For every positive integer $n$ and for every $α\in [0, 1]$, let $\mathcal{B}(n, α)$ denote the probabilistic model in which a random set $\mathcal{A} \subseteq \{1, \dots, n\}$ is constructed by picking independently each element of $\{1, \dots, n\}$ with probability $α$. Cilleruelo, Rué, Šarka, and Zumalacárregui proved an almost sure asymptotic formula for the logarithm of the least common multiple of the elements of $\mathcal{A}$.
Let $q$ be an indeterminate and let $[k]_q := 1 + q + q^2 + \cdots + q^{k-1} \in \mathbb{Z}[q]$ be the $q$-analog of the positive integer $k$. We determine the expected value and the variance of $X := \operatorname{deg} \operatorname{lcm}\!\big([\mathcal{A}]_q\big)$, where $[\mathcal{A}]_q := \big\{[k]_q : k \in \mathcal{A}\big\}$. Then we prove an almost sure asymptotic formula for $X$, which is a $q$-analog of the result of Cilleruelo et al.
An identity for binomial symbols modulo an odd positive integer $n$ relating to the least prime factor of $n$ is proved. The identity is discussed within the context of Pell conics.
It is proved that if the least modulus of a distinct covering system is 4, its largest modulus is at least 60; also if the least modulus is 3, the LCM of the moduli is at least 120; finally, if the least modulus is 4, the LCM of the moduli is at least 360. The constants 60, 120, and 360 can not be replaced by larger constants.
We study the typical behavior of the least common multiple of the elements of a random subset $A\subset \{1,\dots, n\}$. For example we prove that $\text{lcm}\{a:\ a\in A\}=2^{n(1+o(1))}$ for almost all subsets $A\subset\{1,\dots,n\}$.
Let $d\ge4$ and $c\in(-d,d)$ be relatively prime integers. We show that for any sufficiently large integer $n$ (in particular $n>24310$ suffices for $4\le d\le 36$), the smallest prime $p\equiv c\pmod d$ with $p\ge(2dn-c)/(d-1)$ is the least positive integer $m$ with $2r(d)k(dk-c)\ (k=1,\ldots,n)$ pairwise distinct modulo $m$, where $r(d)$ is the radical of $d$. We also conjecture that for any integer $n>4$ the least positive integer $m$ such that $|\{k(k-1)/2\ \mbox{mod}\ m:\ k=1,\ldots,n\}|= |\{k(k-1)/2\ \mbox{mod}\ m+2:\ k=1,\ldots,n\}|=n$ is the least prime $p\ge 2n-1$ with $p+2$ also prim…
Let H(x,y,z) be the number of integers $\le x$ with a divisor in (y,z] and let H_1(x,y,z) be the number of integers $\le x$ with exactly one such divisor. When y and z are close, it is expected that H_1(x,y,z) H(x,y,z), that is, an integer with a divisor in (y,z] usually has just one. We determine necessary and sufficient conditions on y and z so that H_1(x,y,z) H(x,y,z). In doing so, we answer an open question from the paper "The distribution of integers with a divisor in a given interval", math.NT/0401223.
Let Q be a non-singular quadratic form with integer coefficients. When Q is indefinite we provide new upper bounds for the least non-trivial integral solution to the equation Q=0. When Q is positive definite we provide improved upper bounds for the least positive integer k such that the equation Q=k is insoluble in integers, despite being soluble modulo every prime power.
