Related papers: Solving the Odd Perfect Number Problem: Some New A…

A perfect number is a positive integer $N$ such that the sum of all the positive divisors of $N$ equals $2N$, denoted by $\sigma(N) = 2N$. The question of the existence of odd perfect numbers (OPNs) is one of the longest unsolved problems…

If $N = {p^k}{m^2}$ is an odd perfect number with special prime factor $p$, then it is proved that ${p^k} < (2/3){m^2}$. Numerical results on the abundancy indices $\frac{\sigma(p^k)}{p^k}$ and $\frac{\sigma(m^2)}{m^2}$, and the ratios…

Let $p^k m^2$ be an odd perfect number with special prime $p$. Extending previous work of the authors, we prove that the inequality $m < p^k$ follows from $m^2 - p^k = 2^r t$, where $r \geq 2$ and $\gcd(2,t)=1$, under the following…

Acquaah and Konyagin showed that if $N$ is an odd perfect number where $N= p_1^{a_1}p_2^{a_2} \cdots p_k^{a_k}$ where $p_1 < p_2 \cdots < p_k$ then one must have $p_k < 3^{1/3}N^{1/3}$. Using methods similar to theirs, we show that…

If $N={q^k}{n^2}$ is an odd perfect number given in Eulerian form, then Sorli's conjecture predicts that $k=\nu_{q}(N)=1$. In this article, we give some further results related to this conjecture and those contained in the papers…

Let $p^k m^2$ be an odd perfect number with special prime $p$. In this article, we provide an alternative proof for the biconditional that $\sigma(m^2) \equiv 1 \pmod 4$ holds if and only if $p \equiv k \pmod 8$. We then give an application…

It is sufficient to prove that there is an excess of prime factors in the product of repunits with odd prime bases defined by the sum of divisors of the integer $N=(4k+1)^{4m+1}\prod_{i=1}^\ell ~ q_i^{2\alpha_i}$ to establish that there do…

Let $\sigma(x)$ be the sum of the divisors of $x$. If $N$ is odd and $\sigma(N) = 2N$, then the odd perfect number $N$ is said to be given in Eulerian form if $N = {q^k}{n^2}$ where $q$ is prime with $q \equiv k \equiv 1 \pmod 4$ and…

Recently, Z.-W. Sun made the following conjecture: for any odd prime $p$ and odd integer $m$, $$ \frac{1}{m^2{m-1\choose (m-1)/2}}\Bigg(\sum_{k=0}^{(pm-1)/2}\frac{{2k\choose k}}{8^k}…

If $N = {q^k}{n^2}$ is an odd perfect number, where $q$ is the Euler prime, then we show that $n < q$ is sufficient for Sorli's conjecture that $k = \nu_{q}(N) = 1$ to hold. We also prove that $q^k < 2/3{n^2}$, and that $I(q^k) < I(n)$,…

For a positive integer $k$, let \[ \sigma_k(n)=\sum_{d\mid n} d^k \] be the divisor function of order $k$, and let $\nu_p(m)$ denote the $p$-adic valuation of an integer $m$. Motivated by recent work on the $p$-adic valuation of…

Euler showed that if an odd perfect number exists, it must be of the form $N = p^\alpha q_{1}^{2\beta_{1}}$ $\ldots$ $q_{k}^{2\beta_{k}}$, where $p, q_{1}, \ldots, q_k$ are distinct odd primes, $\alpha$, $\beta_{i} \geq 1$, for $1 \leq i…

The Euler's form of odd perfect numbers, if any, is $n=\pi^{\alpha}N^2$, where $\pi$ is prime, $(\pi,N)=1$ and $\pi\equiv \alpha \equiv 1 \pmod{4}$. Dris conjecture states that $N>\pi^{\alpha}$. We find that $N^2>\frac{1}{2}\pi^{\gamma}$,…

Let $I_k = [(2k-1)^2, (2k+1)^2)$ for $k \geq 1$. Starting from the odd-composite matrix $(b_{ij})$ with $b_{ij} = (2i-1)(2j-1)$, introduced by the author in [1], we define for each odd integer $n$ the \emph{matrix multiplicity} $r(n)$, the…

Let $\sigma(n)$ denote the sum of the positive divisors of $n$. We say that $n$ is perfect if $\sigma(n) = 2 n$. Currently there are no known odd perfect numbers. It is known that if an odd perfect number exists, then it must be of the form…

Estimating the discrepancy of the hypergraph of all arithmetic progressions in the set $[N]=\{1,2,\hdots,N\}$ was one of the famous open problems in combinatorial discrepancy theory for a long time. An extension of this classical hypergraph…

A famous conjecture of Parkin-Shanks predicts that $p(n)$ is odd with density $1/2$. Despite the remarkable amount of work of the last several decades, however, even showing this density is positive seems out of reach. In a 2018 paper with…

This paper investigates the impossibility of certain $({n^2+n+k}_{n+1})$ configurations. Firstly, for $k=2$, the result of \cite{gropp1992non} that $\frac{n^2+n}{2}$ is even and $n+1$ is a perfect square or $\frac{n^2+n}{2}$ is odd and…

Let $N$ be an odd perfect number and let $a$ be its third largest prime divisor, $b$ be the second largest prime divisor, and $c$ be its largest prime divisor. We discuss steps towards obtaining a non-trivial upper bound on $a$, as well as…

The existence of a perfect odd number is an old open problem of number theory. An Euler's theorem states that if an odd integer $ n $ is perfect, then $ n $ is written as $ n = p ^ rm ^ 2 $, where $ r, m $ are odd numbers, $ p $ is a prime…