Related papers: New results on the least common multiple of consec…

In 1851 Prouhet showed that when $N=j^{k+1}$ where $j$ and $k$ are positive integers, $j \geq 2$, the first $N$ consecutive positive integers can be separated into $j$ sets, each set containing $j^k$ integers, such that the sum of the…

Let $\epsilon\in \{-1,1\}$. A sequence of prime numbers $p_1, p_2, p_3, ...$, such that $p_i=2p_{i-1}+\epsilon$ for all $i$, is called a {\it Cunningham chain} of the first or second kind, depending on whether $\epsilon =1$ or -1…

Let p be a prime number. Let G be a finite abelian p-group of exponent n (written additively) and A be a non-empty subset of $]n[:= \{1,2,..., n\}$ such that elements of A are incongruent modulo p and non-zero modulo p. Let $k \geq…

Let $(F_n)$ be the sequence of Fibonacci numbers and, for each positive integer $k$, let $\mathcal{P}_k$ be the set of primes $p$ such that $\gcd(p - 1, F_{p - 1}) = k$. We prove that the relative density $\text{r}(\mathcal{P}_k)$ of…

Let $L_n(k)$ denote the least common multiple of $k$ independent random integers uniformly chosen in $\{1,2,\ldots ,n\}$. In this note, using a purely probabilistic approach, we derive a criterion for the convergence in distribution as…

We introduce a basis of rational polynomial-like functions $P_0,\ldots,P_{n-1}$ for the free module of functions $Z/nZ\to Z/mZ$. We then characterize the subfamily of congruence preserving functions as the set of linear combinations of the…

We study values of k for which the interval (kn,(k+1)n) contains a prime for every n>1. We prove that the list of such integers k includes k=1,2,3,5,9,14, and no others, at least for k<=50,000,000. For every known k of this list, we give a…

For $n$ positive numbers ($a_k$, $1\leq k \leq n$), enhanced inequalities about the arithmetic mean ($A_n \equiv \frac{\sum_ka_k}{n}$) and the geometric mean ($G_n\equiv \sqrt[n]{\Pi_ka_k}$) are found if some numbers are known, namely,…

For relatively prime positive integers u_0 and r, we consider the arithmetic progression {u_k := u_0+k*r} (0 <= k <= n). Define L_n := lcm{u_0,u_1,...,u_n} and let a >= 2 be any integer. In this paper, we show that, for integers alpha,r >=…

The following congruence for power sums, $S_n(p)$, is well known and has many applications: $1^n+2^n +\dots +p^n \equiv\begin{cases} -1 \text{ mod } p, & \text{ if } \ p-1 \ | \ n; 0 \text{ mod } p, & \text{ if } \ p-1 \ \not| \ n,…

An infinite sequence $\langle{u_n}\rangle_{n\in\mathbb{N}}$ of real numbers is holonomic (also known as P-recursive or P-finite) if it satisfies a linear recurrence relation with polynomial coefficients. Such a sequence is said to be…

Let $p_{n}$ denote the $n$th prime and for any fixed positive integer $k$ and $X\geq 2$, put \[ G_{k}(X):=\max _{p _{n+k}\leq X} \min \{ p_{n+1}-p_{n}, \ldots , p_{n+k}-p_{n+k-1} \}. \] Ford, Maynard and Tao proved that there exists an…

For a Carmichael number $n$ with prime factors $p_1,\cdots,p_m$, define $$K=GCD[p_1-1,\cdots,p_m-1],$$ and let $C_\nu(X)$ denote the number of Carmichael numbers up to $X$ such that $K=\nu$. Assuming a strong conjecture on the first prime…

We prove that if the signed binomial coefficient $(-1)^i\binom{k}{i}$ viewed modulo p is a periodic function of i with period h prime to p in the range $0\le i\le k$, then k+1 is a power of p, provided h is not too large compared to k. (In…

We determine periodic and aperiodic points of certain piecewise affine maps in the Euclidean plane. Using these maps, we prove for $\lambda\in\{\frac{\pm1\pm\sqrt5}2,\pm\sqrt2,\pm\sqrt3\}$ that all integer sequences $(a_k)_{k\in\mathbb Z}$…

Currie and Saari initiated the study of least periods of infinite words, and they showed that every integer n >= 1 is a least period of the Thue-Morse sequence. We generalize this result to show that the characteristic sequence of least…

Let $\omega^*(n) = \{d|n: d=p-1, \mbox{$p$ is a prime}\}$. We show that, for each integer $k\geq2$, $$ \sum_{n\leq x}\omega^*(n)^k \asymp x(\log x)^{2^k-k-1}, $$ where the implied constant may depend on $k$ only. This confirms a recent…

We consider k-step recurrences of the form $z_{n+k} = A(z)/B(z)$, where A and B are linear functions of $z_n, z_{n+1}, ..., z_{n+k-1}$, which we call k-step linear fractional recurrences. The first Theorem in this paper shows that for each…

By some extremely simple arguments, we point out the following: (i) If n is the least positive k-th power non-residue modulo a positive integer m, then the greatest number of consecutive k-th power residues mod m is smaller than m/n. (ii)…

The Collatz conjecture can be stated in terms of the reduced Collatz function R(x) = (3x+1)/2^m (where 2^m is the larger power of 2 that divides 3x+1). The conjecture is: Starting from any odd positive integer and repeating R(x) we…