We deduce an asymptotic formula with error term for the sum $\sum_{n_1,\ldots,n_k \le x} f([n_1,\ldots, n_k])$, where $[n_1,\ldots, n_k]$ stands for the least common multiple of the positive integers $n_1,\ldots, n_k$ ($k\ge 2$) and $f$ belongs to a large class of multiplicative arithmetic functions, including, among others, the functions $f(n)=n^r$, $φ(n)^r$, $σ(n)^r$ ($r>-1$ real), where $φ$ is Euler's totient function and $σ$ is the sum-of-divisors function. The proof is by elementary arguments, using the extension of the convolution method for arithmetic functions of several variables, sta…
Let $n$ be a positive integer and $f(x)$ be a polynomial with nonnegative integer coefficients. We prove that ${\rm lcm}_{\lceil n/2\rceil \le i\le n} \{f(i)\}\ge 2^n$ except that $f(x)=x$ and $n=1, 2, 3, 4, 6$ and that $f(x)=x^s$ with $s\ge 2$ being an integer and $n=1$, where $\lceil n/2\rceil$ denotes the smallest integer which is not less than $n/2$. This improves and extends the lower bounds obtained by Nair in 1982, Farhi in 2007 and Oon in 2013.
By a suitable shifting-the-mean parametrization at the Dirichlet series level and Delange's Tauberian theorems, we show that the number of factors in random ordered factorizations of integers is asymptotically normally distributed.
We prove that for any positive integer c there are at least N(c), $1\leq N(c) < ϕ(c)/2$ representations of c as a sum of two positive integers a, b, with no common divisor, such that the N(c) radicals R(abc) are all greater than kc, where k an absolute constant.
Let $r$ be a positive integer, and let $A$ be a nonempty finite set of at least two integers. We let $\tilde{C}_r(A)$ denote the {\em asymptotic $r$-covering number} of $A$, that is, the smallest integer value of $l$ for which, for all sufficiently large positive integers $h$, the $rh$-fold sumset of $A$ is contained in at most $l$ translates of the $h$-fold sumset of $A$. Nathanson proved that $\tilde{C}_r(A)$ is always at most $r+1$; here we extend this result to prove that $\tilde{C}_r(A)$ is always at least $r$, and determine all sets $A$ for which $\tilde{C}_r(A)=r$.
Let $l$ and $m$ be two integers with $l>m\ge 0$, and let $f(x)$ be the product of two linear polynomials with integer coefficients. In this paper, we show that $\log {\rm lcm}_{mn<i\le ln}\{f(i)\}=An+o(n)$, where $A$ is a constant depending only on $l$, $m$ and $f$.
We study the uniform distribution of the polynomial sequence $λ(P)=(\lfloor P(k) \rfloor )_{k\geq 1}$ modulo integers, where $P(x)$ is a polynomial with real coefficients. In the nonlinear case, we show that $λ(P)$ is uniformly distributed in $\mathbb{Z}$ if and only if $P(x)$ has at least one irrational coefficient other than the constant term. In the case of even degree, we prove a stronger result: $λ(P)$ intersects every congruence class modulo every integer if and only if $P(x)$ has at least one irrational coefficient other than the constant term.
When studying the least common multiple of some finite sequences of integers, the first author introduced the interesting arithmetic functions $g_k$ $(k \in \mathbb{N})$, defined by $g_k(n) := \frac{n (n + 1) ... (n + k)}{\lcm(n, n + 1, >..., n + k)}$ $(\forall n \in \mathbb{N} \setminus \{0\})$. He proved that $g_k$ $(k \in \mathbb{N})$ is periodic and $k!$ is a period of $g_k$. He raised the open problem consisting to determine the smallest positive period $P_k$ of $g_k$. Very recently, S. Hong and Y. Yang have improved the period $k!$ of $g_k$ to $\lcm(1, 2, ..., k)$. In addition, they have…
This paper is concerned with trinomials of the form $z^{n}+az^{m}+b$, where $0<m<n$ are relatively prime integers and $a$ and $b$ are non-zero complex numbers. Typically (but not exclusively), $a$ will be an integer with $|a| \geq 2$, while $b=\pm 1$. Our main results cover the irreducibility, Mahler measure and house of such trinomials.
