Related papers: The iterated Carmichael lambda function

The Carmichael lambda function $\lambda(n)$ is defined to be the smallest positive integer $m$ such that $a^m \equiv 1 \pmod{n}$ for all $(a,n)=1.$ $\lambda_k(n)$ is defined to be the $k$th iterate of $\lambda(n).$ Let L(n) be the smallest…

We study the question of whether for each n there is another integer m with lambda(m)=lambda(n), where lambda is Carmichael's function. We give a "near" proof of the fact that this is the case unconditionally, and a complete conditional…

Iteration of the modular l-th power function f(x) = x^l (mod n) provides a common pseudorandom number generator (known as the Blum-Blum-Shub generator when l=2). The period of this pseudorandom number generator is closely related to…

Consider exponential Carmichael function $\lambda^{(e)}$ such that $\lambda^{(e)}$ is multiplicative and $\lambda^{(e)}(p^a) = \lambda(a)$, where $\lambda$ is usual Carmichael function. We discuss the value of $\sum \lambda^{(e)}(n)$, where…

Let $\lambda_1(n)$ denote the least invariant factor in the invariant factor decomposition of the multiplicative group $M_n = (\mathbb Z/n\mathbb Z)^\times$. We give an asymptotic formula, with order of magnitude $x/\sqrt{\log x}$, for the…

In the integer case, the Smarandache function of a positive integer $n$ is defined to be the smallest positive integer $k$ such that $n$ divides the factorial $k!$. In this paper, we first define a natural order for polynomials in…

The minimal excludant of a partition $\lambda$, $\rm{mex}(\lambda)$, is the smallest positive integer that is not a part of $\lambda$. For a positive integer $n$, $ \sigma\, \rm{mex}(n)$ denotes the sum of the minimal excludants of all…

We show that the counting function of the set of values of the Carmichael $\lambda$-function is $x/(\log x)^{\eta+o(1)}$, where $\eta=1-(1+\log\log 2)/(\log 2)=0.08607...$.

In 2023, the first author and Vandehey proved that the largest $k$ for which the string of equalities $\lambda(n+1)=\lambda(n+2)=\cdots=\lambda(n+k)$ holds for some $n\leq x$, where $\lambda$ is the Carmichael $\lambda$ function, is bounded…

For n=1,2,3,... define S(n) as the smallest integer m>1 such that those 2k(k-1) mod m for k=1,...,n are pairwise distinct; we show that S(n) is the least prime greater than 2n-2 and hence the value set of the function S(n) is exactly the…

Jacobsthal's function h(k) represents the smallest number m such that every sequence of m consecutive integers contains an integer coprime to P_k, the product of the first k primes. The best known bound on h(k) is h(k) < C (k ln k)^2 for…

The function h(k) represents the smallest number m such that every sequence of m consecutive integers contains an integer coprime to the first k primes. We give a new computational method for calculating strong upper bounds on h(k).

The Smarandache function of a positive integer $n$, denoted by $S(n)$, is defined to be the smallest positive integer $j$ such that $n$ divides the factorial $j!$. In this note, we prove that for any fixed number $k > 1$, the inequality…

Let $a$ and $b$ be relatively prime integers. Then the first Lucas sequence $\left(U_n\right)_{n\geq0}$ and the second Lucas sequence $\left(V_n\right)_{n\geq0}$ are defined respectively by $U_{n+2}=aU_{n+1}+bU_{n},\, U_0=0,\,U_1=1$ and…

We show, in an effective way, that there exists a sequence of congruence classes $a_k\pmod {m_k}$ such that the minimal solution $n=n_k$ of the congruence $\phi(n)\equiv a_k\pmod {m_k}$ exists and satisfies $\log n_k/\log m_k\to\infty $ as…

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)…

Given an integer $k$, define $C_k$ as the set of integers $n > \max(k,0)$ such that $a^{n-k+1} \equiv a \pmod{n}$ holds for all integers $a$. We establish various multiplicative properties of the elements in $C_k$ and give a sufficient…

An integer $k$ is called regular (mod $n$) if there exists an integer $x$ such that $k^2x\equiv k$ (mod $n$). This holds true if and only if $k$ possesses a weak order (mod $n$), i.e., there is an integer $m\ge 1$ such that $k^{m+1} \equiv…

We define a Carmichael number of order m to be a composite integer n such that nth-power raising defines an endomorphism of every Z/nZ-algebra that can be generated as a Z/nZ-module by m elements. We give a simple criterion to determine…

If $a$ and $d$ are relatively prime, we refer to the set of integers congruent to $a$ mod $d$ as an `eligible' arithmetic progression. A theorem of Dirichlet says that every eligible arithmetic progression contains infinitely many primes;…