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Questions tagged [divisors-multiples]

For questions on divisors and multiples, mainly but not exclusively of integers, and related and derived notions such as sums of divisors, perfect numbers and so on.

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Are there an infinite number of integers $n$ such that $n, n+1$, and $n+2$ have the same number of divisors?

Is the set $S:=\{n\in\mathbb{N} \mid \text{$n$, $n+1$ and $n+2$ have the same number of divisors}\}$ infinite? Example: $33\in S$.
Mathivanan Palraj's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
320 views

Is $\liminf \frac{\sigma_{k}(n)}{n}$ finite for every $k$?

Can someone show me how to prove that $$\liminf_{n \to \infty} \frac{\sigma_{k}(n)}{n} < \infty$$ for every natural number $k$? Or is this problem open? Here, $\sigma_{k}(n)=\sigma(\sigma(\sigma(\...
zeraoulia rafik's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
360 views

Factors of polynomials of bounded height

Let $f(x)=a_nx^n+\cdots+a_0 \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ be an integer polynomial in one variable. Recall that the height $H(f):=\textrm{max}\,|a_n|$ is the largest coefficient. Consider the set of polynomials ...
Philip Engel's user avatar
  • 1,493
6 votes
1 answer
360 views

Friable Numbers In Short Intervals: Density Estimates?

I am hoping for explicit numerical estimates like the following sample (with made up numbers, though it might be true): for every $n \gt 10^6$ and every $b$ with $b^2 \lt n \lt b^3$, the number of ...
Gerhard Paseman's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
222 views

Growth rate of signed sum of $N \sigma_0(n)-\sigma_1(n)$

Let $\sigma_k(n)=\sum_{d|n} d^k,$ for a positive integer $n$ and $k\geq 0$. A lot is known about the averages for the functions $\sigma_k(n),$ such as the estimates $$ \sum_{n\leq x} \sigma_0(n)=x \...
kodlu's user avatar
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6 votes
0 answers
506 views

Does the equation $\sigma(\sigma(x^2))=2x\sigma(x)$ have any odd solutions?

This question was posted in MSE in early August 2020. It did garner several upvotes, but did not receive any responses. I have therefore cross-posted it here, hoping that it gets answered. Let $\...
Jose Arnaldo Bebita's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
284 views

Is there a positive odd $n$ such that $\sigma(\sigma(n)) = \sigma(\sigma(n)-n)+\sigma(n)$?

Let $\sigma(n)$ denote the sum of the divisors of $n$. (https://oeis.org/A000203) It is relatively easy to find numbers $n$ such that $f(g(n)) = g(f(n))$ where $f(n) = \sigma(n)$ and $g(n) = \sigma(n) ...
Alkan's user avatar
  • 701
6 votes
0 answers
201 views

Smooth integers with lower bound on $\omega(n)$

Define $(b,c)$-smooth integers to be integers having all prime factors bigger than $c$ and smaller than $b$. Probability a number is $(b,1)$-smooth is governed by the Dickman function while ...
VS.'s user avatar
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6 votes
0 answers
535 views

When is $ \sigma(n!-1) $ a perfect square?

I am looking for pairs of positive integers $(m,n)$ such that $ \sigma(n!-1) =m^2$, where $\sigma$ is the sum of divisors function. Examples occur with $(m,n)=(12,5),(1,2)$. Question: Are there ...
user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
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If $N = qn^2$ is an odd perfect number with $\gcd(q,n)=1$, is it possible to have $q + 1 = \sigma(n)$?

The title says it all. Question If $N = qn^2$ is an odd perfect number with Euler prime $q$ and $\gcd(q,n)=1$, is it possible to have $q + 1 = \sigma(n)$? Heuristic From the Descartes spoof, with ...
Jose Arnaldo Bebita's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
737 views

Arbitrarily large $n$ divides $F_n$

Is it true that there exists $n \in \mathbb{N}$ with arbitrarily many prime factors such that $n$ divides $F_n$, where $F_n$ represents the n-th Fibonacci number?
shapi's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
318 views

"Oddity" of Fibonacci-Catalan numbers

As a follow up to my previous two MO questions, here and here, let's consider the below inquiry. Define the Fibonacci-Catalan numbers by $FC_n=\frac1{F_{n+1}}\binom{2n}n_F$ where $F_0=0, F_1=1, F_0!=...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
287 views

Is the factorization of $a_m-a_n$ affected by the fact that $\Sigma \frac{1}{a_k}<+\infty$?

