Legendre's conjecture states that there is a prime number between n^2 and (n+1)^2 for every positive integer n. We consider the following question : for all integer n>1 and a fixed integer k<=n does there exist a prime number such that kn < p < (k+1)n ? Bertrand-Chebyshev theorem answers this question affirmatively for k=1. A positive answer for k=n would prove Legendre's conjecture. In this paper, we show that one can determine explicitly a number N(k) such that for all n >= N(k), there is at least one prime between kn and (k+1)n. Our proof is based on Erdos's proof of Bertrand-Chebyshev theorem and uses elementary combinatorial techniques without appealing to the prime number theorem.
The evaluations of determinants with Legendre symbol entries have close relation with character sums over finite fields. Recently, Sun posed some conjectures on this topic. In this paper, we prove some conjectures of Sun and also study some variants. For example, we show the following result: Let $p=a^2+4b^2$ be a prime with $a,b$ integers and $a\equiv1\pmod4$. Then for the determinant $$S(1,p):={\rm det}\bigg[\left(\frac{i^2+j^2}{p}\right)\bigg]_{1\le i,j\le \frac{p-1}{2}},$$ the number $S(1,p)/a$ is an integral square, which confirms a conjecture posed by Cohen, Sun and Vsemirnov.
An interesting episode in the history of the prime number theorem concerns a formula proposed by Legendre for counting the primes below a given bound. We point out that arithmetic bias likely played an important role in arriving at that formula and in its subsequent widespread, decades-long recognition. We also show that the Legendre constant 1.08366 satisfies a certain simple and natural criterion, and conjecture that this criterion is how Legendre arrived at that erroneous constant in his formula.
In this paper, we will study the connections between the mirror symmetry of K3 surfaces and the geometry of the Legendre family of elliptic curves. We will prove that the mirror map of the Dwork family is equal to the period map of the Legendre family. This result provides an interesting explanation to the modularities of counting functions for K3 surfaces from the mirror symmetry point of view. We will also discuss the relations between the arithmetic geometry of smooth fibers of the Fermat pencil (Dwork family) and that of the smooth fibers of the Legendre family, e.g. Shioda-Inose structure…
In this paper, we investigate sums of four squares of integers whose prime factorizations are restricted, making progress towards a conjecture of Sun that states that two of the integers may be restricted to the forms $2^a3^b$ and $2^c5^d$. We obtain an ineffective generalization of results of Gauss and Legendre on sums of three squares and an effective generalization of Lagrange's four-square theorem.
On a determinant involving linear combinations of Legendre symbols
School of Mathematics and Physics, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University（西安利物浦大学数学与物理学院）；School of Mathematics, Nanjing University（南京大学数学系）；School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanjing Tech University（南京工业大学物理与数学科学学院）
In this paper, we will give another proof of Zhi-Wei Sun's three conjectures on Apéry-like sums involving harmonic numbers by proving some identities among special values of multiple polylogarithms.
In this paper we confirm three conjectures of Z.-W. Sun on determinants. We first show that any odd integer $n>3$ divides the determinant $$\left|(i^2+dj^2)\left(\frac{i^2+dj^2}n\right)\right|_{0\le i,j\le (n-1)/2},$$ where $d$ is any integer and $(\frac{\cdot}n)$ is the Jacobi symbol. Then we prove some divisibility results concerning $|(i+dj)^n|_{0\le i,j\le n-1}$ and $|(i^2+dj^2)^n|_{0\le i,j\le n-1}$, where $d\not=0$ and $n>2$ are integers. Finally, for any odd prime $p$ and integers $c$ and $d$ with $p\nmid cd$, we determine completely the Legendre symbol $(\frac{S_c(d,p)}p)$, where $S_c(…
For each prime $p\equiv 1\pmod{4}$ consider the Legendre character $χ=(\frac{\cdot}{p})$. Let $p_\pm(n)$ be the number of partitions of $n$ into parts $λ>0$ such that $χ(λ)=\pm 1$. Petersson proved a beautiful limit formula for the ratio of $p_+(n)$ to $p_-(n)$ as $n\to\infty$ expressed in terms of important invariants of the real quadratic field $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{p})$. But his proof is not illuminating and Grosswald conjectured a more natural proof using a Tauberian converse of the Stolz-Cesàro theorem. In this paper we suggest an approach to address Grosswald's conjecture. We discuss a monot…
This paper will primarily present a method of proving generating function identities for partitions from linked partition ideals. The method we introduce is built on a conjecture by George Andrews and that those generating functions satisfy some $q$-difference equations. We will come up with the generating functions of partitions in the Kanade--Russell conjectures to illustrate the effectiveness of this method.
We study the Jacobian $J$ of the smooth projective curve $C$ of genus $r-1$ with affine model $y^r = x^{r-1}(x + 1)(x + t)$ over the function field $\mathbb{F}_p(t)$, when $p$ is prime and $r\ge 2$ is an integer prime to $p$. When $q$ is a power of $p$ and $d$ is a positive integer, we compute the $L$-function of $J$ over $\mathbb{F}_q(t^{1/d})$ and show that the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture holds for $J$ over $\mathbb{F}_q(t^{1/d})$. When $d$ is divisible by $r$ and of the form $p^ν+1$, and $K_d := \mathbb{F}_p(μ_d,t^{1/d})$, we write down explicit points in $J(K_d)$, show that they g…
