Related papers: On distinct consecutive differences

We give bounds on the number of distinct differences $N_a-a$ as $a$ varies over all elements of a given finite set $A$, and $N_a$ is a nearest neighbour to $a$.

Given k>1, let a_n be the sequence defined by the recurrence a_n=c_1a_{n-1}+c_2a_{n-2}+...+c_ka_{n-k} for n>=k, with initial values a_0=a_1=...=a_{k-2}=0 and a_{k-1}= 1. We show under a couple of assumptions concerning the constants c_i…

Let $A$ and $B$ be sets of $k\ge5$ elements in $F=\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$ the field with $p>2k-2$ elements. We denote by $A\dot{+}B$ the set of different elements of $F$ that can be written in the form $a+b$, where $a\in A$, $b\in B$,…

In this article, we reduce the unsolved problem of convergence of Collatz sequences to convergence of Collatz sequences of odd numbers that are divisible by 3. We give an elementary proof of the fact that a Collatz sequence does not…

For a set $A \subset \mathbb{N}$ we characterize in terms of its density when there exists an infinite set $B \subset \mathbb{N}$ and $t \in \{0,1\}$ such that $B+B \subset A-t$, where $B+B : =\{b_1+b_2\colon b_1,b_2 \in B\}$. Specifically,…

We present a variety of new results on finite sets A of integers for which the sumset A+A is larger than the difference set A-A, so-called MSTD (more sums than differences) sets. First we show that there is, up to affine transformation, a…

Let G be an additive abelian group whose finite subgroups are all cyclic. Let A_1,...,A_n (n>1) be finite subsets of G with cardinality k>0, and let b_1,...,b_n be pairwise distinct elements of G with odd order. We show that for every…

Let $h$ be a positive integer and $A, B_1, B_2,\dots, B_h$ be finite sets in a commutative group. We bound $|A+B_1+...+B_h|$ from above in terms of $|A|, |A+B_1|,\dots,|A+B_h|$ and $h$. Extremal examples, which demonstrate that the bound is…

We consider a variant of the ABC Conjecture, attempting to count the number of solutions to $A+B+C=0$, in relatively prime integers $A,B,C$ each of absolute value less than $N$ with $r(A)<|A|^a, r(B)<|B|^b, r(C)<|C|^c.$ The ABC Conjecture…

We disprove a 2002 conjecture of Dombi from additive number theory. More precisely, we find examples of sets $A \subset \mathbb{N}$ with the property that $\mathbb{N} \setminus A$ is infinite, but the sequence $n \rightarrow |\{ (a,b,c) \,…

Let $f$ be a smooth real function with strictly monotone first $k$ derivatives. We show that for a finite set $A$, with $|A+A|\leq K|A|$, $|2^kf(A)-(2^k-1)f(A)|\gg_k |A|^{k+1-o(1)}/K^{O_k(1)}$. We deduce several new sum-product type…

A sequence $S=s_{1}s_{2}..._{n}$ is \emph{nonrepetitive} if no two adjacent blocks of $S$ are identical. In 1906 Thue proved that there exist arbitrarily long nonrepetitive sequences over 3-element set of symbols. We study a generalization…

The function f:X -> Y is called k-monotonically increasing if there is a partition X = X_1 U ... U X_k such that f|X_i : X_i -> Y is monotonically increasing for i=1,...,k. It is proved that a one-to-one function f:N -> N is k-monotonically…

Suppose that $A$ is a finite, nonempty subset of a cyclic group of either infinite or prime order. We show that if the difference set $A-A$ is ``not too large'', then there is a nonzero group element with at least as many as…

We present an elementary proof that if $A$ is a finite set of numbers, and the sumset $A+_GA$ is small, $|A+_GA|\leq c|A|$, along a dense graph $G$, then $A$ contains $k$-term arithmetic progressions.

A variation on the sum-product problem seeks to show that a set which is defined by additive and multiplicative operations will always be large. In this paper, we prove new results of this type. In particular, we show that for any finite…

A $k$-modal sequence is a sequence of real numbers that can be partitioned into $k+1$ (possibly empty) monotone sections such that adjacent sections have opposite monotonicities. For every positive integer $k$, we prove that any sequence of…

There exists an absolute constant $C$ with the following property. Let $A \subseteq \mathbb{F}_p$ be a set in the prime order finite field with $p$ elements. Suppose that $|A| > C p^{5/8}$. The set \[ (A \pm A)(A \pm A) = \{(a_1 \pm…

Let $A, B\subseteq \mathbb{Z}$ be finite, nonempty subsets with $\min A=\min B=0$, and let $$\delta(A,B)={\begin{array}{ll} 1 & \hbox{if} A\subseteq B, 0 & \hbox{otherwise.} If $\max B\leq \max A\leq |A|+|B|-3$ and \label{one}|A+B|\leq…

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…