English

Proving it is impossible; on Erd\H{o}s problem $\# 278$

Combinatorics 2025-08-26 v1

Abstract

Erd\H{o}s asked many mathematical questions. Some lead to exciting research, others turned out to be easily solved. In this article, we provide evidence that one of his questions, Erd\H{o}s problem \#278 , has no general answer. We do so by relating it with a hard knapsack problem instance,and by demonstrating that different, non-equivalent formulas arise depending on the structure of the moduli.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.18270,
  title  = {Proving it is impossible; on Erd\H{o}s problem $\# 278$},
  author = {Stijn Cambie},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.18270},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

3 pages Comments/ opinion welcome

R2 v1 2026-07-01T05:05:05.371Z