English

Wilf's Conjecture

Number Theory 2023-05-16 v1

Abstract

In a Note in this Monthly, Klazar raised the question of whether the alternating sum of the Stirling numbers of the second kind B±(n)=k=0n(1)kS(n,k)B^\pm(n)=\sum_{k=0}^n(-1)^kS(n,k) is ever zero for n2n\neq 2. In this article, we present an exposition of the history of this problem, and an economical account of a recent proof that there is at most one n2n\neq 2 for which B±(n)=0B^\pm(n)=0.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2305.08046,
  title  = {Wilf's Conjecture},
  author = {Valerio De Angelis and Dominic Marcello},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.08046},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

19 page, 1 figure