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17 votes
2 answers
2k views

Polynomials for natural numbers and irreducible polynomials for prime numbers?

Let $p$ be a prime and $n$ be a natural number. Define inductively for prime numbers: $f_1(x) := 1$, $f_2(x):=x$, $f_p(x) := 1+\prod_{q\mid p-1} f_q(x)^{v_q(p-1)}$. Is $f_p(x)$ always irreducible for ...
9 votes
0 answers
324 views

Semi-primes represented by quadratic polynomials

According to Lemke-Oliver, irreducible quadratic polynomials $G$ with positive leading coefficient and $\rho(2)<2$, (where $\rho(m)$ denotes the number of incongruent solutions to the congruence $G(...
3 votes
1 answer
188 views

Is there a uniform family of polynomials $f_p(x) =x^2 + a(p)x + b(p)$ such that $f_p(x)\in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ is irreducible and irreducible mod $p$?

Let $p\in\mathbb{Z}$ be a positive prime number. Is there a "uniform" family of polynomials $f_p(x) =x^2 + a(p)x + b(p)$ of degree two such that $f_p(x)\in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ is both irreducible ...
5 votes
1 answer
727 views

Sum of two squares and implication of Bunyakovsky conjecture

Bunyakovsky's conjecture states that a polynomial with integer coefficients takes infinitely many prime values at integers, unless this is impossible for trivial reasons. Let $a_1(x), a_2(x), a_3(x), ...
5 votes
0 answers
160 views

Reducibility of $f(x)^{2^n}+1$ and $f(x)^{2^n}+g(x)^{2^n}$

Related to generalized Fermat numbers. Let $f(x),g(x)$ be coprime polynomials with integer coefficients. Assume that if $f(x)$ or $g(x)$ are of the form $h(x)^k$ then $k$ is power of two. Q1 Is it ...
1 vote
0 answers
107 views

Polynomial divisible by unbounded primes with exponent one

Let $f(x)$ be squarefree polynomial with integer coefficients and degree at least $3$. Is it true that for all sufficiently large $n$, $f(n)$ is divisible by prime $p$ with exponent one and $p$ is ...
17 votes
3 answers
2k views

About the prime divisors of values of polynomials

Let $P$ be a polynomial having integer coefficients (and degree $\geq 3$), and let $\mathscr P_P$ be the set of prime numbers dividing some value $P(n)$ with $n \in \mathbb Z$. Is it true that $\...
5 votes
1 answer
392 views

Divergence of primes dividing polynomials

Let $Q : \mathbb{Z} \rightarrow \mathbb{Z}$ be a polynomial. Form the set $$M_{Q} := \{p:\text{ }p\text{ is prime, }\exists n_{p}\in \mathbb{Z}\text{ so that }p|Q(n_{p})\}$$ Is $$\sum_{s \in M_{Q}}\...
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Root of polynomials in a finite field

I am looking for a way to find out if a polynomial $P\in \mathbb Z/p\mathbb Z=\mathbb F_p$, of great degree, has roots in $\mathbb F_p$, with $p$ a big prime number. For example : $p=2^{2020}-69$ ...
19 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is there an explicit expression for Chebyshev polynomials modulo $x^r-1$?

This is an immediate successor of Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind and primality testing and does not have any other motivation - although original motivation seems to be huge since a positive ...
22 votes
1 answer
2k views

Primes represented by two-variable quadratic polynomials

I'm looking over a paper, "Primes represented by quadratic polynomials in two variables" [1] which attempts to characterize the density of the primes in two-variable quadratic polynomials. ...
18 votes
1 answer
713 views

Is the p-adic density of the image of a polynomial always rational?

This question was previously posted here on MSE. Let $P(x)$ be a polynomial with integer coefficients, and let $p$ be a prime number. For $n\in\mathbb N$, let $I_n$ be the number of integers $i\in\{1,\...
6 votes
1 answer
931 views

What are prime number values of the trinomial $q(n) = n^2 + n + 41$? Assuming $n$ is a positive integer

Are there infinitely many integer values $n$ such that $q(n)$ is a prime number? Numerical evidence points to a yes answer. This is similar to Landau's 4th problem from 1912. (The conjecture that ...
5 votes
0 answers
370 views

Large prime factors of n²+1

Iwaniec proved (and many people extended) that the number of $n \le x$ for which $n^2+1=P_2$ (product of at most two primes) is $\gg x/\log x$. I am wondering what is known/can be proved for the ...
5 votes
1 answer
347 views

Checking if polynomial can be iterated and only take prime values

I have the polynomial $f(x) = x^2-x+1$ and I am wondering if there is a positive prime value $p$ such that $f(p),f^2(p),f^3(p)\dots$ are all prime. I have ran some computer simulations and I feel like ...
5 votes
0 answers
205 views

Is there a polynomial version of Wilson's theorem which can avoid Cramer flavored conjectures?

