All Questions
14 questions
66
votes
3
answers
6k
views
Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind and primality testing
Can you provide a proof or a counterexample for the claim given below ?
Inspired by Agrawal's conjecture in this paper and by Theorem 4 in this paper I have formulated the following claim :
Let $...
- 2,661
65
votes
6
answers
14k
views
What is the simplest proof that the density of primes goes to zero?
By density of primes, I mean the proportion of integers between $1$ and $x$ which are prime. The prime number theorem says that this is asymptotically $1/\log(x)$.
I want something much weaker, namely ...
- 4,164
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 $\vartheta(x) = \sum_{p\leq x} \log p$,
$$(1) \qquad\qquad \vartheta(x) \...
- 587
20
votes
3
answers
3k
views
What is the simplest proof that the density of coprime pairs does not go to zero?
By density of coprime pairs, I mean the proportion of pairs integers between $1$ and $x$ which are coprime.
This is known to be asymptotically $1/\zeta(2)$.
I want something much weaker, namely that ...
- 19k
17
votes
0
answers
891
views
An elementary proof that, for every fixed $n \in \mathbf N^+$, there are infinitely many primes $\equiv -1 \bmod n$
This morning, I made a comment to a comment to a question of Ayman Moussa, only to point out that, among many others, there is an elementary proof of Dirichlet's theorem on the existence of infinitely ...
- 10.5k
14
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Nonstandard proofs of the fundamental theorem of arithmetic
Thirty or so years ago, someone showed me a clever proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic that did not make use of the lemma "If $p\mid ab$ then $p\mid a$ or $p\mid b$". I'm unable ...
- 19.7k
13
votes
3
answers
1k
views
At what point would an elementary generalization of Bertrand's Postulate be interesting?
I know that in 1952 Jitsuro Nagura was able to show that there is always a prime between $k$ and $\frac{6k}{5}$ for $k > 24$.
At what point would an improvement on Nagura's result be interesting? ...
- 1,049
7
votes
1
answer
462
views
Primality test for $N=2^a3^b+1$
Can you prove or disprove the following claim:
Let $N=2^a3^b+1$ , $a>0 , b>0$ . If there exists an integer $c$ such that $$c^{(N-1)/3}-c^{(N-1)/6} \equiv -1 \pmod{N}$$ then $N$ is a prime.
You ...
- 2,661
6
votes
1
answer
826
views
Going beyond the Sylvester and Schur theorem with regard to $x,x+1,\dots,x+n-1$
I was recent reading through Paul Erdos's classic elementary proof of Sylvester-Schur. It occurred me that there is a simple argument that when $x$ is sufficiently large and if $p_i$ represents the $...
- 1,049
5
votes
0
answers
586
views
Primality test for specific class of generalized Fermat numbers
Can you provide a proof or a counterexample for the following claim :
Let $P_m(x)=2^{-m}\cdot((x-\sqrt{x^2-4})^m+(x+\sqrt{x^2-4})^m)$ .
Let $F_{p,n}= (2p)^{2^n}+1 $ where $p$ is a prime number ...
- 2,661
3
votes
1
answer
383
views
Primality test for specific class of $N=k \cdot b^n-1$
This question is successor of Compositeness test for specific class of $N=k \cdot b^n-1$ .
Can you provide a proof or a counterexample to the following claim :
Let $P_m(x)=2^{-m}\cdot \left(\left(...
- 2,661
3
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Formula for $\pi$ involving exponents of Mersenne primes
Can someone provide a proof for the following claim?
$$\pi=\dfrac{S_0S_2}{M_3M_5} \cdot\left(\displaystyle\prod_{p \equiv 1 \pmod{4} } \frac{p}{p-1}\right) \cdot \left(\displaystyle\prod_{p \equiv 3 \...
- 2,661
2
votes
1
answer
365
views
Primality test for specific class of $N=8kp^n-1$
My following question is related to my question here
Can you provide a proof or a counterexample for the following claim :
Let $P_m(x)=2^{-m}\cdot \left(\left(x-\sqrt{x^2-4}\right)^{m}+\left(x+\...
- 2,661
1
vote
0
answers
93
views
Primality test for specific class of $N=12k \cdot 5^n-1$
Can you provide a proof for the following claim:
Let $P_m(x)=2^{-m}\cdot \left(\left(x-\sqrt{x^2-4})^m+(x+\sqrt{x^2-4}\right)^m\right)$ .
Let $N= 12k \cdot 5^{n} - 1 $ where $n\ge3$ , $12k <5^n$ ...
- 2,661