Questions tagged [nt.number-theory]

Prime numbers, diophantine equations, diophantine approximations, analytic or algebraic number theory, arithmetic geometry, Galois theory, transcendental number theory, continued fractions

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Can you solve the listed smallest open Diophantine equations?

In 2018, Zidane asked What is the smallest unsolved Diophantine equation? The suggested way to measure size is substitute 2 instead of all variables, absolute values instead of all coefficients, and ...
Bogdan Grechuk's user avatar
49 votes
2 answers
10k views

Is this Riemann zeta function product equal to the Fourier transform of the von Mangoldt function?

Mathematica knows that: $$\log(n) = \lim\limits_{s \rightarrow 1} \zeta(s)\left(1 - \frac{1}{n^{(s - 1)}}\right)\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\; (1)$$ The von Mangoldt function should then be: $$\Lambda(n)=...
33 votes
3 answers
11k views

About Goldbach's conjecture

let's consider a composite natural number $n$ greater or equal to $4$. Goldbach's conjecture is equivalent to the following statement: "there is at least one natural number $r$ such as $(n-r)$ ...
Sylvain JULIEN's user avatar
106 votes
6 answers
18k views

How small can a sum of a few roots of unity be?

Let $n$ be a large natural number, and let $z_1, \ldots, z_{10}$ be (say) ten $n^{th}$ roots of unity: $z_1^n = \ldots = z_{10}^n = 1$. Suppose that the sum $S = z_1+\ldots+z_{10}$ is non-zero. How ...
Terry Tao's user avatar
  • 106k
9 votes
0 answers
4k views

Is the conjecture A+B=C following correct?

Is the conjecture on A+B=C following correct ? Conjecture: Let $A, B, C$ be three positive integer numbers such that $A+B=C$ with $\gcd(A, B, C) = 1$. By Fundamental theorem of arithmetic we write: $...
Đào Thanh Oai's user avatar
168 votes
3 answers
63k views

Estimating the size of solutions of a diophantine equation

A. Is there natural numbers $a,b,c$ such that $\frac{a}{b+c} + \frac{b}{a+c} + \frac{c}{a+b}$ is equal to an odd natural number ? (I do not know any such numbers). B. Suppose that $\frac{a}{b+c} + \...
alex alexeq's user avatar
  • 1,821
54 votes
6 answers
6k views

What is the smallest unsolved Diophantine equation?

If $P=\sum_{\bf i} a_{\bf i}x^{\bf i}\in {\mathbb Z}[x_1,\dots,x_d]$, let $|P|=\sum_{\bf i}|a_{\bf i}|x^{\bf i}$ and $h(P)=|P|(2,\dots,2)$, so that there is only a finite number of $P$ with $h(P)\leq ...
Zidane's user avatar
  • 917
49 votes
4 answers
8k views

Is there an "elementary" proof of the infinitude of completely split primes?

Let $K$ be a Galois extension of the rationals with degree $n$. The Chebotarev Density Theorem guarantees that the rational primes that split completely in $K$ have density $1/n$ and thus there are ...
François G. Dorais's user avatar
42 votes
3 answers
19k views

Which integers can be expressed as a sum of three cubes in infinitely many ways?

For fixed $n \in \mathbb{N}$ consider integer solutions to $$x^3+y^3+z^3=n \qquad (1) $$ If $n$ is a cube or twice a cube, identities exist. Elkies suggests no other polynomial identities are known. ...
joro's user avatar
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13 votes
3 answers
1k views

Bound the error in estimating a relative totient function

Let $n=p_1^{e_1}\cdots p_k^{e_k}$ be an integer with $k$ prime factors. We know that the number of integers less than $n$ and coprime to it is $$\Phi(n)=n-\sum_i\frac n{p_i}+\sum_{i \lt j}\frac n{...
Aaron Meyerowitz's user avatar
12 votes
0 answers
2k views

Would the following conjectures imply $\lim\inf_{n\to\infty}p_{n+k}-p_{n}=O(k\log k)$?

