Related papers: The Hofstadter consecutive-sum sequence omits infi…

The Hofstadter $H$ sequence is defined by $H(1) = 1$ and $H(n) = n-H(H(H(n-1)))$ for $n > 1$. If $\alpha$ is the real root of $x^3+x=1$ we show that the numbers $\alpha H(n) \mod 1$ are not uniformly distributed on $[0,1]$, but converge to…

We prove that there are infinitely many $n$ such that $\omega(n+k) \ll \log k$ for all integers $k \ge 2$. This improves on a result of Tao-Ter\"{a}v\"{a}inen (2025), who has $O(k)$ in place of $O(\log k)$. As corollaries, we make progress…

For every integer $n\ge 1$ let $a_n$ be the smallest positive integer such that $n+a_n$ is prime. We investigate the behavior of the sequence $(a_n)_{n\ge 1}$, and prove asymptotic results for the sums $\sum_{n\le x} a_n$, $\sum_{n\le x}…

Hofstadter's Q-sequence remains an enigma fifty years after its introduction. Initially, the terms of the sequence increase monotonically by 0 or 1 at a time. But, Q(12)=8 while Q(11)=6, and monotonicity fails shortly thereafter. In this…

We consider several old problems involving the number of prime divisors function $\omega(n)$, as well as the related functions $\Omega(n)$ and $\tau(n)$. Firstly, we show that there are infinitely many positive integers $n$ such that…

We show that sequences of positive integers whose ratios $a_n^2/a_{n+1}$ lie within a specific range are almost uniquely determined by their reciprocal sums. For instance, the Sylvester sequence is uniquely characterized as the only…

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 positive integer $n$ is called an abundant number if $\sigma (n)\ge 2n$, where $\sigma (n)$ is the sum of all positive divisors of $n$. Let $E(x)$ be the largest number of consecutive abundant numbers not exceeding $x$. In 1935, P. Erd\H…

In 1935, Erd\H{o}s proved that the sums $f_k=\sum_n 1/(n\log n)$, over integers $n$ with exactly $k$ prime factors, are bounded by an absolute constant, and in 1993 Zhang proved that $f_k$ is maximized by the prime sum $f_1=\sum_p 1/(p\log…

For a positive integer $n$, we denote by $F(n)$ the distance from $n$ to the nearest prime number. We prove that every sufficiently large positive integer $N$ can be represented as the sum $N=n_1+n_2$, where $$ F(n_i) \geqslant (\log…

In this paper, we prove the following result: {quote} Let $\A$ be an infinite set of positive integers. For all positive integer $n$, let $\tau_n$ denote the smallest element of $\A$ which does not divide $n$. Then we have $$\lim_{N \to +…

Golomb's sequence is the unique nondecreasing sequence of positive integers in which each $n$ appears exactly $a(n)$ times. It satisfies the global self-referential rule \[ a\bigl(a(n)+a(n-1)+\cdots+a(1)\bigr)=n, \] grows smoothly like a…

Let $\{f_n\}$ be the Fibonacci sequence. For any positive integer $n$, let $r(n)$ be the number of solutions of $n=p+f_{k_1^{2}} +f_{k_{2}^{2}}$, where $p$ is a prime and $k_1, k_2$ are nonnegative integers with $k_1\le k_2$. In this paper,…

For the Riesz and logarithmic energies, we consider a greedy sequence $(a_n)_{n=0}^\infty$ of points on the unit circle $S^1$ constructed in such a way that for every integer $N\geq 2$, the energy of the configuration…

A strictly increasing sequence $\mathscr{A}$ of positive integers is said to be primitive if no term of $\mathscr{A}$ divides any other. Erd\H{o}s showed that the series $\sum_{a \in \mathscr{A}} \frac{1}{a \log a}$, where $\mathscr{A}$ is…

Let $0 < \theta \leqslant 1$. A sequence of positive integers $(b_n)_{n=1}^\infty$ is called a weak greedy approximation of $\theta$ if $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}1/b_n = \theta$. We introduce the weak greedy approximation algorithm (WGAA), which,…

A number of observations are made on Hofstadter's integer sequence defined by Q(n)= Q(n-Q(n-1))+Q(n-Q(n-2)), for n > 2, and Q(1)=Q(2)=1. On short scales the sequence looks chaotic. It turns out, however, that the Q(n) can be grouped into a…

The set A = {a_n} of nonnegative integers is an asymptotic basis of order h if every sufficiently large integer can be represented as the sum of h elements of A. If a_n ~ alpha n^h for some real number alpha > 0, then alpha is called an…

We show the existence of a constant $c > 0$ such that, for all positive integers $n$, there exist integers $1 \leq a_1 < \ldots < a_k \leq n$ such that there are at least $cn^2$ distinct integers of the form $\sum_{i=u}^{v}a_i$ with $1 \leq…

Erd\"os conjectured the existence of an infinite Sidon sequence of positive integers which is also an asymptotic basis of order 3. We make progress towards this conjecture in several directions. First we prove the conjecture for all cyclic…