Related papers: On a conjecture of Deaconescu

In the first paper under this title (1977), the first author utilized a duality identity between the largest and smallest prime factors involving the Moebius function, to establish the following result as a consequence of the Prime Number…

Let $n$ be a positive integer and $G(n)$ denote the number of non-isomorphic finite groups of order $n$. It is well-known that $G(n) = 1$ if and only if $(n,\phi(n)) = 1$, where $\phi(n)$ and $(a, b)$ denote the Euler's totient function and…

We prove lower bounds for the number of primes $p \leq N + b$ such that $p-b$ is divisible by $2^{k(N)}$ and has at most $k$ odd prime factors ($k \geq 2$), assuming $2^{k(N)} \leq N^\theta$ for some $\theta > 0$ depending on $k$. The proof…

We prove an explicit analogue of Legendre's conjecture for almost primes. Namely, for every integer $n \geq 1$, the interval $(n^2,(n+1)^2)$ contains an integer having at most $3$ prime factors, counted with multiplicity. This improves the…

In 1927, Artin conjectured that any integer other than -1 or a perfect square generates the multiplicative group $\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}^\times$ for infinitely many $p$. In \cite{MoSt}, Moree and Stevenhagen considered a two-variable…

We prove a conjecture that classifies exceptional numbers. This conjecture arises in two different ways, from cryptography and from coding theory. An odd integer $t\geq 3$ is said to be exceptional if $f(x)=x^t$ is APN (Almost Perfect…

We obtain nontrivial exponents for Erd\H os-Falconer type problems. Let $T_k(E)$ denote the set of distinct congruent $k$-dimensional simplexes determined by $(k+1)$-tuples of points from $E$. We prove that there exists $s_0(d)<d$ such…

Given $k, \ell \in {\bf N}^+$, let $x_{i,j}$ be, for $1 \le i \le k$ and $0 \le j \le \ell$, some fixed integers, and define, for every $n \in {\bf N}^+$, $s_n := \sum_{i=1}^k \prod_{j=0}^\ell x_{i,j}^{n^j}$. We prove that the following are…

Denote by $\lambda(n)$ Liouville's function concerning the parity of the number of prime divisors of $n$. Using a theorem of Allouche, Mend\`es France, and Peyri\`ere and many classical results from the theory of the distribution of prime…

Let $\phi(n)$ be the Euler-phi function, define $\phi_0(n) = n$ and $\phi_{k+1}(n)=\phi(\phi_{k}(n))$ for all $k\geq 0$. We will determine an asymptotic formula for the set of integers $n$ less than $x$ for which $\phi_k(n)$ is $y$-smooth,…

The Franel numbers are defined by $ f_n=\sum_{k=0}^n {n\choose k}^3. $ Motivated by the recent work of Z.-W. Sun on Franel numbers, we prove that \begin{align*} \sum_{k=0}^{n-1}(3k+1)(-16)^{n-k-1} {2k\choose k} f_k &\equiv…

Let $\mathbb{Z}_n$ denote the ring of integers modulo $n$. In this paper we consider two extremal problems on permutations of $\mathbb{Z}_n$, namely, the maximum size of a collection of permutations such that the sum of any two distinct…

We call an odd positive integer $n$ a $\textit{Descartes number}$ if there exist positive integers $k,m$ such that $n = km$ and \begin{equation} \sigma(k)(m+1) = 2km \end{equation} Currently, $\mathcal{D} = 3^{2}7^{2}11^{2}13^{2}22021$ is…

In this article we prove that equation $\phi(x)=n$, for a fixed $n$, admits a finite number of solutions, we find the general form of these solutions, and we show that: if $x_0$ is a unique solution of this equation then $x_0$ is a product…

A composite positive integer n is Lehmer if \phi(n) divides n-1, where \phi(n) is the Euler's totient function. No Lehmer number is known, nor has it been proved that they don't exist. In 2007, the second author [7] proved that there is no…

Let $C_n=n2^n+1$ denote the $n$th Cullen number. There has been recent interest in finding all Cullen numbers having a given Diophantine property. We prove that, for a fixed integer $k$ and bounded integers $a_1,\ldots,a_k$, the greatest…

Let phi denote Euler's phi function. For a fixed odd prime we give an asymptotic series expansion in the sense of Poincare for the number E_q(x) of n<=x such that q does not divide phi(n). Thereby we improve on a recent theorem of B.K.…

For a commutative ring $R$, a polynomial $f\in R[x]$ is called separable if $R[x]/f$ is a separable $R$-algebra. We derive formulae for the number of separable polynomials when $R = \mathbb{Z}/n$, extending a result of L. Carlitz. For…

The partition number $\pi(K)$ of a simplicial complex $K\subset 2^{[n]}$ is the minimum integer $\nu$ such that for each partition $A_1\uplus\ldots\uplus A_\nu = [n]$ of $[n]$ at least one of the sets $A_i$ is in $K$. A complex $K$ is…

Let $n$ be a positive integer and let $A$ be nonempty finite set of positive integers. We say that $A$ is relatively prime if $\gcd(A) =1$ and that $A$ is relatively prime to $n$ if $\gcd(A,n)=1$. In this work we count the number of…