Related papers: Tomaszewski's problem on randomly signed sums, rev…
Given a positive integer $h$ and a nonempty finite set of integers $A=\{a_{1},a_{2},\ldots,a_{k}\}$, the restricted $h$-fold signed sumset of $A$, denoted by $h^{\wedge}_{\pm}A$, is defined as $$h^{\wedge}_{\pm}A=\left\lbrace \sum_{i=1}^{k}…
Let $h_n(v)$ be the sequence of rational functions with $$ \frac{h_n(v)}{v}-nh_n(v)+(n-1)h_{n-1}(v)-vh_{n-1}'(v)+\frac{v(v(vh_{n-1}(v))')'}{4}=0 $$ for $n>0$ and $h_0(v)=1$. We prove that $h_n(v)$ has a pole at $v=\frac{1}{n}$ if and only…
We provide estimates for $s^{\rm th}$ moments of biquadratic smooth Weyl sums, when $10\le s\le 12$, by enhancing the second author's iterative method that delivers estimates beyond the classical convexity barrier. As a consequence, all…
The no-(k+1)-in line problem seeks the maximum number of points that can be selected from an $n \times n$ square lattice such that no $k+1$ of them are collinear. The problem was first posed more than $100$ years ago for the special case…
Let $C_1, \dots, C_n$ denote the $1/n-$neighborhood of $n$ great circles on $\mathbb{S}^2$. We are interested in how much these areas have to overlap and prove the sharp bounds $$ \sum_{i, j = 1 \atop i \neq j}^{n}{|C_i \cap C_j|^s}…
Let $k \ge 2$ and $s$ be positive integers, and let $n$ be a large positive integer subject to certain local conditions. We prove that if $s \ge k^2+k+1$ and $\theta > 31/40$, then $n$ can be expressed as a sum $p_1^k + \dots + p_s^k$,…
It is well-known that the congruence $\sum_{i=1}^{ n} i^{ n} \equiv 1 \pmod{n}$ has exactly five solutions: $\{1,2,6,42,1806\}$. In this work, we characterize the solutions to the congruence $1^n + 2^n + \dotsb + n^n\equiv p \pmod{n}$ for…
Using methods from enriched enumerative geometry, Larson and Vogt gave a signed count of the number of real bitangents to real smooth plane quartics. This signed count depends on a choice of a distinguished line. Larson and Vogt proved that…
In 1995, Reznick showed an important variant of the obvious fact that any positive semidefinite (real) quadratic form is a sum of squares of linear forms: If a form (of arbitrary even degree) is positive definite then it becomes a sum of…
In this paper, using properties of Ramanujan sums and of the discrete Fourier transform of arithmetic functions, we give an explicit formula for the number of solutions of the linear congruence $a_1x_1+\cdots +a_kx_k\equiv b \pmod{n}$, with…
Cameron and Erd\H{o}s raised the question of how many maximal sum-free sets there are in $\{1, \dots , n\}$, giving a lower bound of $2^{\lfloor n/4 \rfloor }$. In this paper we prove that there are in fact at most $2^{(1/4+o(1))n}$ maximal…
In this paper we explore questions regarding the Minkowski sum of the boundaries of convex sets. Motivated by a question suggested to us by V.~Milman regarding the volume of $\partial K+ \partial T$ where $K$ and $T$ are convex bodies, we…
We characterize the sets of solvability for Hermite multivariate interpolation problems when the sum of multiplicities is at most $2n + 2$, with $n$ the degree of the polynomial space. This result extends an earlier theorem (2000) by one of…
This paper is concerned with the problem of finding two sets of integers, $\{a_1, a_2, \ldots$, $a_m\}$ and $\{b_1, b_2, \ldots, b_n\}$, such that all the $mn$ sums $a_i+b_j, i=1, \ldots, m, j=1, \ldots, n$, are perfect squares. A method is…
Let $h\geq 2$ be a positive integer. For any subset $\mathcal{A}\subset \mathbb{Z}_n$, let $h^{\wedge}\mathcal{A}$ be the set of the elements of $\mathbb{Z}_n$ which are sums of $h$ distinct elements of $\mathcal{A}$. In this paper, we…
We establish a strong form of Littlewood's conjecture with inhomogeneous shifts, for a full-dimensional set of pairs of badly approximable numbers on a vertical line. We also prove a uniform assertion of this nature, generalising a strong…
We refine Lagrange's four-square theorem in new ways by imposing some restrictions involving powers of two (including $1$). For example, we show that each $n=1,2,3,\ldots$ can be written as $x^2+y^2+z^2+w^2$ $(x,y,z,w\in\mathbb…
Let $f$ be a Rademacher random multiplicative function. Let $$M_f(u):=\sum_{n \leq u} f(n)$$ be the partial sum of $f$. Let $V_f(x)$ denote the number of sign changes of $M_f(u)$ up to $x$. We show that for any constant $c > 2$, $$V_f(x) =…
Counting the types of squares rather than their occurrences, we consider the problem of bounding the number of distinct squares in a string. Fraenkel and Simpson showed in 1998 that a string of length n contains at most 2n distinct squares.…
We study the following question: for given $d\geq 2$, $n\geq d$ and $k \leq n$, what is the largest value $c(d,n,k)$ such that from any set of $n$ unit vectors in $\mathbb{R}^d$, we may select $k$ vectors with corresponding signs $\pm 1$ so…