages