All Questions
60 questions
6
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Difficulty with "A new elementary proof of the Prime Number Theorem" by Richter
I'm studying Richter's "A new elementary proof of the Prime Number Theorem" paper, and I'm finding some problems understanding some parts of it. For example, I don't see how to get, in Lemma ...
3
votes
0
answers
192
views
What smoothing to use for PNT-like results?
Consider a Dirichlet series $\sum_n a_n n^{-s}$ with desirable analytic properties (e.g., analytic extension to $\Re s>0$); one example would be $a_n=\mu(n)$. Say we want to estimate $\sum_{n\leq x}...
8
votes
1
answer
245
views
Asymptotic density of sums of consecutive primes
Call a positive integer respectable if it is a sum of consecutive prime numbers. For example, every prime numbers is respectable. So are $3+5=8$, $2+3+5=10$, $5+7=12$, $3+5+7=15$, $2+3+5+7=17$, $7+11=...
5
votes
1
answer
737
views
Smallest prime factor of numbers
The literature refers to smooth integers as \begin{equation}\Psi(x,y):=\#\{n\le x:P_1(n)\le y\},\end{equation} where $P_1(n)$ is the largest prime factor of $n$. There are lots of results studying $\...
2
votes
2
answers
424
views
"Squeezing" the primes?
The logical idea here is to map a curve that encodes the primes into the region $(0,1)^2$ and analyze the distribution there more easily and achieve tight bounds.
To assess the distribution of primes, ...
2
votes
1
answer
153
views
Estimating the minimum number of distinct least prime factors found in range of $c$ consecutive integers
When I look at the count of distinct least prime factors for a range of consecutive integers, I am seeing the same minimum number appear again and again. I am wondering if this number represents the ...
11
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Mertens-like theorem
Mertens' first theorem states that
$$
\sum_{p \leq n} \frac{\log p}{p} = \log n + O(1).
$$
I read in this paper that the following variant is "classical":
$$
\sum_{p \leq n} \frac{\log p}{p -...
21
votes
3
answers
6k
views
Why is the Chebyshev function relevant to the Prime Number Theorem
Why is the Chebyshev function
$\theta(x) = \sum_{p\le x}\log p$
useful in the proof of the prime number theorem. Does anyone have a conceptual argument to motivate why looking at $\sum_{p\le x} \log ...
13
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Proving Mertens' theorem using the prime number theorem
Mertens' Theorem states that
$$\sum_{p \leq x}\frac{1}{p} = \log \log x + M + O(1/\log x).$$
This is weaker than the prime number theorem; in fact according to the Wikipedia page, the prime number ...
30
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Heuristic argument for the prime number theorem?
Here is a bad heuristic argument for the prime number theorem. Let $n$ be a positive integer and assume that PNT holds up to $n$. Then $n$ itself is prime if and only if for each prime $p<n$ the ...
2
votes
1
answer
283
views
Explicit bounds on number of primes of given size
How many prime numbers of $b$ bits are there?
Beyond the prime number theorem, one can give explicit bounds on the number of primes below some integer $n$, or in a given interval. For instance, Rosser ...
10
votes
0
answers
416
views
Are prime numbers among sums of prime numbers distributed as $\frac n{2\ln(n)}$?
Let $(s_n)_{n\in\mathbb N}$ be defined as follows:
For $n\in\mathbb N$, $s_n:=2+3+5+\cdots+p_n$ is the sum of the first $n$ prime numbers (e.g.: $s_1=2$, $s_2=5$, $s_3=10$, $s_4=17$, $\ldots$).
Let $\...
0
votes
0
answers
136
views
Bounded sums involving primes
I'm trying to generalize the Theorem 2.7.1 in [1] where they prove:
$$\sum_{p \leq x} f(p) = \int_{2}^{x} \frac{f(t)}{\log{t}} dt + \epsilon(x)f(x) - \int_{2}^{x} \epsilon(t) f^{'}(t) dt $$
where $\...
0
votes
0
answers
91
views
How to use prime number theorem In such cases?
Let,
$$A(x)=\sum_{p\leq x}f(p)$$
Where $p$ is a prime number.
Under the Prime Number theorem we have that,
$$\pi(x)=Li(x)+O\left(\frac{x}{e^{a\sqrt{\ln(x)}}}\right) $$
as $x$ approach infinity.
Now,
$$...
1
vote
1
answer
317
views
An explicit value for a bound proof
I saw a proof that $|p_n - li^{-1}(n)| \leq n e^{-c \sqrt{\ln(n)}} $,
without saying anything about $c$ !
My questions is, what the explicit value of $c$ ??
It just says for some number $c$ without ...
2
votes
1
answer
461
views
How essential is the vanishing of the Dirichlet $L$-functions to Dirichlet's theorem on primes in arithmetic progressions?
I seem to recall that the prime number theorem (PNT) is equivalent to the fact that the Riemann zeta function $\zeta(s)$ is non-zero on all of $\text{Re}(s) = 1$ (see https://math.stackexchange.com/...
2
votes
0
answers
313
views
Proving that the Riemann zeta function is zero free on Re=1 using the prime number theorem
Is $\frac{-\zeta'(s)}{\zeta(s)}+\frac{-s}{s-1}$ an analytic continuation, holomorphic for $Re\ s > 0,\ s\neq 1$, of $f(s)=s\int_{1}^{\infty}\frac{\psi(x)-x}{x^{s+1}}\mathrm{d}x$?
If so: Let $s_{0}$ ...
4
votes
1
answer
395
views
Mertens formulas aren't enough for prime number theorem
For the primes it's true that
$$
\sum_{p \le x}\frac{1}{p} = \ln\ln x + M + O(1/\ln x)
$$
where, $M$ is suitable constant, and, moreover, the prime number theorem gives that
$$
\lim_{x\to\infty}\frac{\...
7
votes
2
answers
636
views
How to use the Prime Number Theorem in order to prove Selberg's Formula?
I`m reading Melvin B. Nathanson's "Elementary Methods in Number Theory"
and I can't think of a way of deducing Selberg's formula (9.3) from the prime number theorem.
This is one of the tasks ...
-2
votes
1
answer
181
views
Polynomials of minimum degree that interpolate primes in intervals
Given an interval $[a,b]$ what is the minimum degree of univariate polynomials in $\mathbb Q[x]$ that passes through all primes between $a$ and $b$ (denoted by $\mathbb P[a,b]$ with total number of ...
-3
votes
1
answer
237
views
L. Gegenbauer's proof of Infinitude of Primes [closed]
I was going through the paper 'Euclid’S theorem on the infinitude of primes: A historical survey of its proofs' by Romeo Mestrovic where he mentioned that
L. Gegenbauer proved Infinitude of Primes by ...
6
votes
1
answer
499
views
Understanding Sylvester' s $1871$ paper of primes in arithmetic progression of the forms $4n+3$ and $6n+5$
The following is the proof of infinitude of primes in arithmetic progression of the form $4n+3$ and $ 6n+5$ done by Sylvester in $1871$ in his paper "On the theorem that an arithmetical progression ...
5
votes
2
answers
435
views
Proving certain inequality related to Primes
I was reading the following paper. But I can't understand why the last line concerning $\frac{2}{\pi}$ is true. The proof is a work of Sylvester.
I would be happy if someone helps me in understanding ...
1
vote
1
answer
867
views
$n$th prime: a better approximation
Let $p_n$ be the $n$-th prime, then from Wikipedia I got that
$p_n \approx n \left(\ln n + \ln \ln n -1 + \frac{\ln \ln n-2}{\ln n}+\frac{6\ln \ln n-( \ln \ln n)^2-11}{\ln^2 n} \right)$.
What is a ...
0
votes
1
answer
474
views
An upper bound for $\sqrt{p_{n+1}}$
Let $C$ be a positive constant. Is it true that for all sufficiently large integers $n$ the inequality $$\prod_{i=1}^n (1+\frac{1}{\sqrt{p_i}})>C\sqrt{p_{n+1}}$$ holds? (Here with $p_k$ is denoted ...
0
votes
1
answer
256
views
Lower bound for $\prod_{p\equiv 3 \pmod 4} p^{v_p(n!)}$
What is the best lower bound known for $$\prod_{p\equiv 3 \pmod 4} p^{v_p(n!)},$$ where the product is taken over all the primes(congruent to $3$ modulo $4$) less than or equal to $n$.
3
votes
2
answers
386
views
Prime divisors of $\prod_{i=1}^n (i^2+1)$
Is it true that for every positive integer $n$ there is a prime $p>n,$ which divides $\prod_{i=1}^n (i^2+1)$ ?
5
votes
0
answers
193
views
Asymptotic expansion for the average of $\omega(n)^2$
Let $\omega(n)$ be the prime factors counting function. I computed that for any $k\geq 0$, there exist certain constants $c_{-1},c_0,c_1,c_2,...c_k$ such that
$$\sum_{n\leq x}\omega(n)^2=x(\log\log x)...
7
votes
1
answer
1k
views
A curious prime counting approximation or just data overfitting?
I am not sure, if this is a research problem. If not I will move this question to ME:
Let $\Omega(n) = \sum_{p|n} v_p(n)$, which we might view as a random variable.
Let $E_n = \frac{1}{n} \sum_{k=1}^n\...
0
votes
0
answers
114
views
The best error term for the second moment
Let $r_2(n)$ be the number of representations of a positive integer $n$ as a sum of two prime squares, i.e. $n=p^2+q^2$. Consider $S_1(x)= \sum_{n \le x} r_2(n)$ and $S_2(x) = \sum_{n \le x}r_2^2(n)$. ...
36
votes
2
answers
7k
views
Why do primes dislike dividing the sum of all the preceding primes?
I was investigating primes with the property that the sum of the first $n$ primes is divisible by $p_n$. It turns out that these primes are extremely extremely rare. For primes less than $10^9$, I ...
6
votes
2
answers
411
views
A simultaneous generalization of the Grunwald-Wang and Dirichlet Theorems on primes
By Grunwald-Wang Theorem, if for some odd number $n$ the equation $x^n=a$ has no solutions in $\mathbb Z$, then the equation $x^n=a\mod p$ has no solutions for some prime number $p$. I am interested ...
3
votes
0
answers
206
views
Cancellation in this exponential sum?
I would like to know whether it is possible to obtain cancellation in the sum
$$\sum_{p \leq X} e^{{2\pi iX}/{p}}$$
where $X$ is a real number that goes to $\infty$, and $p$ denotes a prime number.
13
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Asymptotics of the n-th prime using the gamma function
In the paper http://rgmia.org/papers/v8n2/eepnt.pdf, the author proves that proves an explicit inequality on prime numbers using the gamma function and as a corollary, he showed that.
$$
p_n = n \...
11
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Does the Prime Number Theorem have anything to do with Erdos-Kac law or vice versa?
The prime number theorem says on average we can find $\frac n{\log n}$ primes of magnitude $n$.
Erdos-Kac law state a typical number of magnitude $n$ has $\log\log n$ primes.
Somehow the fact $e^{\...
46
votes
4
answers
8k
views
Why could Mertens not prove the prime number theorem?
We know that
$$
\sum_{n \le x}\frac{1}{n\ln n} = \ln\ln x + c_1 + O(1/x)
$$
where $c_1$ is a constant. Again Mertens' theorem says that the primes $p$ satisfy
$$
\sum_{p \le x}\frac{1}{p} = \ln\ln ...
32
votes
3
answers
8k
views
Ideas in the elementary proof of the prime number theorem (Selberg / Erdős)
I'm reading the elementary proof of prime number theorem (Selberg / Erdős, around 1949).
One key step is to prove that, with $\vartheta(x) = \sum_{p\leq x} \log p$,
$$(1) \qquad\qquad \vartheta(x) \...
2
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Estimates for Sum of Prime Factors and Number of Prime Factors
Given a positive integer $n$, I've workout out a formula which involves the expression "sum of distinct primes dividing n" minus "number of distinct prime factors of n."
Are there any known ...
7
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Legendre's Constant
In a couple of web pages, I see that Legendre's constant is defined to be $\lim_{n \to \infty} (\pi(n) - (n/\log(n)))$ (for example, here and here).
Actually the first uses $\lim_{n \to \infty} (\log(...
3
votes
1
answer
230
views
Double max of a particular sum in Montgomery-Vaughan
In the Montgomery-Vaughan's paper ''The exceptional set in Goldbach's problem'',
they estimate the following sum:
$$\displaystyle \max_{0<y\leq x}\max_{0<h\leq x} \left(h+\frac{x}{P}\right)^{-1}...
3
votes
1
answer
224
views
PNT analog for primes inside a structured set
Let $\Bbb T$ be the set of all square free integers with ordering derived from $\Bbb N$. Essentially $PNT$ says if you pick $\log N$ integers less than $N$ you can expect one of them to be prime.
...
8
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Asymptotics for primality of sum of three consecutive primes
We consider the sequence $R_n=p_n+p_{n+1}+p_{n+2}$, where $\{p_i\}$ is the prime number sequence, with $p_0=2$, $p_1=3$, $p_2=5$, etc..
The first few values of $R_n$ are:
10, 15, 23, 31, 41, 49, 59, ...
0
votes
1
answer
370
views
prime counting function pi bounds [closed]
is it true that for some integer $n_0$, that all integer numbers n such that $n \geq n_0$ the following holds true for the prime counting function :
$\frac{x}{\ln x} (1+\frac{1}{\ln x}+\frac{2}{\ln^2 ...
0
votes
2
answers
317
views
On a coprime generalization of Cramer's conjecture
Given a large enough integer $n\in\Bbb N$ and a real $r\in\big(0,\frac12\big]$ and $n_1\in\Bbb N_{> n}$ is the smallest integer such that $n_1=AB$ for two coprime integers $A$ bigger than but close ...
0
votes
1
answer
437
views
Mertens' 3rd theorem, upper bound
Is it true that
$$\prod_{p\le x}\frac p{p-1}\le e^\gamma\ln x\left(1-\frac{0{.}011}{\ln x}+\frac{0.2}{(\ln x)^2}\right)$$
for all $x>25\,000$, where the product is over prime $p$?
10
votes
0
answers
740
views
Implications of divergence of $1/\zeta(s) $ at 1/2
$1/\zeta(s)=\sum_{n>0}\frac{\mu(n)}{n^s}$ where $\mu$ is the Moebius function.
This series is known to converge for $s\ge 1$ and diverge for $s\le 1/2$.
Its convergence is unknown if $1/2< s&...
8
votes
1
answer
243
views
Main term in the number of sign changes of $\psi(x) - x$
Define $N_\Delta(T)$ to be the number of sign changes of $\psi(x) - x$ in the interval $[1, T]$.
Landau's Theorem says $N_\Delta(T)$ is $\Omega(\log T)$ [1].
But perhaps that estimate is too crude. ...
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What is the best currently proven bounds on prime gaps?
I did some digging around on the internet but I found tons of different equations on both lower and upper bounds for the largest possible prime gap g(n). I was wondering what are currently the best ...
4
votes
0
answers
412
views
Effective prime number theorem
The prime number theorem implies that for every $ϵ>0$, there is $n_\epsilon$ such that for all $n≥n_\epsilon$ the number of primes in $[n,cn]$ is at least $\frac{(c−1−\epsilon)n}{\log n}$ and at ...
10
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Quantitative and elementary proofs of the Prime Number Theorem
I would like to know two things: one, whether the best quantative bounds in the Prime Number Theorem are still basically those given by the Vinogradov-Korobov zero-free region? and two, whether there ...