We present here a method which allows to derive a nontrivial lower bounds for the least common multiple of some finite sequences of integers. We obtain efficient lower bounds (which in a way are optimal) for the arithmetic progressions and lower bounds less efficient (but nontrivial) for quadratic sequences whose general term has the form $u_n = a n (n + t) + b$ with $(a, t, b) \in {\mathbb{Z}}^3, a \geq 5, t \geq 0, \rm{gcd}(a, b) = 1$. From this, we deduce for instance the lower bound: $\mathrm{lcm}\{1^2 + 1, 2^2 + 1, ..., n^2 + 1\} \geq 0,32 (1,442)^n$ (for all $n \geq 1$). In the last part…
In this article we estimate the number of integers up to $X$ which can be represented by a positive-definite, binary integral quadratic form of discriminant which is small relative to $X$. This follows from understanding the vector of signs when computing the Legendre symbol of small integers $n$ at multiple primes.
For relatively prime positive integers u_0 and r, we consider the arithmetic progression {u_k := u_0+k*r} (0 <= k <= n). Define L_n := lcm{u_0,u_1,...,u_n} and let a >= 2 be any integer. In this paper, we show that, for integers alpha,r >= a and n >= 2*alpha*r, we have L_n >= u_0*r^{alpha+a-2}*(r+1)^n. In particular, letting a = 2 yields an improvement to the best previous lower bound on L_n (obtained by Hong and Yang) for all but three choices of alpha,r >= 2.
Let $q$ be a large prime number, $a$ be any integer, $ε$ be a fixed small positive quantity. Friedlander and Shparlinksi \cite{FSh} have shown that there exists a positive integer $n\ll q^{5/2+ε}$ such that $ϕ(n)$ falls into the residue class $a \pmod q.$ Here, $ϕ(n)$ denotes Euler's function. In the present paper we improve this bound to $n\ll q^{2+ε}.$
Let $l$ and $m$ be two integers with $l>m\ge 0$, and let $a$ and $b$ be integers with $a\ge 1$ and $a+b\ge 1$. In this paper, we prove that $\log {\rm lcm}_{mn<i\le ln}\{ai+b\} =An+o(n)$, where $A$ is a constant depending on $l, m$ and $a$.
Let $L_{n}$ be the least common multiple of a random set of integers obtained from $\{1,\ldots,n\}$ by retaining each element with probability $θ\in (0,1)$ independently of the others. We prove that the process $(\log L_{\lfloor nt\rfloor})_{t\in [0,1]}$, after centering and normalization, converges weakly to a certain Gaussian process that is not Brownian motion. Further results include a strong law of large numbers for $\log L_{n}$ as well as Poisson limit theorems in regimes when $θ$ depends on $n$ in an appropriate way.
We prove that the rational elliptic curve y^2 = x^3 - n^2x satisfies the full Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture for at least 41.9% of positive squarefree integers n equal to 1, 2, or 3 mod 8, and that it satisfies the regular BSD conjecture for at least 55.9% of positive squarefree integers n equal to 5, 6, or 7 mod 8. In particular, at least 55.9% of positive squarefree integers equal to 5, 6, or 7 mod 8 are congruent numbers. These proofs complete an argument started by Tian, Yuan, and Zhang.
For relatively prime positive integers $u_0$ and $r$ and for $0\le k\le n$, define $u_k:=u_0+kr$. Let $L_n:={\rm lcm}(u_0, u_1, ..., u_n)$ and let $a, l\ge 2$ be any integers. In this paper, we show that, for integers $α\geq a$ and $r\geq \max(a, l-1)$ and $n\geq lαr$, we have $$L_n\geq u_0r^{(l-1)α+a-l}(r+1)^n.$$ Particularly, letting $l=3$ yields an improvement to the best previous lower bound on $L_n$ obtained by Hong and Kominers.
Using classical results of Rogers bounding the $L^2$-norm of Siegel transforms, we give bounds on the heights of approximate integral solutions of quadratic equations and error terms in the quantiative Oppenheim theorem of Eskin-Margulis-Mozes for almost every quadratic form. Further applications yield quantitative information on the distribution of values of random polynomials at integral points.
