For fixed integer $a\ge3$, we study the binary Diophantine equation $\frac{a}n=\frac1x+\frac1y$ and in particular the number $E_a(N)$ of $n\le N$ for which the equation has no positive integer solutions in $x, y$. The asymptotic formula $$E_a(N)\sim C(a) \frac{N(\log\log N)^{2^{m-1}-1}}{(\log N)^{1-1/2^m}}$$ as $N$ goes to infinity, is established in this article, and this improves the best result in the literature dramatically. The proof depends on a very delicate analysis of the underlying group structure.
Any rational number can be written as the sum of distinct unit fractions. In this survey paper we review some of the many interesting questions concerning such 'Egyptian fraction' decompositions, and recent progress concerning them.
For any integer $N \geq 1$, let $\mathfrak{E}_N$ be the set of all Egyptian fractions employing denominators less than or equal to $N$. We give upper and lower bounds for the cardinality of $\mathfrak{E}_N$, proving that $$ \frac{N}{\log N} \prod_{j = 3}^{k} \log_j N<\log(\#\mathfrak{E}_N) < 0.421\, N, $$ for any fixed integer $k\geq 3$ and every sufficiently large $N$, where $\log_j x$ denotes the $j$-th iterated logarithm of $x$.
From varying Egyptian fraction equations we obtain generalizations of primary pseudoperfect numbers and Giuga numbers which we call prime power psuedoperfect numbers and prime power Giuga numbers respectively. We show that a sequence of Amarnath Murthy in the OEIS is a subsequence of the sequence of prime power psuedoperfect numbers. Prime factorization conditions sufficient to imply a number is a prime power pseudoperfect number or a prime power Giuga number are given. The conditions on prime factorizations naturally give rise to a generalization of Fermat primes which we call extended Fermat…
Resolving a conjecture of Zhi-Wei Sun, we prove that every rational number can be represented as a sum of distinct unit fractions whose denominators are practical numbers. The same method applies to allowed denominators that are closed under multiplication by two and include a multiple of every positive integer, including the odious numbers, evil numbers, Hardy-Ramanujan numbers, Jordan-Polya numbers, and fibbinary numbers.
An increasing sequence $(x_i)_{i=1}^n$ of positive integers is an $n$-term Egyptian underapproximation of $θ\in (0,1]$ if $\sum_{i=1}^n \frac{1}{x_i} < θ$. A greedy algorithm constructs an $n$-term underapproximation of $θ$. For some but not all numbers $θ$, the greedy algorithm gives a unique best $n$-term underapproximation for all $n$. An infinite set of rational numbers is constructed for which the greedy underapproximations are best, and numbers for which the greedy algorithm is not best are also studied.
Given a positive integer $n$ we let $A_k(n)$ be the number of positive integers $a$ such that $\frac{a}{n}=\frac{1}{m_1}+\frac{1}{m_2}+\cdots+\frac{1}{m_k}$ for some $m_1,m_2,\ldots,m_k\in {\mathbb N}$. We show that $x(\log x)^3\ll \sum_{p\le x} A_3(p)\ll x(\log x)^5$ as $x\rightarrow\infty$.
Refining an estimate of Croot, Dobbs, Friedlander, Hetzel and Pappalardi, we show that for all $k \geq 2$, the number of integers $1 \leq a \leq n$ such that the equation $a/n = 1/m_1 + \dotsc + 1/m_k$ has a solution in positive integers $m_1, \dotsc, m_k$ is bounded above by $n^{1 - 1/2^{k-2} + o(1)}$ as $n$ goes to infinity. The proof is elementary.
The number of solutions of the diophantine equation $\sum_{i=1}^k \frac{1}{x_i}=1,$ in particular when the $x_i$ are distinct odd positive integers is investigated. The number of solutions $S(k)$ in this case is, for odd $k$: \[\exp \left( \exp \left( c_1\, \frac{k}{\log k}\right)\right) \leq S(k) \leq \exp \left( \exp \left(c_2\, k \right)\right) \] with some positive constants $c_1$ and $c_2$. This improves upon an earlier lower bound of $S(k) \geq \exp \left( (1+o(1))\frac{\log 2}{2} k^2\right)$.
Let $[a_1(x),a_2(x), a_3(x),\cdots]$ denote the continued fraction expansion of a real number $x \in [0,1)$. This paper is concerned with certain exceptional sets of the Borel-Bernstein Theorem on the growth rate of $\{a_n(x)\}_{n\geq1}$. As a main result, the Hausdorff dimension of the set \[ E_{\sup}(ψ)=\left\{x\in[0,1):\ \limsup\limits_{n\to\infty}\frac{\log a_n(x)}{ψ(n)}=1\right\} \] is determined, where $ψ:\mathbb{N}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}^+$ tends to infinity as $n\to\infty$.
Let $\left(a_{n}\right)_{n}$ be a strictly increasing sequence of positive integers, denote by $A_{N}=\left\{ a_{n}:\,n\leq N\right\} $ its truncations, and let $α\in\left[0,1\right]$. We prove that if the additive energy $E\left(A_{N}\right)$ of $A_{N}$ is in $Ω\left(N^{3}\right)$, then the sequence $\left(\left\langle αa_{n}\right\rangle \right)_{n}$ of fractional parts of $αa_{n}$ does not have Poissonian pair correlations (PPC) for almost every $α$ in the sense of Lebesgue measure. Conversely, it is known that $E\left(A_{N}\right)=\mathcal{O}\left(N^{3-\varepsilon}\right)$, for some fixed …
For a sequence of integers $\{a(x)\}_{x \geq 1}$ we show that the distribution of the pair correlations of the fractional parts of $\{ \langle αa(x) \rangle \}_{x \geq 1}$ is asymptotically Poissonian for almost all $α$ if the additive energy of truncations of the sequence has a power savings improvement over the trivial estimate. Furthermore, we give an estimate for the Hausdorff dimension of the exceptional set as a function of the density of the sequence and the power savings in the energy estimate. A consequence of these results is that the Hausdorff dimension of the set of $α$ such that $…
