Related papers: Weighted real Egyptian numbers
A unit fraction representation of a rational number $r$ is a finite sum of reciprocals of positive integers that equals $r$. Of particular interest is the case when all denominators in the representation are distinct, resulting in an…
An Egyptian fraction is a sum of distinct unit fractions (reciprocals of positive integers). We show that every rational number has Egyptian fraction representations where the number of terms is of the same order of magnitude as the largest…
Every positive rational number has representations as Egyptian fractions (sums of reciprocals of distinct positive integers) with arbitrarily many terms and with arbitrarily large denominators. However, such representations normally use a…
An Egyptian fraction is a sum of the form $1/n_1 + \cdots + 1/n_r$ where $n_1, \dots, n_k$ are distinct positive integers. We prove explicit lower bounds for the cardinality of the set $E_N$ of rational numbers that can be represented by…
We give a sharp upper bound for the entries of the representations of a rational number as a sum of Egyptian fractions.
Any rational number can be written as the sum of distinct unit fractions. In this survey paper we review some of the many interesting questions concerning such 'Egyptian fraction' decompositions, and recent progress concerning them.
Resolving a conjecture of Zhi-Wei Sun, we prove that every rational number can be represented as a sum of distinct unit fractions whose denominators are practical numbers. The same method applies to allowed denominators that are closed…
The notion of an \emph{Egyptian} integral domain $D$ (where every fraction can be written as a sum of unit fractions with denominators from $D$) is extended here to the notion that a ring $R$ is \emph{$W$-Egyptian}, with $W$ a…
Given a positive integer $n$ we let $A_k(n)$ be the number of positive integers $a$ such that $\frac{a}{n}=\frac{1}{m_1}+\frac{1}{m_2}+\cdots+\frac{1}{m_k}$ for some $m_1,m_2,\ldots,m_k\in {\mathbb N}$. We show that $x(\log x)^3\ll…
We explore a novel link between two seemingly disparate mathematical concepts: Egyptian fractions and fractals. By examining the decomposition of rationals into sums of distinct unit fractions, a practice rooted in ancient Egyptian…
We derive weighted summation identities involving the second order recurrence sequence $\{w_n\} =\{ w_n(a,b; p, q)\}$ defined by $w_0 = a,\,w_1 = b;\,w_n = pw_{n - 1} - qw_{n - 2}\, (n \ge 2)$, where $a$, $b$, $p$ and $q$ are arbitrary…
The number of solutions of the diophantine equation $\sum_{i=1}^k \frac{1}{x_i}=1,$ in particular when the $x_i$ are distinct odd positive integers is investigated. The number of solutions $S(k)$ in this case is, for odd $k$: \[\exp \left(…
This paper introduces a new equation for rewriting two unit fractions to another two unit fractions. This equation is useful for optimizing the elements of an Egyptian Fraction. Parity of the elements of the Egyptian Fractions are also…
For any integer $N \geq 1$, let $\mathfrak{E}_N$ be the set of all Egyptian fractions employing denominators less than or equal to $N$. We give upper and lower bounds for the cardinality of $\mathfrak{E}_N$, proving that $$ \frac{N}{\log N}…
Let $a$ and $b$ be relatively prime positive integers. In this paper the weighted sum $\sum_{n\in{\rm NR}(a,b)}\lambda^{n-1}n^m$ is given explicitly or in terms of the Apostol-Bernoulli numbers, where $m$ is a nonnegative integer, and ${\rm…
Multiplication and exponentiation can be defined by equations in which one of the operands is written as the sum of powers of two. When these powers are non-negative integers, the operand is integer; without this restriction it is a…
We find the closest approximation to 1 from below using a sum of $n$ Egyptian fractions.
In this paper, we investigate the representations of rational numbers via continued fraction, Egyptian fraction, and Engel fraction expansions. Given $m \in \mathbb{N}$, denote by $C_m, E_m, E_m^*$ the sets of rational numbers whose…
Answering a question of Erd\H{o}s and Graham, we show that for each fixed positive rational number $x$ the number of ways to write $x$ as a sum of reciprocals of distinct positive integers each at most $n$ is $2^{(c_x + o(1))n}$ for an…
Refining an estimate of Croot, Dobbs, Friedlander, Hetzel and Pappalardi, we show that for all $k \geq 2$, the number of integers $1 \leq a \leq n$ such that the equation $a/n = 1/m_1 + \dotsc + 1/m_k$ has a solution in positive integers…