Related papers: Friends of 12

For each positive integer n, if the sum of the factors of n is divided by n, then the result is called the abundancy index of n. If the abundancy index of some positive integer m equals the abundancy index of n but m is not equal to n, then…

Any positive integer $n$ other than 10 with abundancy index 9/5 must be a square with at least 6 distinct prime factors, the smallest being 5. Further, at least one of the prime factors must be congruent to 1 modulo 3 and appear with an…

Solitary numbers are shrouded with mystery. A folklore conjecture assert that 10 is a solitary number i.e. it has no friends. In this article, we establish that if $N$ is a friend of $10$ then it must be odd square with at least seven…

Does $14$ have a friend? Until now, this has been an open question. In this note, we prove that a potential friend $F$ of $14$ is an odd, non-square positive integer. $7$ appears in the prime factorization of $F$ with an even exponent while…

A solitary number is a positive integer that shares its abundancy index only with itself. $10$ is the smallest positive integer suspected to be solitary, but no proof has been established so far. In this paper, we prove that not all half of…

Does $20$ have a friend? Or is it a solitary number? A folklore conjecture asserts that $20$ has no friends i.e. it is a solitary number. In this article, we prove that, a friend $N$ of $20$ is of the form $N=2\cdot5^{2a}\cdot m^2$, with…

In this paper we provide a straightforward proof that if a pair of amicable numbers with different parity exists (one number odd and the other one even), then the odd amicable number must be a perfect square, while the even amicable number…

10 is the smallest positive integer which is whether solitary or friendly is still an open question in mathematics. In this paper, we provide upper bounds for each of the prime divisors of a friend of 10. This paper is precisely a…

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…

An odd perfect number, N, is shown to have at least nine distinct prime factors. If 3 does not divide N, then N must have at least twelve distinct prime divisors. The proof ultimately avoids previous computational results for odd perfect…

A pair of numbers is amicable if each number equals the sum of the proper divisors of the other. This paper after exploring the history and evolution of amicable numbers, introduces a novel characterization of amicable pairs whose greatest…

In this paper, it is established that every sufficiently large positive integer $n$ subject to $n\equiv0\pmod2$ can be represented as a sum of one square of prime and seventeen fifth powers of primes, which gives an enhancement upon the…

In this paper, it is proved that every sufficiently large even integer can be represented as the sum of two squares of primes, two cubes of primes, two biquadrates of primes and 16 powers of 2. Furthermore, there are at least 5.313% odd…

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 $I(q^k) < I(n)$,…

We determine all integers $n$ such that $n^2$ has at most three base-$q$ digits for $q \in \{2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 16 \}$. More generally, we show that all solutions to equations of the shape $$ Y^2 = t^2 + M \cdot q^m + N \cdot q^n, $$ where $q$…

For a given finite subset P of points of the lattice Z^2, a friendly path is a monotone (uphill or downhill) lattice path which splits points in half; points lying on the path itself are discarded. The purpose of this paper (and its sequel)…

In 1948, Erd\"{o}s and Straus formulated a conjecture : for any positive integer $n>2$, there exist positive integers $n_1,n_2$ and $n_3$ such that…

For an integer $k\ge2$, a tuple of $k$ positive integers $(M_i)_{i=1}^{k}$ is called an amicable $k$-tuple if the equation \[ \sigma(M_1)=\cdots=\sigma(M_k)=M_1+\cdots+M_k \] holds. This is a generalization of amicable pairs. An amicable…

In this paper we show that for every positive integer $n$ there exists a prime number in the interval $[n,9(n+3)/8]$. Based on this result, we prove that if $a$ is an integer greater than 1, then for every integer $n>14.4a$ there are at…

Let $q_n$ denote the $n^{th}$ number that is a product of exactly two distinct primes. We prove that $$\liminf_{n\to \infty} (q_{n+1}-q_n) \le 6.$$ This sharpens an earlier result of the authors (arXivMath NT/0506067), which had 26 in place…