Related papers: Variations on the Erd\H{o}s distinct-sums problem

Suppose $A\subset \mathbb{R}$ of size $k$ has distinct consecutive $r$--differences, that is for $1 \leq i \leq k -r$, the $r$--tuples $$(a_{i+1} - a_i , \ldots , a_{i+r} - a_{i + r -1})$$ are distinct. Then for any finite $B \subset…

Cameron and Erd\H{o}s asked whether the number of \emph{maximal} sum-free sets in $\{1, \dots , n\}$ is much smaller than the number of sum-free sets. In the same paper they gave a lower bound of $2^{\lfloor n/4 \rfloor }$ for the number of…

This is an exposition of the following `weak' Erd\H{o}s-Szemer\'edi conjecture for integer sets proved by Bourgain and Chang in 2004. For any $\gamma > 0$ there exists $\Lambda(\gamma) > 0$ such that for an arbitrary $A \subset \mathbb{N}$,…

We study the extent to which divisors of a typical integer $n$ are concentrated. In particular, defining the Erd\H{o}s-Hooley $\Delta$-function by $\Delta(n) := \max_t \# \{d | n, \log d \in [t,t+1]\}$, we show that $\Delta(n) \geq (\log…

Many fundamental questions in additive number theory (such as Goldbach's conjecture, Fermat's last theorem, and the Twin Primes conjecture) can be expressed in the language of sum and difference sets. As a typical pair of elements…

In their seminal paper Erd\H{o}s and Szemer\'edi formulated conjectures on the size of sumset and product set of integers. The strongest form of their conjecture is about sums and products along the edges of a graph. In this paper we show…

A famous conjecture of Erd\H{o}s and S\'os states that every graph with average degree more than $k - 1$ contains all trees with $k$ edges as subgraphs. We prove that the Erd\H{o}s-S\'os conjecture holds approximately, if the size of the…

In a landmark paper on arithmetical properties of Lambert series, Erd\H{o}s proved that $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{2^{n} - 1}$ is irrational. This value $E$ is now referred to as the Erd\H{o}s-Borwein constant. Crandall, in 2012, studied…

We show that in any two-coloring of the positive integers there is a color for which the set of positive integers that can be represented as a sum of distinct elements with this color has upper logarithmic density at least $(2+\sqrt{3})/4$…

Erd\"os proved in 1946 that if a set $E\subset\mathbb{R}^n$ is closed and non-empty, then the set, called ambiguous locus or medial axis, of points in $\mathbb{R}^n$ with the property that the nearest point in $E$ is not unique, can be…

It is established that there exists an absolute constant $c>0$ such that for any finite set $A$ of positive real numbers $$|AA+A| \gg |A|^{\frac{3}{2}+c}.$$ On the other hand, we give an explicit construction of a finite set $A \subset…

A subset of the integers larger than 1 is $primitive$ if no member divides another. Erdos proved in 1935 that the sum of $1/(a\log a)$ for $a$ running over a primitive set $A$ is universally bounded over all choices for $A$. In 1988 he…

Let $\phi(n)$ be the Euler totient function and $\sigma(n)$ denote the sum of divisors of $n$. In this note, we obtain explicit upper bounds on the number of positive integers $n\leq x$ such that $\phi(\sigma(n)) > cn$ for any $c>0$. This…

Let $N$ be an odd perfect number and let $a$ be its third largest prime divisor, $b$ be the second largest prime divisor, and $c$ be its largest prime divisor. We discuss steps towards obtaining a non-trivial upper bound on $a$, as well as…

We consider an Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado type sum that weights each member of a uniform family according to its smallest intersection with the rest of the family. We prove that once the ground set is sufficiently large this sum is at most one, with…

Let $k \in \mathbb{N}$ and suppose we are given $k$ integers $1 \leq a_1, \dots, a_k \leq n$. If $\sqrt{a_1} + \dots + \sqrt{a_k}$ is not an integer, how close can it be to one? When $k=1$, the distance to the nearest integer is $\gtrsim…

We present an explicit subset $A\subseteq \mathbb{N} = \{0,1,\ldots\}$ such that $A + A = \mathbb{N}$ and for all $\varepsilon > 0$, \[\lim_{N\to \infty}\frac{\big|\big\{(n_1,n_2): n_1 + n_2 = N, (n_1,n_2)\in…

A well-known discovery of Feige's is the following: Let $X_1, \ldots, X_n$ be nonnegative independent random variables, with $\mathbb{E}[X_i] \leq 1 \;\forall i$, and let $X = \sum_{i=1}^n X_i$. Then for any $n$, \[\Pr[X < \mathbb{E}[X] +…

A set $B$ is said to be \emph{sum-free} if there are no $x,y,z\in B$ with $x+y=z$. We show that there exists a constant $c>0$ such that any set $A$ of $n$ integers contains a sum-free subset $A'$ of size $|A'|\geqslant n/3+c\log \log n$.…

Assume that a convergent series of real numbers $\sum\limits_{n=1}^\infty a_n$ has the property that there exists a set $A\subseteq \N$ such that the series $\sum\limits_{n \in A} a_n$ is conditionally convergent. We prove that for a given…