Related papers: On Primitive Covering Numbers
A positive integer n is called a covering number if there are some distinct divisors n_1,...,n_k of n greater than one and some integers a_1,...,a_k such that Z is the union of the residue classes a_1(mod n_1),...,a_k(mod n_k). A covering…
A covering system of the integers is a finite collection of modular residue classes $\{a_m \bmod{m}\}_{m \in S}$ whose union is all integers. Given a finite set $S$ of moduli, it is often difficult to tell whether there is a choice of…
The covering number of a group $G$, denoted by $\sigma(G)$, is the size of a minimal collection of proper subgroups of $G$ whose union is $G$. We investigate which integers are covering numbers of groups. We determine which integers $129$…
A \emph{finite cover} of a group $G$ is a finite collection $\mathcal{C}$ of proper subgroups of $G$ with the property that $\bigcup \mathcal{C} = G$. A finite group admits a finite cover if and only if it is noncyclic. More generally, it…
Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a set of finite groups. A finite group $G$ is called an \emph{$\mathcal{F}$-cover} if every group in $\mathcal{F}$ is isomorphic to a subgroup of $G$. An $\mathcal{F}$-cover is called \emph{minimal} if no proper…
A covering system is a finite collection of arithmetic progressions whose union is the set of integers. The study of these objects was initiated by Erd\H{o}s in 1950, and over the following decades he asked many questions about them. Most…
We try to find all quadruples of positive integers $(m,a,b,c)$ with $a \geq b \geq c$ such that there exists a distinct covering system with minimum modulus $m$ and least common multiple of the moduli $2^a 3^b 5^c$. We obtain complete…
For a set $\cM=\{-\mu,-\mu+1,\ldots, \lambda\}\setminus\{0\}$ with non-negative integers $\lambda,\mu<q$ not both 0, a subset $\cS$ of the residue class ring $\Z_q$ modulo an integer $q\ge 1$ is called a $(\lambda,\mu;q)$-\emph{covering…
A $\textit{covering system}$ is a collection of integer congruences such that every integer satisfies at least one congruence in the collection. A covering system is called $\textit{distinct}$ if all of its moduli are distinct. An expansive…
Introduced by Erd\H{o}s in 1950, a covering system of the integers is a finite collection of arithmetic progressions whose union is the set $\mathbb{Z}$. Many beautiful questions and conjectures about covering systems have been posed over…
Since their introduction by Erd\H{o}s in 1950, covering systems (that is, finite collections of arithmetic progressions that cover the integers) have been extensively studied, and numerous questions and conjectures have been posed regarding…
In 1952, H. Davenport posed the problem of determining a condition on the minimum modulus $m_{0}$ in a finite distinct covering system that would imply that the sum of the reciprocals of the moduli in the covering system is bounded away…
A set of natural numbers $A$ is called primitive if no element of $A$ divides any other. Let $\Omega(n)$ be the number of prime divisors of $n$ counted with multiplicity. Let $f_z(A) = \sum_{a \in A}\frac{z^{\Omega(a)}}{a (\log a)^z}$,…
An \emph{indeterminate string} $x = x[1..n]$ on an alphabet $\Sigma$ is a sequence of nonempty subsets of $\Sigma$; $x$ is said to be \emph{regular} if every subset is of size one. A proper substring $u$ of regular $x$ is said to be a…
A Lehmer number modulo a prime $p$ is an integer $a$ with $1 \leq a \leq p-1$ whose inverse $\bar{a}$ within the same range has opposite parity. Lehmer numbers that are also primitive roots have been discussed by Wang and Wang in an…
A cover of a unital, associative (not necessarily commutative) ring $R$ is a collection of proper subrings of $R$ whose set-theoretic union equals $R$. If such a cover exists, then the covering number $\sigma(R)$ of $R$ is the cardinality…
A cover of an associative (not necessarily commutative nor unital) ring $R$ is a collection of proper subrings of $R$ whose set-theoretic union equals $R$. If such a cover exists, then the covering number $\sigma(R)$ of $R$ is the…
We investigate the densities of the sets of abundant numbers and of covering numbers, integers $n$ for which there exists a distinct covering system where every modulus divides $n$. We establish that the set $\mathcal{C}$ of covering…
A set of positive integers is said to be primitive if no element of the set is a multiple of another. If $S$ is a primitive set and $S(x)$ is the number of elements of $S$ not exceeding $x$, then a result of Erd\H os implies that…
A classical problem in the literature seeks the minimal number of proper subgroups whose union is a given finite group. A different question, with applications to error-correcting codes and graph colorings, involves covering vector spaces…