Wilson's theorem states that a natural number $n > 1$ is a prime number if and only if the product of all the positive integers less than $n$ is one less than a multiple of $n$. Is there a version ...
4 votes
0 answers
187 views

Small solutions of $f(x_1,...,x_n) \equiv 0 \pmod p$

Let $f(x_1,...,x_n)$ be polynomial with integer coefficients. Is the following possible: For almost all primes $p$ exist integers $X_1,...,X_n$ such that: $f(X_1,...,X_n) \ne 0$ $f(X_1,...,X_n) \...
4 votes
0 answers
182 views

Integer polynomial inducing a permutation of order $p$ on $\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$ for infinitely many $p$

Let $Q\in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ be a non-linear polynomial. Can there exist infinitely many primes $p$ such that $Q(\mathrm{mod}\:p)$ induces a permutation $\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$ ...
16 votes
2 answers
1k views

Injective integer polynomial is injective modulo some prime

Let $Q\in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ be a polynomial defining an injective function $\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}$. Does it define an injective function $\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$ for some prime ...
1 vote
0 answers
133 views

Primes which do not divide certain homogeneous polynomials

It is known that if $x^2 + y^2 = z^2$ is a primitive Pythagorean triplet then $z$ is not divisible by any prime of the form $4k-1$. The following is a generalization of this classical result which ...
-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 ...
2 votes
0 answers
84 views

quadratic residues and cubic polynomials [closed]

I'm really not sure about this, but I've heard somewhere that for any prime $p$, $|\sum_{x=0}^{p-1} (\frac{ax^3 +bx^2 +cx +d}{p} ) |\le \sqrt{2p}$ holds. Does anyone know a proof for this inequality ...
1 vote
1 answer
119 views

Sequences of positive integers $(a_{k})_{k \in \omega}$ that only give finitely many zeros modulo $p_{k}$ in total for all polynomials

Let $(a_{k})_{k \in \omega}$ be a sequence of positive integers such that $a_{k} < p_{k}$, $a_{k} \leq a_{k+1}$ and $\lim_{k \rightarrow \infty} a_{k}=\infty$ where $p_{k}$ is the k-th prime ...
0 votes
1 answer
356 views

A sufficient condition for a set of primes to be the set of reducibility of an integer polynomial

Let $P$ be the set of all positive primes. Let $S$ an arbitrary infinite subset of $P$ satisfying the following assumption: there exists a finite Galois extension $K$ of $\mathbb{Q}$ and a conjugacy ...
3 votes
1 answer
253 views

Сomplement of the set of numbers of the form $ 4mn - m - n$?

Numbers of the form $4mn-m-n$ where $m,n\in\mathbb{Z}^+$ are $$ A=\{2, 5, 8, 11, 12, 14, 17, 19, 20, 23, 26, 29, 30, 32, 33, 35, \ldots\} $$ The set complement of the above set is $$ B=\{1, 3, 4, 6, ...
7 votes
3 answers
401 views

On $\{P(x)+Q(y):\ x,y=0,\ldots,p-1\}$ with $p$ prime

QUESTION: Is my following conjecture (formulated in 2016) true? How to solve it? Conjecture. For any non-constant polynomials $P(x),Q(x)\in\mathbb Z[x]$, there is a positive integer $N(P,Q)$ ...
2 votes
0 answers
121 views

How to choose a prime p s.t. n-th cyclotomic polynomial splits into as much as possible irreducible polynomials while p is almost constant size?

The reason I ask this question is that cyclotomic polynomial is critical to the construction of lattice-based cryptography. In most of the existing lattice-based cryptographic schemes, $n$ is usually ...
4 votes
1 answer
287 views

Why do polynomials $x^n + 1 \bmod N$ close a shorter cycle when $n$ is even than when $n$ is odd?

Polynomials $f(x) \bmod N$, where $f(x)$ is of integer coefficients and $N$ is a composite of two distinct primes $p, q$, form a cycle --- usually leaving a tail because the cycle tends to close not ...
1 vote
0 answers
202 views

Prime generating polynomials

Continuation to this previous question. According to Lemke-Oliver, an irreducible polynomial $G$ of degree $g$ with positive leading coefficient and $\Gamma_G\neq0$ (with $\Gamma_G$ a certain factor ...
8 votes
2 answers
354 views

Let $f \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$. Does $\bar{f}$ have as many roots in $\mathbb{F}_p$ as $f$ has in $\mathbb{C}$ for infinitely many primes $p$?