I would like to ask the following. Let $(a_n)$ be a sequence of natural numbers such that $\sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{a_k}$ converges. Is it true that for infinitely many $m$, there is a $n<m$ ...
Konstantinos Gaitanas's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
960 views

There at least 4 divisors of $n-1$ which do not divide $\phi(n)$ if $n$ is a composite of the form $6k+1$

If $n$ is composite then $\phi(n) < n-1$ (Euler's totient function) hence there must be one or more divisors of $n-1$ which do not divide $\phi(n)$. For lack of a better terminology, let us call ...
Nilotpal Kanti Sinha's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
716 views

Good books on the divisor sum function $\sigma(n)$?

I would like gain detailed knowledge about properties of the divisor sum function $\sigma(n)$, special equation that have been studied (e.g. $\sigma(n) = 2n$ perfect numbers, ...) and progress that ...
Fabian Schn.'s user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
232 views

Improvement of a bound on divisor distributions from "Divisors" (Hall and Tenenbaum)?

In the classic text referred to in the title of this question, the bound $$ H(x,y,2y) \ll \frac{x}{(\log y)^{\delta}\sqrt{\log \log y}},\quad (3\leq y\leq \sqrt{x}) $$ is given, where $\delta=1-\frac{...
kodlu's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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Small covering of divisors

Let $D_n$ be the set of divisors of $n$. Does there always exists a $B\subseteq D_n$ such that $D_n = \{\gcd(ab,n) \mid a\leq \sqrt{n}, b\in B\}$ and $\sum_{b\in B} \frac{n}{b}=O(n)$?
Chao Xu's user avatar
  • 613
5 votes
1 answer
264 views

Analogue of the second Hardy-Littlewood conjecture for numbers of divisors?

Let $f(n)$ denote the proposition "There exists some $k>1$ such that $$ \sum_{m=k}^{k+n-1}\tau(m) < \sum_{m=1}^n\tau(m) $$ where $\tau(m)$ is the number of the divisors of $m$." (This ...
Charles's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
1k views

A truncated divisor function sum

Let $d(n)$ be the number of divisors function, i.e., $d(n)=\sum_{k\mid n} 1$ of the positive integer $n$. The following estimate is well known $$ \sum_{n\leq x} d(n)=x \log x + (2 \gamma -1) x +{\cal ...
kodlu's user avatar
  • 10.4k
5 votes
2 answers
403 views

Estimating $\sum_{n\leq x: n \in A} d(n)^a$ from below for large sets $A\subset \{1,2,\ldots,x\}.$

I apologise for the long-windedness of this question. Let $a$ be a positive real constant and let $d(n)$ denote the number of divisors of $n.$ Define $$ S_a(x)=\sum_{n\leq x} d(n)^a. $$ For $a=1,$ ...
kodlu's user avatar
  • 10.4k
5 votes
1 answer
607 views

Who is attributed with the conjecture that every multiply-perfect number greater than $1$ is even?

I know that Descartes is considered to be the first to ask whether or not odd perfect numbers exist ($n$ such that $\sigma(n)=2n$, where $\sigma(n)$ is the sum of divisors of $n$), and he also ...
Jaycob Coleman's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
357 views

Can the Lagarias inequality be written as a "kernel inequality"?

The Lagarias inequality, which is equivalent to the Riemann hypothesis, is: $$\sigma(n) \le H_n + \exp(H_n) \log(H_n) =:L(n)$$ for all natural numbers $n$, where $\sigma=$ sum of divisors, $H_n=n$-th ...
mathoverflowUser's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
200 views

A modern reference for the Piltz divisor problem

apparently, the Dirichlet hyperbola method is no longer up-to-date, and instead Voronoi's identity is used in order to establish good bounds on the Dirichlet divisor problem. The same applies to the ...
Cloudscape's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
171 views

Touchard / van der Pol's identity for the sum of divisors and an elliptic curve for perfect numbers

In Touchard (1953) it is mentioned that the sum of divisors $\sigma(n)$, satisifies the following recurrence relation ($n>1$): $$n^2(n-1) = \frac{6}{\sigma(n)} \sum_{k=1}^{n-1}(3n^2-10k^2)\sigma(k)\...
Perfect Number's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
235 views

What is known about the mode of the number of divisors $\le x$?

