Related papers: Lower bounds on the M\"{u}nchhausen problem

Let $\|n\|$ stand for the integer complexity of the number $n$, i.e. for the least number of $1$'s needed to write $n$ using arbitrary many additions, multiplications, and parentheses. The two-sided inequality $3\log_3 n\leq\|n\|\leq…

We find a nontrivial upper bound on the average value of the function M(n) which associates to every positive integer n the minimal Hamming weight of a multiple of n. Some new results about the equation M(n)=M(n') are given.

Define $||n||$ to be the \emph{complexity} of $n$, which is the smallest number of $1$s needed to write $n$ using an arbitrary combination of addition and multiplication. John Selfridge showed that $||n|| \geq 3\log_3 n$ for all $n$.…

We present here a method which allows to derive a nontrivial lower bounds for the least common multiple of some finite sequences of integers. We obtain efficient lower bounds (which in a way are optimal) for the arithmetic progressions and…

Let $B_n(m)$ be a set picked uniformly at random among all $m$-elements subsets of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$. We provide a pathwise construction of the collection $(B_n(m))_{1\leq m\leq n}$ and prove that the logarithm of the least common multiple…

For $0\le k\le n$, write $\binom nk=uv$ where the primes dividing $u$ are at most $k$ and the primes dividing $v$ exceed $k$, and let $f(n)$ be the least $k$ with $u>n^2$; Erd\H{o}s problem 684 asks for bounds on $f(n)$. We resolve the…

Let $n \ge 2$ be an integer and $\alpha_1, \ldots, \alpha_n$ be non-zero algebraic numbers. Let $b_1, \ldots , b_n$ be integers with $b_n \not= 0$, and set $B = \max\{3, |b_1|, \ldots , |b_n|\}$. For $j =1, \ldots, n$, set $h^* (\alpha_j) =…

Given a finite set of bases $b_1$, $b_2$, \dots, $b_r$ (integers greater than $1$), a multi-base representation of an integer~$n$ is a sum with summands $db_1^{\alpha_1}b_2^{\alpha_2} \cdots b_r^{\alpha_r}$, where the $\alpha_j$ are…

The binary value function, or BinVal, has appeared in several studies in theory of evolutionary computation as one of the extreme examples of linear pseudo-Boolean functions. Its unbiased black-box complexity was previously shown to be at…

We investigate a coin-weighing puzzle that appeared in the Moscow Math Olympiad in 1991. We generalize the puzzle by varying the number of participating coins, and deduce an upper bound on the number of weighings needed to solve the puzzle…

The betweenness function $bet(n)$ is the minimum number of total orderings of $n$ objects such that for any three distinct objects $a$, $b$ and $c$, there is an ordering in which $b$ is between $a$ and $c$. The nonbetweenness function…

The complexity $f(n)$ of an integer was introduced in 1953 by Mahler & Popken: it is defined as the smallest number of $1$'s needed in conjunction with arbitrarily many +, * and parentheses to write an integer $n$ (for example, $f(6) \leq…

We prove that the sequence $(N_k)_k$, where each $N_k$ is defined as the smallest positive integer $n$ for which the $n$th term $g_{k,n}$ of the $k$-G\"obel sequence is not an integer, is unbounded.

A lower bound on the number of uncorrectable errors of weight half the minimum distance is derived for binary linear codes satisfying some condition. The condition is satisfied by some primitive BCH codes, extended primitive BCH codes,…

If an $n$-uniform hypergraph can be 2-colored, then it is said to have property B. Erd\H{o}s (1963) was the first to give lower and upper bounds for the minimal size $m(n)$ of an $n$-uniform hypergraph without property B. His asymptotic…

We establish a lower bound of $\Omega{(\sqrt{n})}$ on the bounded-error quantum query complexity of read-once Boolean functions, providing evidence for the conjecture that $\Omega(\sqrt{D(f)})$ is a lower bound for all Boolean functions.…

Let $F_h(n)$ denote the minimum cardinality of an additive {\em $h$-fold basis} of $\{1,2,\cdots,n\}$: a set $S$ such that any integer in $\{1,2,\cdots, n\}$ can be written as a sum of at most $h$ elements from $S$. While the trivial bounds…

We show that the unrestricted black-box complexity of the $n$-dimensional XOR- and permutation-invariant LeadingOnes function class is $O(n \log (n) / \log \log n)$. This shows that the recent natural looking $O(n\log n)$ bound is not…

Recently, Ben Green proved that the two-color van der Waerden number $w(3,k)$ is bounded from below by $k^{b_0(k)}$ where $b_0(k) = c_0\left(\frac{\log k }{\log \log k}\right)^{1/3}$. We prove a new lower bound of $k^{b(k)}$ with $b(k) =…

Let $s(n)$ be the minimum number of edges in a graph that contains every $n$-vertex tree as a subgraph. Chung and Graham [J. London Math. Soc. 1983] claim to prove that $s(n)\leqslant O(n\log n)$. We point out a mistake in their proof. The…