Assume Goldbach's conjecture. Then for every $n\ge 2$ there exists at least one non-negative integer $r\le n-2$ such that both $n+r$ and $n-r$ are primes. Let's write $r_{0}(n):=\inf\{r\le n-2, (n-r,n+...
Sylvain JULIEN's user avatar
114 votes
8 answers
31k views

Zagier's one-sentence proof of a theorem of Fermat

Zagier has a very short proof (MR1041893, JSTOR) for the fact that every prime number $p$ of the form $4k+1$ is the sum of two squares. The proof defines an involution of the set $S= \lbrace (x,y,z) \...
Keivan Karai's user avatar
  • 6,014
44 votes
2 answers
7k views

What is known about the sum x^{n^2}/n?

It follows from a general theorem of Honda that the formal group with the logarithm $$ x+x^{2^s}/2+x^{3^s}/3+x^{4^s}/4+\cdots $$ has integer coefficients. I became interested in it because its $p$-...
მამუკა ჯიბლაძე's user avatar
35 votes
3 answers
7k views

Distinct numbers in multiplication table

Consider the multiplication table for the numbers $1,2,\dots, n$. How many different numbers are there? That is, how many different numbers of the form $ij$ with $1 \le i, j \le n$ are there? I'm ...
falagar's user avatar
  • 2,741
26 votes
7 answers
6k views

Asymptotic density of k-almost primes

Let $\pi_k(x)=|\{n\le x:n=p_1p_2\cdots p_k\}|$ be the counting function for the k-almost primes, generalizing $\pi(x)=\pi_1(x)$. A result of Landau is $$\pi_k(x)\sim\frac{x(\log\log x)^{k-1}}{(k-1)!\...
Charles's user avatar
  • 8,914
22 votes
3 answers
2k views

Hecke equidistribution

For a prime $p\equiv 1\pmod{4}$, we can write $p=a^2+b^2=N(a+bi)$. Therefore $$ a+bi=p^{1/2}e^{i\varphi} $$ where $\varphi\in [0,2\pi]$. I know that Hecke proved that $\varphi$ is equidistributed. I ...
M.B's user avatar
  • 2,458
18 votes
3 answers
4k views

sum of squares in ring of integers

Lagrange proved that every positive integer is a sum of 4 squares. Are there general results like this for rings of integers of number fields? Is this class field theory? Explicitly, suppose a ...
user avatar
55 votes
3 answers
5k views

Number of elements in the set $\{1,\cdots,n\}\cdot\{1,\cdots,n\}$

Let $A_n=\{a\cdot b : a,b \in \mathbb{N}, a,b\leq n\}$. Are there any estimates for $|A_n|$? Will it be $o(n^2)$?
Kamalakshya's user avatar
39 votes
4 answers
7k views

Which number fields are monogenic? and related questions

A number field $K$ is said to be monogenic when $\mathcal{O}_K=\mathbb{Z}[\alpha]$ for some $\alpha\in\mathcal{O}_K$. What is currently known about which $K$ are monogenic? Which are not? From Marcus'...
Zev Chonoles's user avatar
  • 6,702
524 votes
3 answers
55k views

Polynomial bijection from $\mathbb Q\times\mathbb Q$ to $\mathbb Q$?

Is there any polynomial $f(x,y)\in{\mathbb Q}[x,y]{}$ such that $f\colon\mathbb{Q}\times\mathbb{Q} \rightarrow\mathbb{Q}$ is a bijection?
Z.H.'s user avatar
  • 5,283
59 votes
5 answers
11k views

Is the Riemann Hypothesis equivalent to a $\Pi_1$ sentence?

1) Can the Riemann Hypothesis (RH) be expressed as a $\Pi_1$ sentence? More formally, 2) Is there a $\Pi_1$ sentence which is provably equivalent to RH in PA? Update (July 2010): So we have two ...
Kaveh's user avatar
  • 5,264
49 votes
4 answers
4k views

What fraction of the integer lattice can be seen from the origin?

Consider the integer lattice points in the positive quadrant $Q$ of $\mathbb{Z}^2$. Say that a point $(x,y)$ of $Q$ is visible from the origin if the segment from $(0,0)$ to $(x,y) \in Q$ passes ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
45 votes
1 answer
5k views

Is it possible to show that $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{\mu(n)}{\sqrt{n}}$ diverges?

Let $\mu(n)$ denote the Mobius function with the well-known Dirichlet series representation $$ \frac{1}{\zeta(s)} = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{\mu(n)}{n^{s}}. $$ Basic theorems about Dirichlet series ...
Jeremy Rouse's user avatar
  • 19.9k
22 votes
1 answer
2k views

The abc-conjecture as an inequality for inner-products?