For any $\varepsilon > 0$ we derive effective estimates for the size of a non-zero integral point $m \in \mathbb{Z}^d \setminus \{0\}$ solving the Diophantine inequality $\lvert Q[m] \rvert < \varepsilon$, where $Q[m] = q_1 m_1^2 + \ldots + q_d m_d^2$ denotes a non-singular indefinite diagonal quadratic form in $d \geq 5$ variables. In order to prove our quantitative variant of the Oppenheim conjecture, we extend an approach developed by Birch and Davenport [BD58b] to higher dimensions combined with a theorem of Schlickewei [Sch85]. The result obtained is an optimal extension of Schlickewei's …
This thesis is devoted to studying estimates of the least common multiple of some integer sequences. Our study focuses on effective bounding of the $\mathrm{lcm}$ of some class of quadratic sequences, as well as arithmetic progressions and strong divisibility sequences. First, we have used methods of commutative algebra and complex analysis to establish new nontrivial lower bounds for the $\mathrm{lcm}$ of some quadratic sequences. Next, a more profound study of the arithmetic properties of strong divisibility sequences allowed us to obtain three interesting identities involving the $\mathrm{l…
The set of integers which can be written as the sum of four prime cubes has lower density at least $0.009664$. This improves earlier bounds of $0.003125$ by Ren and $0.005776$ by Liu.
This paper is devoted to establish nontrivial effective lower bounds for the least common multiple of consecutive terms of a sequence ${(u_n)}_{n \in \mathbb{N}}$ whose general term has the form $u_n = r {[n]}_q + u_0$, where $q , r$ are positive integers and $u_0$ is a non-negative integer such that $\mathrm{gcd}(u_0 , r) = \mathrm{gcd}(u_1 , q) = 1$. For such a sequence, we show that for all positive integer $n$, we have $\mathrm{lcm}\{u_1 , u_2 , \dots , u_n\} \geq c_1 \cdot c_2^n \cdot q^{\frac{n^2}{4}}$, where $c_1$ and $c_2$ are positive constants depending only on $q , r$ and $u_0$. Thi…
We show that the number of integer solutions for a pair of bilinear equations in at least 2*6 variables has (up to logarithms) the expected upper bound unless there is a structural reason why it is not the case.
Let $G(n)=σ(n)/(n \log \log n )$. Robin made hypothesis that $G(n)<e^γ$ for all integer $n>5040$. If Robin hypothesis fails, there will be a least counterexample. This article collects the requirements the least counterexample should satisfy.
Let $B_n(m)$ be a set picked uniformly at random among all $m$-elements subsets of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$. We provide a pathwise construction of the collection $(B_n(m))_{1\leq m\leq n}$ and prove that the logarithm of the least common multiple of the integers in $(B_n(\lfloor mt\rfloor))_{t\geq 0}$, properly centered and normalized, converges to a Brownian motion when both $m,n$ tend to infinity. Our approach consists of two steps. First, we show that the aforementioned result is a consequence of a multidimensional central limit theorem for the logarithm of the least common multiple of $m$ indepe…
If $a$ and $d$ are relatively prime, we refer to the set of integers congruent to $a$ mod $d$ as an `eligible' arithmetic progression. A theorem of Dirichlet says that every eligible arithmetic progression contains infinitely many primes; the theorem follows from the assertion that every eligible arithmetic progression contains at least one prime. The Jacobsthal function $g(n)$ is defined as the smallest positive integer such that every sequence of $g(n)$ consecutive integers contains an integer relatively prime to $n$. In this paper, we show by a combinatorial argument that every eligible ari…
Erdös and Niven proved in 1946 that for any positive integers $m$ and $d$, there are at most finitely many integers $n$ for which at least one of the elementary symmetric functions of $1/m, 1/(m+d), ..., 1/(m+(n-1)d)$ are integers. Recently, Wang and Hong refined this result by showing that if $n\geq 4$, then none of the elementary symmetric functions of $1/m, 1/(m+d), ..., 1/(m+(n-1)d)$ is an integer for any positive integers $m$ and $d$. Let $f$ be a polynomial of degree at least $2$ and of nonnegative integer coefficients. In this paper, we show that none of the elementary symmetric functio…
Let $f$ be a Rademacher or a Steinhaus random multiplicative function. Let $\varepsilon>0$ small. We prove that, as $x\rightarrow +\infty$, we almost surely have $$\bigg|\sum_{\substack{n\leq x\\ P(n)>\sqrt{x}}}f(n)\bigg|\leq\sqrt{x}(\log\log x)^{1/4+\varepsilon},$$ where $P(n)$ stands for the largest prime factor of $n$. This gives an indication of the almost sure size of the largest fluctuations of $f$.