Let $d(x)$ be the divisor function. Let $M(x)$ ($x$ a positive integer) be the most frequent value of $d(y)$ for $1 \le y \le x$. Is an asymptotic known for $M(x)$, and failing that, can $M(x)$ at ...
user514014's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
179 views

The total number of divisors of those integers with the most divisors

I'm interested in summing $\tau(m)$, the number of positive divisors of $m$, not over all integers in an interval but rather over only the integers with the most divisors. More specifically: Given a ...
Greg Martin's user avatar
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5 votes
0 answers
772 views

The Grimm Machine(s): A Collatz Conjecture Rival?

Edit 2018.08.08 This answer https://mathoverflow.net/a/307881 will be updated to give recent information about S, especially a forthcoming preprint. End Edit 2018.08.08 Just as the Collatz ...
Gerhard Paseman's user avatar
4 votes
4 answers
461 views

On the diophantine equation $x^{m-1}(x+1)=y^{n-1}(y+1)$ with $x>y$, over integers greater or equal than two

I've asked two years ago a post on Mathematics Stack Exchange, were provided two excellent answers. I'm asking on MathOverflow in the hope that some professor can to expand/improve (if it is possible) ...
user142929's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
375 views

$\sum_{i=1}^x\sum_{j=1}^xf(i\cdot j)$ Double Summing a (Not Completely) Multiplicative Function

Let $f(n)$ be a multiplicative function that is not completely multiplicative, i.e $f(m)\cdot f(n)= f(m\cdot n)$ only if $gcd(m,n)=1$. Let $S(x)$ be the double sum over $f$, that is: $$S(x)=\sum_{i=1}...
MC From Scratch's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
427 views

Divisibility of Stirling numbers

It is well known that if $p$ is prime, Stirling numbers of the first and second kind, $s_1(p,k)$ and $s_2(p,k)$, are divisible by $p$ if $1<k\le p-1$ (Lagrange ; easiest is working in $\mathbb F_p$ ...
Feldmann Denis's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
646 views

Piltz Divisor Problem

Let $\tau_k(n)$ count the number of ways of representing $n$ as the product of $k$ natural numbers. It is known that: $$D_k(x) = \sum_{n \leq x} \tau_k(n) = xP_k(\log x) + O(x ^{1 - \frac{1}{k-1}}(\...
user366818's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
129 views

Maximal number of divisors of numbers whose sum does not exceed $n$

Denote by $f(n)$ the maximal number of distinct divisors of $k$ integer numbers $1\leq a_1<a_2<\ldots<a_k\leq n$, where $k$ is not fixed and $a_1+\ldots+a_k\leq n$. I'm interested in the ...
Alexey Staroletov's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
208 views

Representation of a number as a product of $\sqrt{n^2 + 1} + n$

Question. Do there exist two multisets $A, B$ consisting of positive integer numbers such that $|A|$ and $|B|$ have different parity and $$ \prod_{n\in A}(n + \sqrt{n^2 + 1}) = \prod_{m\in B}(m + \...
Pavel Gubkin's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
271 views

Around the equation $\sigma\left(\square\right)=\text{prime}$: counterexamples or a proof for some of these conjectures

For integers $A,B\geq 1$ we define the difference $\sigma(A)\sigma(B)-\sigma(AB)$, denoting it as $[A,B]$, where $\sigma(n)=\sum_{1\leq d\mid n}d$ denotes the sum of divisors function. It is possible ...
user142929's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
221 views

Sum of divisors and unitary divisors as the eigenvalue and the spectral norm of some addition matrix?

Let $n$ be a natural number and $D_n$ be the set of divisors. We can make this set to a ring by observing that each divisor $d$ has $$0 \le v_p(d) \le v_p(n)$$ Hence we can add two divisors $d,e$ by ...
user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
263 views

Divisibility relation with a specific sum of divisors

Let $\sigma(n)$ be the sum of the divisors of $n$. Is it always true that if $n$ is odd, that $$n\mid\sum_{k=1}^{\frac{n-1}{2}}k^2\sigma(k)\sigma(n-k)?$$ I have checked this up to $n=100$, and I ...
JoshuaZ's user avatar
  • 6,969
4 votes
2 answers
903 views

What literature is known about MacMahon's generalized sum-of-divisors function?