The abc-conjecture is: For every $\epsilon > 0$ there exists $K_{\epsilon}$ such that for all natural numbers $a \neq b$ we have: $$ \frac{a+b}{\gcd(a,b)}\,\ <\,\ K_{\epsilon}\cdot \text{rad}\...
user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
1k views

distribution of coprime integers

Let $0 < a < 1$ be fixed, and integer $n$ tends to infinity. It is not hard to show that the number of integers $k$ coprime to $n$ such that $1\leq k\leq an$ asymtotically equals $(a+o(1))\...
Fedor Petrov's user avatar
137 votes
2 answers
54k views

Consequences resulting from Yitang Zhang's latest claimed results on Landau-Siegel zeros

Very recently, Yitang Zhang just gave a (virtual) talk about his work on Landau-Siegel zeros at Shandong University on the 5th of November's morning in China. He will also give a talk on 8th November ...
Blanco's user avatar
  • 1,503
291 votes
8 answers
140k views

Philosophy behind Mochizuki's work on the ABC conjecture

Mochizuki has recently announced a proof of the ABC conjecture. It is far too early to judge its correctness, but it builds on many years of work by him. Can someone briefly explain the philosophy ...
77 votes
5 answers
18k views

Inaccessible cardinals and Andrew Wiles's proof

In a recent issue of New Scientist (16 Aug 2010), I was surprised to read that a part of Wiles' proof of Taniyama-Shimura conjecture relies on inaccessible cardinals. Here's the article Richard Elwes,...
Cosmonut's user avatar
  • 1,031
58 votes
9 answers
15k views

Learning Class Field Theory: Local or Global First?

I've noticed that there seem to be two approaches to learning class field theory. The first is to first learn about local fields and local class field theory, and then prove the basic theorems about ...
David Corwin's user avatar
  • 14.9k
58 votes
6 answers
6k views

Has decidability got something to do with primes?

Note: I have modified the question to make it clearer and more relevant. That makes some of references to the old version no longer hold. I hope the victims won't be furious over this. Motivation: ...
abcdxyz's user avatar
  • 2,734
48 votes
4 answers
4k views

Are there primes of every Hamming weight?

Are there primes of every Hamming weight? That is, for every integer $n \in \mathbb{Z}_{>0}$ does there exist a prime which is the sum of $n$ distinct powers of $2$? In this case, the Hamming ...
dakota's user avatar
  • 583
47 votes
1 answer
3k views

improving known bounds for Pierce expansions; cash prize

Here's a problem that I thought of back in 1978 or so, and only a little progress has been made on it since then. I still think about it from time to time, but probably not that many people have ...
Jeffrey Shallit's user avatar
46 votes
5 answers
5k views

The resultant and the ideal generated by two polynomials in $\mathbb{Z}[x]$

I was asked the following question by a colleague and was embarrassed not to know the answer. Let $f(x), g(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ with no root in common. Let $I = (f(x),g(x))\cap \mathbb{Z}$, that is, ...
Felipe Voloch's user avatar
45 votes
7 answers
10k views

Are some numbers more irrational than others?

Some irrational numbers are transcendental, which makes them in some sense "more irrational" than algebraic numbers. There are also numbers, such as the golden ratio $\varphi$, which are poorly ...
I. J. Kennedy's user avatar
37 votes
8 answers
11k views

How does one motivate the analytic continuation of the Riemann zeta function?

I saw the functional equation and its proof for the Riemann zeta function many times, but usually the books start with, e.g. tricky change of variable of Gamma function or other seemingly unmotivated ...
36min's user avatar
  • 3,738
34 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is there a ring of integers except for Z, such that every extension of it is ramified?

This is probably common knowledge, alas I have to confess my ignorance. In simpler more abstract language, does $\mathcal{O}_K$ being simply connected (having trivial etale $\pi_1$) imply $\mathcal{O}...
James D. Taylor's user avatar
28 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is the Golomb countable connected space topologically rigid?