We establish new results on root separation of integer, irreducible polynomials of degree at least four. These improve earlier bounds of Bugeaud and Mignotte (for even degree) and of Beresnevich, Bernik, and Goetze (for odd degree).
Let $R=\mathcal{O}_{\Q(\sqrt{d})}$ for $d<0$, squarefree, $d\neq -1,-3$. We prove Lehmer's conjecture for associated reciprocal polynomials of $R$-matrices; that is, any noncyclotomic $R$-matrix has Mahler measure at least $λ_0=1.176...$.
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 $m(q,e)$ is "large". We also pay special attention to the situation where $e$ is a prime power.
In this paper, we present a method for estimating the least common multiple of a large class of binary linear recurrence sequences. Let $P,Q,R_0$, and $R_1$ be fixed integers and let $\boldsymbol{R}=\left(R_n\right)_{n}$ be the recurrence sequence defined by $R_{n+2}=PR_{n+1}-QR_{n}$ $(\forall n\geq 0)$. Under some conditions on the parameters, we determine a rational nontrivial divisor for $L_{k,n}:=\mathrm{lcm}\left(R_k,R_{k+1},\dots,R_n\right)$, for all positive integers $n$ and $k$, such that $n\geq k$. As consequences, we derive nontrivial effective lower bounds for $L_{k,n}$ and we estab…
Let $L_n(k)$ denote the least common multiple of $k$ independent random integers uniformly chosen in $\{1,2,\ldots ,n\}$. In this note, using a purely probabilistic approach, we derive a criterion for the convergence in distribution as $n\to\infty$ of $\frac{f(L_n(k))}{n^{rk}}$ for a wide class of multiplicative arithmetic functions~$f$ with polynomial growth $r>-1$. Furthermore, we identify the limit as an infinite product of independent random variables indexed by prime numbers. Along the way, we compute the generating function of a trimmed sum of independent geometric laws, occurring in the…
It is well-known that for any non-constant polynomial $P$ with integer coefficients the sequence $(P(n))_{ n\in \mathbb N}$ has the property that there are infinitely many prime numbers dividing at least one term of this sequence. Certainly, there is a proof based on the Chinese Remainder Theorem. In this paper we give proofs of two analytic criteria revealing this property of sequences.
Let Q be a non-singular diagonal quadratic form in at least four variables. We provide upper bounds for the number of integer solutions to the equation Q=0, which lie in a box with sides of length 2B, as B tends to infinity. The estimates obtained are completely uniform in the coefficients of the form, and become sharper as they grow larger in modulus.
