Related papers: On a question of Mordell

We give necessary and sufficient conditions on a squarefree integer $d$ for there to be non-trivial solutions to $x^{3} + y^{3} = z^{3}$ in $\Q(\sqrt{d})$, conditional on the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture. These conditions are…

We find explicitly all rational solutions of the title equation for all integers $k$ in the range $|k|\leq 50$ except for $k=-47,-39$. For the solution, a variety of methods is applied, which, depending on $k$, may range from elementary,…

Answering a question of Cameron, Pretzel and Siemons proved that every integer partition of $n\ge 2(k+3)(k+1)$ can be reconstructed from its set of $k$-deletions. We describe a new reconstruction algorithm that lowers this bound to $n\ge…

For a non-square positive integer x, let k_x denote the distance between x^3 and the perfect square closest to x^3. A conjecture of Marshall Hall states that the ratios r_x = (x^(1/2))/k_x, are bounded above. (Elkies has shown that any such…

We study the complexity of the classic capacitated k-median and k-means problems parameterized by the number of centers, k. These problems are notoriously difficult since the best known approximation bound for high dimensional Euclidean…

We use elementary arguments to prove results on the order of magnitude of certain sums concerning the gcd's and lcm's of $k$ positive integers, where $k\ge 2$ is fixed. We refine and generalize an asymptotic formula of Bordell\`{e}s (2007),…

The $k$-Markov numbers, introduced by Gyoda and Matsushita, are those which appear in positive integral solutions to $x^2 + y^2 + z^2 + k(xy + xz + yz) = (3+3k)xyz$. When $k =0$, this recovers the ordinary Markov numbers. A long-standing…

Given a metric space, the $(k,z)$-clustering problem consists of finding $k$ centers such that the sum of the of distances raised to the power $z$ of every point to its closest center is minimized. This encapsulates the famous $k$-median…

We study a variant of Waring's problem for $\mathbb{Z}_n$, the ring of integers modulo $n$: For a fixed integer $k \geq 2$, what is the minimum number $m$ of $k$th powers necessary such that $x \equiv x_1^k + \dots + x_m^k \pmod{n}$ has a…

For a positive integer $m>1$, if the generalized Markoff equation $a^2+b^2+c^2=3abc+m$ has a solution triple, then it has infinitely many solutions. We show that all positive solution triples are generated by a finite set of triples that we…

Using only elementary arguments, Cassels solved the Diophantine equation $(x-1)^3+x^3+(x+1)^3=z^2$ in integers $x$, $z$. The generalization $(x-1)^k+x^k+(x+1)^k=z^n$ (with $x$, $z$, $n$ integers and $n \ge 2$) was considered by Zhongfeng…

Suppose $k$ is a positive integer. In this work, we establish formulas for for the number of representations of integers by the quadratic forms $$ x_{1}^{2}+\cdots+x_{k}^{2}+l\left(x_{k+1}^{2}+\cdots+x_{2k}^{2}\right) $$ for $l\in\{2,4\}$.

Using only elementary arguments, Cassels and Uchiyama (independently) determined all squares that are sums of three consecutive cubes. Zhongfeng Zhang extended this result and determined all perfect powers that are sums of three consecutive…

We use sums of Liouville type to count the number of ways a positive integer can be represented by the forms $(a+c)^{1/3}x + (b+d)y$, $(a+c)x + \bigl(k(b+d) \bigr)^{1/3} y$, and $\bigl(k(a+c) \bigr)^{1/3} x + l(b+d) y$ for nonnegative…

Representative examples of our results are as follows. For any positive integer $N$ the equation $$ x^3+y^3=z^3+t^3, \quad x,y,z,t\in \mathbb{N}, \quad \{x,y\}\not=\{z,t\} $$ has no solutions satisfying $$ N\le x,y,z,t <…

We prove that if $p \equiv 4,7 \pmod{9}$ is prime and $3$ is not a cube modulo $p$, then both of the equations $x^3+y^3=p$ and $x^3+y^3=p^2$ have a solution with $x,y \in \mathbb{Q}$.

The famous $k$-means++ algorithm of Arthur and Vassilvitskii [SODA 2007] is the most popular way of solving the $k$-means problem in practice. The algorithm is very simple: it samples the first center uniformly at random and each of the…

We solve the equation $f(x,y)^3 + g(x,y)^3 = x^3 + y^3$ for homogeneous $f, g \in \mathbb C(x,y)$, completing an investigation begun by Vi\`ete in 1591. The usual addition law for elliptic curves and composition give rise to two binary…

Let $V\subset \mathbb{F}_q^d$ be a \textit{regular} variety, $k\ge 3$ is an integer and $A\subseteq V$. Covert, Koh, and Pi (2017) proved the following generalization of the Erd\H{o}s-Falconer distance problem: If $|A|\gg…

Euler explored the problem of finding three numbers such that the sum or difference of any two of them is a perfect square. He discovered a parametric solution represented by polynomials of degree 18 and identified the smallest of these…