MacMahon in the paper Divisors of Numbers and their Continuations in the Theory of Partitions defines several generalized notions of the sum-of-divisors function; for example, if we write $a_{n,k}$ ...
Simon Rose's user avatar
  • 6,290
4 votes
0 answers
87 views

On Carmichael function and aliquot parts of odd perfect numbers

I've asked nine months ago this question on Mathematics Stack Exchange with identifier 4430381 and same title. There is not answer for this question on Mathematics Stack Exchange, I wondered if this ...
user142929's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
117 views

Greatest common divisors of some binomial coefficients

This is cross-posted from math.stackexchange. While making some computation, I stumbled upon a curious relation among some binomial coefficients. Consider the sequence of binomial coefficients $a(k,n)$...
Fabius Wiesner's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
185 views

Near Pochhammer symbols: the equation $(n)_m-(k)_l=2$ for integers greater than or equal to two

In this post I consider the following equation involving Pochhammer symbols, $$(n)_m-(k)_l=2\tag{1}$$ for positive integers $n\geq 2$ and $k\geq 2$, and positive integers $m\geq 2$ and $l\geq 2$. ...
user142929's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
415 views

Maximal order of Hooley's Delta function?

There is a large literature on Hooley's $$ \Delta(n)=\max_u\sum_{d|n,\ e^u\le d< e^{u+1}}1 $$ giving its normal and average order. What is known of its maximal order? Clearly $\Delta(n)\le d(n)$ ...
Charles's user avatar
  • 9,114
3 votes
1 answer
844 views

Find all positive integers $n$ such that $n+\tau{(n)}=2\varphi{(n)}$

Conjecture:Today I have no intention of thinking about this question. I have only got two solutions so far. I guess there are only two solutions, but I won't prove it. Let $n$ be positive integers, ...
math110's user avatar
  • 4,280
3 votes
1 answer
330 views

Greatest common divisor of $(a^n+1,b^n+1)$

Let $(a,b)$ be a pair of coprime positive integers with $a$ being even. Are these conditions sufficient to prove that there exist infinitely many positive integers $n,$ such that $(a^n+1,b^n+1)=1$ ?
Kristiyan Vasilev's user avatar
3 votes
4 answers
1k views

A conjecture regarding odd perfect numbers

(Note: I asked this question in MSE this June 2018 but did not receive any responses there. I have therefore cross-posted it here, hoping that it gets answered.) Let $\sigma(z)$ denote the sum of ...
Jose Arnaldo Bebita's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
356 views

Primitive sequence $a_i$ attaining Pillai's bound on $\sum_{i} 1/a_i$

A primitive sequence $1<a_1<\ldots<a_k\leq n$ is a sequence of integers no one of which divides any other, investigated by Erdos, Behrend and others, over the last 80 years. In fact, $\max k=\...
kodlu's user avatar
  • 10.4k
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

Finding primes using Euler's sum of divisors recurrence relation

Euler came up with following recurrence relation for the sum of divisors (refer to http://arxiv.org/abs/math/0411587) $$\sigma(n) = \sigma(n−1) + \sigma(n−2) − \sigma(n−5) − \sigma(n−7) \dots$$ Since ...
TurtleTread's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
795 views

Estimate about primes

Can anyone give an estimate (upper bound or lower bound) for the number of divisors $d\mid P_r$ such that $\frac{\sqrt{P_r}}{2}< d < \sqrt{P_r}$, where $P_r$ is the product of the $r$ smallest ...
Farzad Aryan's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
288 views

Sum of small divisors with powers

I am looking for the tightest known bound for the sum $$\sum_{\substack{1\leq k\leq j^\alpha \\ k\mid j}}k^\lambda$$ where $j$ is a large positive integer, $\alpha\in(0,1)$ and $\lambda\geq 1$. I ...
Itay's user avatar
  • 549
3 votes
1 answer
239 views

Divisibility properties of a stream of numbers

Let $S$ be a set of $k$ distinct natural numbers, each from the interval $[2,n]$, with least common multiple $\mathop{lcm}$. What fraction $\rho$ of the numbers $2,3,4,\ldots,\mathop{lcm}$ are ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
309 views

How to estimate the sum $\sum_{n\le x} \frac{n}{\tau(n)}$?

Let $\tau(n)$ be the number of positive divisors of $n\in \mathbb{N}$. Is it possible to get some good estimate for the sum $\sum_{n\le x} \frac{n}{\tau(n)}$? I know that the sum is $\mathcal O(x^2)$...
Konstantinos Gaitanas's user avatar