Let $k$ be an arbitrary given positive integer and let $f(x)\in {\mathbb Z}[x]$ be a quadratic polynomial with $a$ and $D$ as its leading coefficient and discriminant, respectively. Associated to the least common multiple ${\rm lcm}_{0\le i\le k}\{f(n+i)\}$ of any $k+1$ consecutive terms in the quadratic progression $\{f(n)\}_{n\in \mathbb{N}^*}$, we define the function $g_{k, f}(n):=(\prod_{i=0}^{k}|f(n+i)|)/{\rm lcm}_{0\le i\le k}\{f(n+i)\}$ for all integers $n\in \mathbb{N}^*\setminus Z_{k, f}$, where $Z_{k,f}:=\bigcup_{i=0}^k\{n\in \mathbb{N}^*: f(n+i)=0\}$. In this paper, we first show th…
Let $F$ be a binary form with integer coefficients, non-zero discriminant and degree $d$ with $d$ at least $3$. Let $R_F(Z)$ denote the number of integers of absolute value at most $Z$ which are represented by $F$. We prove that there is a positive number $C_F$ such that $R_F(Z)$ is asymptotic to $C_F Z^{\frac{2}{d}}$.
We consider very general "random integers" and (attempt to) prove that many multiplicative and additive functions of such integers have limiting distributions. These integers include, for instance, the curvatures of Apollonian circle packings, trace of Frobenius elements for elliptic curves, the Ramanujan tau-function, Mersenne numbers, and many others.
Let $f$ be a polynomial of degree at least four with integer-valued coefficients. We establish new bounds for the density of integer solutions to the equation $f=0$, using an iterated version of Heath-Browns $q$-analogue of van der Corput's method of exponential sums.
Suppose that A is a finite set of integers of diameter D. Suppose also that the set of integers B is such that A+B is a tiling of the integers, that is each integer is uniquely expressible as a+b, with a in A, b in B. It is well known that B must be a periodic set in this case. Here we study the relationship between the diameter D of A and the least period T of B. We show that T is at most C exp(C \sqrt D \log D \sqrt{\log\log D}) and that we can have T at least quadratic in D.
Fix $α>0$, and sample $N$ integers uniformly at random from $\{1,2,\ldots ,\lfloor e^{αN}\rfloor \}$. Given $η>0$, the probability that the maximum of the pairwise GCDs lies between $N^{2-η}$ and $N^{2+η}$ converges to 1 as $N\to \infty $. More precise estimates are obtained. This is a Birthday Problem: two of the random integers are likely to share some prime factor of order $N^2/\log [N]$. The proof generalizes to any arithmetical semigroup where a suitable form of the Prime Number Theorem is valid.
This paper is devoted to the study of statistical properties of the greatest common divisor and the least common multiple of random samples of positive integers.
We prove limit theorems for the greatest common divisor and the least common multiple of random integers. While the case of integers uniformly distributed on a hypercube with growing size is classical, we look at the uniform distribution on sublevel sets of multivariate symmetric polynomials, which we call hyperbolic regions. Along the way of deriving our main results, we obtain some asymptotic estimates for the number of integer points in these hyperbolic domains, when their size goes to infinity.
An s-tuple of positive integers are k-wise relatively prime if any k of them are relatively prime. Exact formula is obtained for the probability that s positive integers are k-wise relatively prime.
For integers a and n>0, let a(n) denote the residue class {x\in Z: x=a (mod n)}. Let A be a collection {a_s(n_s)}_{s=1}^k of finitely many residue classes such that A covers all the integers at least m times but {a_s(n_s)}_{s=1}^{k-1} does not. We show that if n_k is a period of the covering function w_A(x)=|{1\le s\le k: x\in a_s(n_s)}| then for any r=0,...,n_k-1 there are at least m integers in the form $\sum_{s\in I}1/n_s-r/n_k$ with I contained in {1,...,k-1}.
Random matrices arise in many mathematical contexts, and it is natural to ask about the properties that such matrices satisfy. If we choose a matrix with integer entries at random, for example, what is the probability that it will have a particular integer as an eigenvalue, or an integer eigenvalue at all? If we choose a matrix with real entries at random, what is the probability that it will have a real eigenvalue in a particular interval? The purpose of this paper is to resolve these questions, once they are made suitably precise, in the setting of 2x2 matrices.