Related papers: On comparing sums of square roots of small integer…

Let $k$ and $n$ be positive integers. Define $R(n,k)$ to be the minimum positive value of $$ | e_i \sqrt{s_1} + e_2 \sqrt{s_2} + ... + e_k \sqrt{s_k} -t | $$ where $ s_1, s_2, ..., s_k$ are positive integers no larger than $n$, $t$ is an…

Let $k \in \mathbb{N}$ and suppose we are given $k$ integers $1 \leq a_1, \dots, a_k \leq n$. If $\sqrt{a_1} + \dots + \sqrt{a_k}$ is not an integer, how close can it be to one? When $k=1$, the distance to the nearest integer is $\gtrsim…

We prove that \Omega(n log(n)) comparisons are necessary for any quantum algorithm that sorts n numbers with high success probability and uses only comparisons. If no error is allowed, at least 0.110nlog_2(n) - 0.067n + O(1) comparisons…

Writing for a general mathematical audience, we provide elementary upper and lower bounds on the growth (as a function of N) of the sum \sum_{n=1}^N (-1)^{\floor{n x}} for various fixed x. For example, if x is a quadratic irrational, then…

The sum of square roots is as follows: Given $x_1,\dots,x_n \in \mathbb{Z}$ and $a_1,\dots,a_n \in \mathbb{N}$ decide whether $ E=\sum_{i=1}^n x_i \sqrt{a_i} \geq 0$. It is a prominent open problem (Problem 33 of the Open Problems Project),…

We consider the complexity for computing the approximate sum $a_1+a_2+...+a_n$ of a sorted list of numbers $a_1\le a_2\le ...\le a_n$. We show an algorithm that computes an $(1+\epsilon)$-approximation for the sum of a sorted list of…

For any given set $A$ of nonnegative integers and for any given two positive integers $k_1,k_2$, $R_{k_1,k_2}(A,n)$ is defined as the number of solutions of the equation $n=k_1a_1+k_2a_2$ with $a_1,a_2\in A$. In this paper, we prove that if…

Let $\|n\|$ stand for the integer complexity of the number $n$, i.e. for the least number of $1$'s needed to write $n$ using arbitrary many additions, multiplications, and parentheses. The two-sided inequality $3\log_3 n\leq\|n\|\leq…

For relatively prime positive integers $u_0$ and $r$ and for $0\le k\le n$, define $u_k:=u_0+kr$. Let $L_n:={\rm lcm}(u_0, u_1, ..., u_n)$ and let $a, l\ge 2$ be any integers. In this paper, we show that, for integers $\alpha \geq a$ and…

We improve upon a result of Steinerberger (2024) by demonstrating that for any fixed $k \in \mathbb{N}$ and sufficiently large $n$, there exist integers $1 \leq a_1, \dots, a_k \leq n$ satisfying: \begin{align*} 0 < \left\| \sum_{j=1}^{k}…

We show how to find all $k$ marked elements in a list of size $N$ using the optimal number $O(\sqrt{N k})$ of quantum queries and only a polylogarithmic overhead in the gate complexity, in the setting where one has a small quantum memory.…

Recent breakthroughs in quantum query complexity have shown that any formula of size n can be evaluated with O(sqrt(n)log(n)/log log(n)) many quantum queries in the bounded-error setting [FGG08, ACRSZ07, RS08b, Rei09]. In particular, this…

Let $S_n=\e_1+...+\e_n$, where $ \e_i $ are i.i.d. Bernoulli r.v.'s. Let $0\le r_d(n)<2d$ be the least residue of $n$ mod$(2d)$, $\bar r_d(n)= 2d -r_d(n)$ and $\b(n,d)=\max ({1\over d}, {1\over \sqrt n})[e^{- {r_d(n)^2/2 n}} +e^{- {\bar…

Let $s(n)$ be the minimum number of edges in a graph that contains every $n$-vertex tree as a subgraph. Chung and Graham [J. London Math. Soc. 1983] claim to prove that $s(n)\leqslant O(n\log n)$. We point out a mistake in their proof. The…

Let $f(n)$ denote the number of unordered factorizations of a positive integer $n$ into factors larger than $1$. We show that the number of distinct values of $f(n)$, less than or equal to $x$, is at most $\exp \left( C \sqrt{\frac{\log…

Given a set $P$ of $n$ points in $\mathbf{R}^d$, and a positive integer $k \leq n$, the $k$-dispersion problem is that of selecting $k$ of the given points so that the minimum inter-point distance among them is maximized (under Euclidean…

When the sequences of squares of primes is coloured with $K$ colours, where $K \geq 1$ is an integer, let $s(K)$ be the smallest integer such that each sufficiently large integer can be written as a sum of no more than $s(K)$ squares of…

In this paper, we prove $\text{ex}(n, C_{2k})\le (16\sqrt{5}\sqrt{k\log k} + o(1))\cdot n^{1+1/k}$. We improved on Bukh--Jiang's method used in their 2017 publication, thereby reducing the best known upper bound by a factor of $\sqrt{5\log…

Let K be an algebraic number field and O_K be its ring of integers. Let S_K be the set of elements in O_K which are sums of squares in O_K and s(O_K) the minimal number of squares necessary to represent -1in O_K. Let g( S_K ) be the…

For relatively prime positive integers u_0 and r, we consider the arithmetic progression {u_k := u_0+k*r} (0 <= k <= n). Define L_n := lcm{u_0,u_1,...,u_n} and let a >= 2 be any integer. In this paper, we show that, for integers alpha,r >=…