Related papers: On a problem involving unit fractions

A subset $S \subseteq V$ in a graph $G = (V,E)$ is called a $[1, k]$-set, if for every vertex $v \in V \setminus S$, $1 \leq | N_G(v) \cap S | \leq k$. The $[1,k]$-domination number of $G$, denoted by $\gamma_{[1, k]}(G)$ is the size of the…

We prove a special case of Erd\H{o}s' unit distance problem using a corollary of the subspace theorem bounding the number of solutions of linear equations from a multiplicative group. We restrict our attention to unit distances coming from…

We study the number of $k$-element sets $A \subset \{1,\ldots,N\}$ with $|A + A| \leq K|A|$ for some (fixed) $K > 0$. Improving results of the first author and of Alon, Balogh, Samotij and the second author, we determine this number up to a…

Erd\H{o}s showed that every set of $n$ positive integers contains a subset of size at least $n/(k+1)$ containing no solutions to $x_1 + \cdots + x_k = y$. We prove that the constant $1/(k+1)$ here is best possible by showing that if $(F_m)$…

A symmetric subset of the reals is one that remains invariant under some reflection z --> c-z. We consider, for any 0 < x <= 1, the largest real number D(x) such that every subset of $[0,1]$ with measure greater than x contains a symmetric…

The Subset Sum problem asks whether a given set of $n$ positive integers contains a subset of elements that sum up to a given target $t$. It is an outstanding open question whether the $O^*(2^{n/2})$-time algorithm for Subset Sum by…

For $2\leq s<t$, the Erd\H{o}s-Rogers function $f_{s,t}(n)$ measures how large a $K_s$-free induced subgraph there must be in a $K_t$-free graph on $n$ vertices. There has been an extensive amount of work towards estimating this function,…

We prove new upper bounds on the number of representations of rational numbers $\frac{m}{n}$ as a sum of $4$ unit fractions, giving five different regions, depending on the size of $m$ in terms of $n$. In particular, we improve the most…

Let $s(n)$ denote the sum of the proper divisors of the natural number $n$. We show that the number of $n \leq x$ such that $s(n)$ is a sum of two squares has order of magnitude $x/\sqrt{\log x}$, which agrees with the count of $n \leq x$…

We show that the optimal constant in Erd\"{o}s' sum-free subset theorem cannot be larger than $11/28 \approx .393$.

For $n=1,2,3,\ldots$ let $S_n$ be the sum of the first $n$ primes. We mainly show that the sequence $a_n=\root n\of{S_n/n}\ (n=1,2,3,\ldots)$ is strictly decreasing, and moreover the sequence $a_{n+1}/a_n\ (n=10,11,\ldots)$ is strictly…

Given a set (or multiset) S of n numbers and a target number t, the subset sum problem is to decide if there is a subset of S that sums up to t. There are several methods for solving this problem, including exhaustive search,…

We prove new upper bounds for the number of representations of an arbitrary rational number as a sum of three unit fractions. In particular, for fixed $m$ there are at most $\mathcal{O}_{\epsilon}(n^{3/5+\epsilon})$ solutions of…

Erd\H{o}s and Graham asked whether any sparse enough admissible set of natural numbers can be translated into a subset of the primes. By using a greedy construction involving powers of primitive roots, we prove that there exist arbitrarily…

Let $r,k,\ell$ be integers such that $0\le\ell\le\binom{k}{r}$. Given a large $r$-uniform hypergraph $G$, we consider the fraction of $k$-vertex subsets which span exactly $\ell$ edges. If $\ell$ is 0 or $\binom{k}{r}$, this fraction can be…

The main result of this paper is that for any $1/2 \leq s < 2 - \sqrt{2} \approx 0.5858$, there is a number $\sigma = \sigma(s) < s$ with the following property. Let $\delta > 0$ be small, assume that $A \subset [0,1]$ is a…

The Erd\H{o}s-Straus conjecture is a renowned problem which describes that for every natural number $n~(\ge 2)$, $\frac{4}{n}$ can be represented as the sum of three unit fractions. The main purpose of this study is to show that the…

Two families $\mathcal{A}$ and $\mathcal{B}$ of sets are said to be cross-intersecting if each member of $\mathcal{A}$ intersects each member of $\mathcal{B}$. For any two integers $n$ and $k$ with $0 \leq k \leq n$, let ${[n] \choose \leq…

We use an algebraic method to prove a degree version of the celebrated Erd\H os-Ko-Rado theorem: given $n>2k$, every intersecting $k$-uniform hypergraph $H$ on $n$ vertices contains a vertex that lies on at most $\binom{n-2}{k-2}$ edges.…

The Erd\H{o}s-Rogers function $f_{s,t}$ measures how large a $K_s$-free induced subgraph there must be in a $K_t$-free graph on $n$ vertices. While good estimates for $f_{s,t}$ are known for some pairs $(s,t)$, notably when $t=s+1$, in…