Related papers: The third positive element in the greedy $B_h$-set
Let A be a set of integers. For every integer n, let r_{A,h}(n) denote the number of representations of n in the form n = a_1 + a_2 + ... + a_h, where a_1, a_2,...,a_h are in A and a_1 \leq a_2 \leq ... \leq a_h. The function r_{A,h}: Z \to…
Let $\varphi(x_1,\ldots, x_h) = c_1 x_1 + \cdots + c_h x_h $ be a linear form with coefficients in a field $\mathbf{F}$, and let $V$ be a vector space over $\mathbf{F}$. A nonempty subset $A$ of $V$ is a $\varphi$-Sidon set if, for all…
The change-making problem asks: given a positive integer $v$ and a collection $C$ of integer coin values $c_1=1<c_2< c_3< \cdots< c_n$, what is the minimum number of coins needed to represent $v$ with coin values from $C$? For some coin…
For a given positive integer $k$, the Sidon-Ramsey number $\SR(k)$ is defined as the minimum value of $n$ such that, in every partition of the set $[1, n]$ into $k$ parts, there exists a part that contains two distinct pairs of numbers with…
Let $G$ be an abelian group. A set $A \subset G$ is a \emph{$B_k^+$-set} if whenever $a_1 + \dots + a_k = b_1 + \dots + b_k$ with $a_i, b_j \in A$ there is an $i$ and a $j$ such that $a_i = b_j$. If $A$ is a $B_k$-set then it is also a…
We prove three results concerning the existence of Bohr sets in threefold sumsets. More precisely, letting $G$ be a countable discrete abelian group and $\phi_1, \phi_2, \phi_3: G \to G$ be commuting endomorphisms whose images have finite…
Fix $\alpha \in (0,1/3)$. We show that, from a topological point of view, almost all sets $A\subseteq \mathbb{N}$ have the property that, if $A^\prime=A$ for all but $o(n^{\alpha})$ elements, then $A^\prime$ is not a nontrivial sumset…
For any $n$ and $k$, we provide an explicit (that is, computable in polynomial time) example of integer $B_k$-sequence of size $n$ consisting of elements bounded by $n^{k+o(k)}$.
We prove that any positive rational number is the sum of distinct unit fractions with denominators in $\{p-1 : p\textrm{ prime}\}$. The same conclusion holds for the set $\{p-h : p\textrm{ prime}\}$ for any $h\in\mathbb{Z}\backslash\{0\}$,…
Let $G$ be an additive abelian group and $h$ be a positive integer. For a nonempty finite subset $A=\{a_0, a_1,\ldots, a_{k-1}\}$ of $G$, we let \[h_{\underline{+}}A:=\{\Sigma_{i=0}^{k-1}\lambda_{i} a_{i}: (\lambda_{0}, \ldots,…
Let $A$ be a nonempty finite subset of an additive abelian group $G$. Define $A + A := \{a + b : a, b \in A\}$ and $A \dotplus A := \{a + b : a, b \in A~\text{and}~ a \neq b\}$. The set $A$ is called a {\em sum-dominant (SD) set} if $|A +…
A_k = {1, a_2, ..., a_k} is an h-basis for n if every positive integer not exceeding n can be expressed as the sum of no more than h values a_i; we write n = n_h(A_k). An extremal h-basis A_k is one for which n is as large as possible, and…
We analyze sumsets A+B = {a+b : a in A, b in B} where A,B are sets of integers, A is infinite, and B has positive upper Banach density. For each k, we show that A+B contains at least the expected density of k-term arithmetic progressions…
Let X be a subset of an abelian group and a_1,...,a_h,a'_1,...,a'_h a sequence of 2h elements of X such that a_1 + ... + a_h = a'_1 + ... + a'_h. The set X is a Sidon set of order h if, after renumbering, a_i = a'_i for i = 1,..., h. For k…
For a finite abelian group $(G,+, 0)$ the Harborth constant $\mathsf{g}(G)$ is the smallest integer $k$ such that each squarefree sequence over $G$ of length $k$, equivalently each subset of $G$ of cardinality at least $k$, has a…
Solving a problem by Erd\H{o}s, we prove that every positive integer $n$ can be written as a sum $$n = b_{1} + b_{2} + \ldots + b_{r}$$ of distinct $3$-smooth integers with $1 \le b_{1} < b_{2} < \ldots < b_{r} < 6b_{1}$.
The greedy algorithm for approximating dominating sets is a simple method that is known to compute an $(\ln n+1)$-approximation of a minimum dominating set on any graph with $n$ vertices. We show that a small modification of the greedy…
We study adaptive greedy algorithms for the problems of stochastic set cover with perfect and imperfect coverages. In stochastic set cover with perfect coverage, we are given a set of items and a ground set B. Evaluating an item reveals its…
The change-making problem consists of representing a certain amount of money with the least possible number of coins, from a given, pre-established set of denominations. The greedy algorithm works by choosing the coins of largest possible…
We show that for any set $A \subset \mathbb{N}$ with positive upper density and any $\ell,m \in \mathbb{N}$, there exist an infinite set $B\subset \mathbb{N}$ and some $t\in \mathbb{N}$ so that $\{mb_1 + \ell b_2 \colon b_1,b_2\in B\…