The Golomb space $\mathbb G$ is the set of positive integers endowed with the topology generated by the base consisting of the arithmetic progressions $a+b\mathbb N_0$ with relatively prime $a,b$ and $...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
  • 40.2k
28 votes
4 answers
5k views

distance between powers of 2 and powers of 3

I expect this is a classical question, so feel free to point me to classical answers: what is the fastest-growing function $f(t)$ for which we know that $$ |2^t - 3^{t'}| \ge f(\min(t,t')) \;? $$ In ...
Cristopher Moore's user avatar
26 votes
5 answers
2k views

Are the 'semi' trivial zeros of $\zeta(s) \pm \zeta(1-s)$ all on the critical line?

The proof that $\Gamma(z)\pm \Gamma(1-z)$ only has zeros for $z \in \mathbb{R}$ or $z= \frac12 +i \mathbb{R}$ has been given here: Are all zeros of $\Gamma(s) \pm \Gamma(1-s)$ on a line with real ...
Agno's user avatar
  • 4,109
22 votes
5 answers
7k views

Rational points on a sphere in $\mathbb{R}^d$

Call a point of $\mathbb{R}^d$ rational if all its $d$ coordinates are rational numbers. Q1. Are the rational points dense on the unit sphere $S :\; x_1^2 +\cdots+ x_d^2 = 1$, i.e. does $S$ ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
21 votes
4 answers
3k views

Is the Euler product formula always divergent for 0<Re(s)<1?

It is known that the Euler product formula converges for $\Re(s)>1$ (and there it represents the Riemann zeta function). My question: Is the Euler product always divergent for $0 < \Re(s) < ...
Seongsoo Choi's user avatar
20 votes
6 answers
4k views

Erik Westzynthius's cool upper bound argument: update?

Version 2 of this writeup is available, and includes a newer and simple upper bound thanks to MathOverflow 88777 as well as indirect references to future writeups. Details of further work ...
Gerhard Paseman's user avatar
20 votes
2 answers
2k views

On a result attributed to W. Ljunggren and T. Nagell

I've read in a number of places that, building on previous work of T. Nagell, W. Ljunggren proved in 1 that the Diophantine equation $$\frac{x^{n}-1}{x-1} = y^{2}$$ doesn't admit solutions in ...
José Hdz. Stgo.'s user avatar
17 votes
1 answer
2k views

What is known about the relationship between Fermat's last theorem and Peano Arithmetic?

As far as I know, whether Fermat's Last Theorem is provable in Peano Arithmetic is an open problem. What is known about this problem? In particular, what is known about the arithmetic systems $PA + \...
Christopher King's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
2k views

Goldbach conjecture and other problems in additive combinatorics

The field is also known as additive number theory. I am interested in sums $z=x + y$ where $x \in S, y\in T$, and both $S, T$ are infinite sets of positive integers. For instance: $S = T$ is the set ...
Vincent Granville's user avatar
113 votes
22 answers
36k views

What's the "best" proof of quadratic reciprocity?

For my purposes, you may want to interpret "best" as "clearest and easiest to understand for undergrads in a first number theory course," but don't feel too constrained.
77 votes
9 answers
24k views

Irreducibility of polynomials in two variables

Let $k$ be a field. I am interested in sufficient criteria for $f \in k[x,y]$ to be irreducible. An example is Theorem A of this paper (Brindza and Pintér, On the irreducibility of some polynomials in ...
Hailong Dao's user avatar
  • 30.2k
76 votes
12 answers
12k views

Is there a high-concept explanation for why characteristic 2 is special?

The structure of the multiplicative groups of $\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$ or of $\mathbb{Z}_p$ is the same for odd primes, but not for $2.$ Quadratic reciprocity has a uniform statement for odd primes, ...
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
58 votes
1 answer
14k views

Is the Green-Tao theorem true for primes within a given arithmetic progression?

Ben Green and Terrence Tao proved that there are arbitrary length arithmetic progressions among the primes. Now, consider an arithmetic progression with starting term $a$ and common difference $d$. ...
Akela's user avatar
  • 3,529
55 votes
4 answers
4k views

An interesting integral expression for $\pi^n$?

I came on the following multiple integral while renormalizing elliptic multiple zeta values: $$\int_0^1\cdots \int_0^1\int_1^\infty {{1}\over{t_n(t_{n-1}+t_n)\cdots (t_1+\cdots+t_n)}} dt_n\cdots dt_1.$...
Leila Schneps's user avatar

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