Related papers: Small gaps in the Ulam sequence

Sharpening (a particular case of) a result of Szemeredi and Vu and extending earlier results of Sarkozy and ourselves, we find, subject to some technical restrictions, a sharp threshold for the number of integer sets needed for their sumset…

Let $K_n$ denote the set of all nonsingular $n\times n$ lower triangular $(0,1)$-matrices. Hong and Loewy (2004) introduced the number sequence $$ c_n=\min\{\lambda\mid\lambda~\text{is an eigenvalue of}~XX^{\rm T},~X\in K_n\},\quad…

A {\em subsequence} of a word $w$ is a word $u$ that can be obtained by deleting some letters from $w$ while maintaining the relative order of the remaining letters, e.g., $\mathtt{lala}$ is a subsequence of $\mathtt{alfalfa}$. A word, over…

The Collatz conjecture (or ``Syracuse problem'') considers recursively-defined sequences of positive integers where $n$ is succeeded by $\tfrac{n}{2}$, if $n$ is even, or $\tfrac{3n+1}{2}$, if $n$ is odd. The conjecture states that for all…

Let $\mathcal S=\{s_1<s_2<s_3<\ldots\}$ be the sequence of all natural numbers which can be represented as a sum of two squares of integers. For $X\ge2$ we denote by $g(X)$ the largest gap between consecutive elements of $\mathcal S$ that…

A classical argument was introduced by Khintchine in 1926 in order to exhibit the existence of totally irrational singular linear forms in two variables. This argument was subsequently revisited and extended by many authors. For instance,…

The study of perfect numbers (numbers which equal the sum of their proper divisors) goes back to antiquity, and is responsible for some of the oldest and most popular conjectures in number theory. We investigate a generalization introduced…

In this paper we study the sets of integers which are $n$-th terms of Lucas sequences. We establish lower- and upper bounds for the size of these sets. These bounds are sharp for $n$ sufficiently large. We also develop bounds on the growth…

In 1949 Wall showed that $x = 0.d_1d_2d_3 \dots$ is normal if and only if $(0.d_nd_{n+1}d_{n+2} \dots)_n$ is a uniformly distributed sequence. In this article, we consider sequences which are slight variants on this. In particular, we show…

The 1-2-3 Conjecture, introduced by Karo\'nski, {\L}uczak, and Thomason in 2004, was recently solved by Keusch. This implies that, for any connected graph $G$ different from $K_2$, we can turn $G$ into a locally irregular multigraph $M(G)$,…

Let $S_n$ be the set of all permutations of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ and let $\sigma=(\sigma_1,\sigma_2,\ldots,\sigma_n)\in S_n$. The {\it initial longest increasing sequence} (ILIS) in $\sigma$ has length $m$ if, for $1\le m\le n-1$,…

The EKG or electrocardiogram sequence is defined by a(1) = 1, a(2) = 2 and, for n >= 3, a(n) is the smallest natural number not already in the sequence with the property that gcd {a(n-1), a(n)} > 1. In spite of its erratic local behavior,…

Given a set of $t$ words of length $n$ over a $k$-letter alphabet, it is proved that there exists a common subsequence among two of them of length at least $\frac{n}{k}+cn^{1-1/(t-k-2)}$, for some $c>0$ depending on $k$ and $t$. This is…

For a prime number $p$ and a sequence of integers $a_0,\dots,a_k\in \{0,1,\dots,p\}$, let $s(a_0,\dots,a_k)$ be the minimum number of $(k+1)$-tuples $(x_0,\dots,x_k)\in A_0\times\dots\times A_k$ with $x_0=x_1+\dots + x_k$, over subsets…

Although 10^230 terms of Recaman's sequence have been computed, it remains a mystery. Here three distant cousins of that sequence are described, one of which is also mysterious. (i) {A(n), n >= 3} is defined as follows. Start with n, and…

Examples are constructed of sparse subsequences of the integers for which the associated maximal averages operator is of weak type (1,1). A consequence, by transference, is that an almost everywhere L^1 -- type ergodic theorem holds for…

The harmonic numbers are the sequence 1, 1+1/2, 1+1/2+1/3, ... Their asymptotic difference from the sequence of the natural logarithm of the positive integers is Euler's constant gamma. We define a family of natural generalizations of the…

Zeckendorf proved that any integer can be decomposed uniquely as a sum of non-adjacent Fibonacci numbers, $F_n$. Using continued fractions, Lekkerkerker proved the average number of summands of an $m \in [F_n, F_{n+1})$ is essentially…

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…

In correspondence with Goldbach, Euler began investigating series of the form $\sum_{k \geq 1} k^{-m}\left(1 + 2^{-n} + \cdots + k^{-n}\right)$, which are known today as Euler sums. For the case where $n=1$ and $m \geq 2$, Euler was able to…