Related papers: Quadratic sequences with prime power discriminator…

The discriminator of an integer sequence s = (s(i))_{i >=0}, introduced by Arnold, Benkoski, and McCabe in 1985, is the map D_s(n) that sends n >= 1 to the least positive integer m such that the n numbers s(0), s(1), ..., s(n-1) are…

The discriminator of an integer sequence s = (s(i))_{i>=0}, introduced by Arnold, Benkoski, and McCabe in 1985, is the function D_s(n) that sends n to the least integer m such that the numbers s(0), s(1), ..., s(n-1) are pairwise…

Given a sequence of distinct positive integers $v_1,v_2,\ldots$ and any positive integer $n$, the discriminator $D_v(n)$ is defined as the smallest positive integer $m$ such $v_1,\ldots,v_n$ are pairwise incongruent modulo $m$. We consider…

Given a sequence of distinct positive integers $w_0 , w_1, w_2, \ldots$ and any positive integer $n$, we define the discriminator function $\mathcal{D}_{\bf w}(n)$ to be the smallest positive integer $m$ such that $w_0,\ldots, w_{n-1}$ are…

Given $f \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ and $n \in \mathbb{Z^{+}}$, the $\emph{discriminator}$ $D_f(n)$ is the smallest positive integer $m$ such that $f(1), \ldots, f(n)$ are distinct mod $m$. In a recent paper, Z.-W. Sun proved that $D_f(n) =…

We consider the family of Lucas sequences uniquely determined by $U_{n+2}(k)=(4k+2)U_{n+1}(k) -U_n(k),$ with initial values $U_0(k)=0$ and $U_1(k)=1$ and $k\ge 1$ an arbitrary integer. For any integer $n\ge 1$ the discriminator function…

Let $q\ge 5$ be a prime and put $q^*=(-1)^{(q-1)/2}\cdot q$. We consider the integer sequence $u_q(1),u_q(2),\ldots,$ with $u_q(j)=(3^j-q^*(-1)^j)/4$. No term in this sequence is repeated and thus for each $n$ there is a smallest integer…

For n=1,2,3,... define S(n) as the smallest integer m>1 such that those 2k(k-1) mod m for k=1,...,n are pairwise distinct; we show that S(n) is the least prime greater than 2n-2 and hence the value set of the function S(n) is exactly the…

We study the primitive divisors of the terms of $(\Delta_n)_{n \geq 1}$, where $\Delta_n=N_{K/ \mathbb{Q}}(u^n-1)$ for $K$ a real quadratic field, and $u>1$ a unit element of its ring of integers. The methods used allow us to find the terms…

The Stern sequence (s(n)) is defined by s(0) = 0, s(1) = 1, s(2n) = s(n), s(2n+1) = s(n) + s(n+1). Stern showed in 1858 that gcd(s(n),s(n+1)) = 1, and that for every pair of relatively prime positive integers (a,b), there exists a unique n…

For a prime $p\ge 5$ let $q_0,q_1,\ldots,q_{(p-3)/2}$ be the quadratic residues modulo $p$ in increasing order. We study two $(p-3)/2$-periodic binary sequences $(d_n)$ and $(t_n)$ defined by $d_n=q_n+q_{n+1}\bmod 2$ and $t_n=1$ if…

The family of Shallit sequences consists of the Lucas sequences satisfying the recurrence $U_{n+2}(k)=(4k+2)U_{n+1}(k) -U_n(k),$ with initial values $U_0(k)=0$ and $U_1(k)=1$ and with $k\ge 1$ arbitrary. For every fixed $k$ the integers…

Let $1<c<832/825$. For large real numbers $N>0$ and a small constant $\vartheta>0$, the inequality \begin{equation*} |p_1^c+p_2^c+p_3^c+p_4^c-N|<\vartheta \end{equation*} has a solution in prime numbers $p_1,\,p_2,\,p_3,\,p_4$ such that,…

Let $s_1, s_2, \ldots$ be the sequence of positive integers, arranged in increasing order, that are representable by any binary quadratic form of fixed discriminant $D$. We show that \[ \limsup_{n \rightarrow \infty} \frac{s_{n+1}-s_n}{\log…

Let $S = \{q_1, \ldots , q_s\}$ be a finite, non-empty set of distinct prime numbers. For a non-zero integer $m$, write $m = q_1^{r_1} \ldots q_s^{r_s} M$, where $r_1, \ldots , r_s$ are non-negative integers and $M$ is an integer relatively…

The discriminant of a polynomial of the form $\pm x^n \pm x^m \pm 1$ has the form $n^n \pm m^m(n-m)^{n-m}$ when $n,m$ are relatively prime. We investigate when these discriminants have prime power divisors. We explain several symmetries…

In recent work, M. Schneider and the first author studied a curious class of integer partitions called "sequentially congruent" partitions: the $m$th part is congruent to the $(m+1)$th part modulo $m$, with the smallest part congruent to…

Let $D$ be a set of positive integers. A $D$-diffsequence of length $k$ is a sequence of positive integers $a_1 < \cdots < a_k$ such that $a_{i+1}-a_i\in D$ for $i=1,\ldots,k-1$. For $D=\{2^i\mid i\in \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}\}$, it is known that…

Let $p$ and $q$ be two distinct fixed prime numbers and $(n_i)_{i\geq 0}$ the sequence of consecutive integers of the form $p^a\cdot q^b$ with $a,b\ge 0$. Tijdeman gave a lower bound (1973) and an upper bound (1974) for the gap size…

Let s(n) be the number of representations of n as the sum of three squares. We prove a remarkable new identity for s(p^2n)- ps(n) with p being an odd prime. This identity makes nontrivial use of ternary quadratic forms with discriminants…