Let $f \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ be a nonconstant polynomial. Consider $\bar{f} \in \mathbb{F}_p[x].$ Let $\rho_p$ be the number of distinct roots of $\bar{f}$ in $\mathbb{F}_p$, and let $\rho$ be the number ...
32 votes
1 answer
4k views

Integers not represented by $ 2 x^2 + x y + 3 y^2 + z^3 - z $

EDIT, 9 March 2014: when I asked this in 2010, I did not have the courage of my convictions, and so did not ask for an if and only if proof, as Kevin Buzzard quite properly pointed out. Such problems ...
3 votes
1 answer
205 views

How does the minimal degree of a monic polynomial with all values divisible by $p^n$ asymptotically behave?

Let $p$ be a prime number. For every $n \in \mathbb N$, let $A_{p,n}:=\{\deg P(X) : P(X)\in \mathbb Z[X]$ is monic and $p^n|P(m), \forall m \in \mathbb Z$ $\}$ . As user abx notes below, $A_{p,n}$ ...
3 votes
0 answers
408 views

The second conjecture about the degrees of special polynomials

Define the congruence "modulo m" on exponential Taylor series following the previous post (A conjecture about the degrees of special polynomials) It has been conjectured, that if we define the ...
7 votes
2 answers
883 views

Unexpectedly prime rich cubic polynomial

We got a cubic polynomial which is unexpectedly prime rich. Let $f(x)=29160 x^3 + 30132 x^2 + 8046 x + 643$ and $\pi_f(n)$ the number of primes values of $f(x)$ for $x \in [1,n]$. Let $F(n)=\frac{\...
6 votes
1 answer
665 views

On the distribution of roots modulo primes of an integral polynomial

For motivation and related questions, see below. Rough sketch of the question. View $\bigsqcup_{p \text{ prime}} (\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z})$ as a ‘subset’ of the unit circle, via $a\pmod{p} \mapsto e^{...
8 votes
1 answer
1k views

An elementary lower bound on the number of primes

Recall the second Chebyshev function: $$\psi(x) = \sum_{p \leq x} \lfloor \log_p x \rfloor \log p$$ where $x$ is a positive integer, and $p$ runs over all primes $\leq x$. In a hunt for an "...
6 votes
1 answer
364 views

Negative coefficient in an almost cyclotomic polynomial

Let $a,b,c,d$ be four prime numbers. We set the polynomial : $$P(X)=\frac{(1-X^{abc})(1-X^{abd})(1-X^{acd})(1-X^{bcd})(1-X^a)(1-X^b)(1-X^c)(1-X^d)}{(1-X)^2(1-X^{ab})(1-X^{ac})(1-X^{ad})(1-X^{bc})(1-X^{...
4 votes
0 answers
279 views

Analog of Euler's factoring technique

Is there an analog of Euler's Two Squares factoring theorem over polynomial rings $\Bbb Z[x]$ by considering a version for non-negative polynomials? Euler's two squares factoring states that numbers ...
1 vote
0 answers
195 views

Lower bound on number of smooth values of polynomial at primes

Given a polynomial $f$, it is known believed that the number of smooth values of $f$ has a positive proportion (for fixed $u$, $\lim_{X\rightarrow\infty} \frac{|\{ n < X\ :\ f(n)\ is\ X^u\ smooth \}...
4 votes
2 answers
865 views

Can a polynomial be almost always divisible by a member of a finite set of primes?

Special case of Bunyakovsky conjecture Let $f(x)$ be non-constant irreducible polynomial with integer coefficients, no fixed prime factor and positive leading coefficient. Let $S$ be a finite set of ...
12 votes
1 answer
1k views

Least prime $p$ such that an irreducible polynomial of degree $n$ has no root modulo $p$?

This question is inspired by an old question of Greg Kuperberg, about how small is the first prime $p$ which makes a given monic polynomial $P$ with integral coefficient have a (simple) root modulo $p$...
37 votes
2 answers
3k views

A question on maps from $\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$ to itself

Let $p\geq 3$ be a prime number, and let $u:\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}\to \mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$ be a map such that, for all $l\in \mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$,$l\neq 0$, the map $k\mapsto u(k+l)-u(k)$ is a ...
4 votes
3 answers
623 views

Set of primes dividing polynomials and composition

For a non-constant polynomial $A \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$, let $\mathcal{P}(A)$ denote the set of prime numbers $p$ which divide $A(n)$ for some integer $n$. If $\mathcal{P}(A) \subseteq \mathcal{P}(B)$ for ...
3 votes
3 answers
958 views

solutions to equation mod a prime

I know that characterizing the solutions to an equation in a finite field is generally difficult, but I was wondering if anyone had anything to say about the equation (ab)^2 + a^2 + b^2 = 0 mod p I ...
11 votes
3 answers
2k views

What primes divide the discriminant of a polynomial?

Given a monic polynomial $p(t) = t^n + ... + c_1 t + c_0$ with integer (or rational) coefficients and with roots $a_1, \dots a_n$, we can compute its discriminant, which is defined to be $\prod_{i< ...