Related papers: The Primary Pretenders

Many combinatorial sequences (for example, the Catalan and Motzkin numbers) may be expressed as the constant term of $P(x)^k Q(x)$, for some Laurent polynomials $P(x)$ and $Q(x)$ in the variable $x$ with integer coefficients. Denoting such…

For coprime positive integers $q$ and $e$, let $m(q,e)$ denote the least positive integer $t$ such that there exists a sum of $t$ powers of $q$ which is divisible by $e$. We prove an upper bound for $m(q.e)$ and investigate the case where…

Let $S(n)$ denote the least primary factor in the primary decomposition of the multiplicative group $M_n = (\Bbb Z/n\Bbb Z)^\times$. We give an asymptotic formula, with order of magnitude $x/(\log x)^{1/2}$, for the counting function of…

For coprime nonzero integers $a$ and $b$, a positive integer $\ell$ is said to be {\em good} with respect to $a$ and $b$ if there exists a positive integer $k$ such that $\ell |(a^{k}+b^{k})$. Since the early 1990s, such classical good…

Let F(z) be a rational function in Q(z) of degree at least 2 with F(0) = 0 and such that F does not vanish to order d at 0. Let b be a rational number having infinite orbit under iteration of F, and write F^n(b) = A_n/B_n as a fraction in…

Let $n$ be a positive integer and let $A$ be nonempty finite set of positive integers. We say that $A$ is relatively prime if $\gcd(A) =1$ and that $A$ is relatively prime to $n$ if $\gcd(A,n)=1$. In this work we count the number of…

Natural numbers which are nontrivial multiples of some permutation of their base-$b$ digit representations are called permutiples. Specific cases include numbers which are multiples of cyclic permutations (cyclic numbers) and reversals of…

Expressions of type $(p^q-1)/(p-1)$ and $a^2+ab+b^2$, where $a, b$ are natural and $p, q$ are prime numbers, are studied.

Let N be a large enough natural number, A and B be subsets of {N+1, ... , 2N}. In this paper, we prove that there exists integers a, b with a belongs to A, b belongs to B such that ab=P_k^2 + O(P_k^{1-c}), where 0<c<1/2 and P_k denotes an…

Let $p$ be a prime. If an integer $g$ generates a subgroup of index $t$ in $(\mathbb Z/p\mathbb Z)^*,$ then we say that $g$ is a $t$-near primitive root modulo $p$. We point out the easy result that each primitive residue class contains a…

A long-standing conjecture states that every positive integer other than 15, 22, 23, 50, 114, 167, 175, 186, 212, 231, 238, 239, 303, 364, 420, 428, 454 is a sum of at most seven positive cubes. This was first observed by Jacobi in 1851 on…

In a prime number decomposition of integers in a given set, the occurrence frequencies of prime numbers are shown to satisfy a general forms of Zipf's law.

Let $p>1$ be a large prime number, let $q=O(\log\log p)$ and let $1\leq a<q$ be a pair of relatively prime integers. It is proved that there is a prime primitive root $u\ll (\log p)(\log \log p)^5$ such that $u\equiv a\bmod q$ in the prime…

Proper continued fractions are generalized continued fractions with positive integer numerators $a_i$ and integer denominators with $b_i\geq a_i$. In this paper we study the strength of approximation of irrational numbers to their…

For two odd primes $p$ and $q$ such that $p<q$, let $A(p,q):=(a_k)_{k=1}^{\infty}$ be the arithmetic progression whose $k$th term is given by $a_k=(k-1)(q-p)+p$ (i.e., with $a_1=p$ and $a_2=q$). Here we conjecture that for every positive…

We introduce a new permutation statistic, namely, the number of cycles of length $q$ consisting of consecutive integers, and consider the distribution of this statistic among the permutations of $\{1,2,...,n\}$. We determine explicit…

We study the Cantor real base numeration system which is a common generalization of two positional systems, namely the Cantor system with a sequence of integer bases and the R\'enyi system with one real base. We focus on the so-called…

A study of the set N_p of positive integers which occur as orders of nonsingular derivations of finite-dimensional non-nilpotent Lie algebras of characteristic p>0 was initiated by Shalev and continued by the present author. The main goal…

Generalized Cullen Numbers are positive integers of the form $C_b(n):=nb^n+1$. In this work we generalize some known divisibility properties of Cullen Numbers and present two primality tests for this family of integers. The first test is…

Let $g$ be sufficiently large, $b\in\{0,\ldots,g-1\}$, and $\mathcal{S}_b$ be the set of integers with no digit equal to $b$ in their base $g$ expansion. We prove that every sufficiently large odd integer $N$ can be written as $p_1 + p_2 +…