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
2,275
questions
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Formal group laws and L-series
Let E be an elliptic curve, let $L(s) = \sum a_n n^{-s}$
denote its L-function, and set
$$ f(x) = \sum a_n \frac{x^n}{n}. $$
Then Honda has observed that
$$ F(X,Y) = f^{-1}(f(X) + f(Y)) $$
defines ...
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44
votes
3
answers
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Smooth functions for which $f(x)$ is rational if and only if $x$ is rational
A friend of mine introduced me to the following question: Does there exist a smooth function $f: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$, ($f \in C^\infty$), such that $f$ maps rationals to rationals and ...
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43
votes
1
answer
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What is inter-universal geometry?
I wonder what Mochizuki's inter-universal geometry and his generalisation of anabelian geometry is, e.g. why the ABC-conjecture involves nested inclusions of sets as hinted in the slides, or why such ...
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4
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Computing $\prod_p(\frac{p^2-1}{p^2+1})$ without the zeta function?
We see that $$\frac{2}{5}=\frac{36}{90}=\frac{6^2}{90}=\frac{\zeta(4)}{\zeta(2)^2}=\prod_p\frac{(1-\frac{1}{p^2})^2}{(1-\frac{1}{p^4})}=\prod_p \left(\frac{(p^2-1)^2}{(p^2+1)(p^2-1)}\right)=\prod_p\...
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43
votes
5
answers
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Heuristically false conjectures
I was very surprised when I first encountered the Mertens conjecture. Define
$$ M(n) = \sum_{k=1}^n \mu(k) $$
The Mertens conjecture was that $|M(n)| < \sqrt{n}$ for $n>1$, in contrast to the ...
42
votes
3
answers
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The Origin(s) of Modular and Moduli
In mathematics and in physics, people use the terms "modular..." and "moduli space" very often. I was puzzled by the etymology, the origins and the similarity/equivalence/differences for these usages/...
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1
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A mysterious connection between Ramanujan-type formulas for $1/\pi^k$ and hypergeometric motives
The question below is the follow-up of this question on MathOverflow.
Motivation: As is stated in the former question, those identities(formula (35)-(44)) of $1/\pi$ attributed to Ramanujan are ...
- 3,317
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votes
7
answers
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How would one even begin to try to prove that a simple number-theoretic statement is undecidable?
This question is closely related to this one: Knuth's intuition that Goldbach might be unprovable. It stems from my ignorance about non-standard models of arithmetic. In a comment on the other ...
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votes
3
answers
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Arranging numbers from $1$ to $n$ such that the sum of every two adjacent numbers is a perfect power
I've known that one can arrange all the numbers from $1$ to $\color{red}{15}$ in a row such that the sum of every two adjacent numbers is a perfect square.
$$8,1,15,10,6,3,13,12,4,5,11,14,2,7,9$$
Also,...
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votes
5
answers
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Happy New Prime Year!
It happens that next year 2011 is prime, while outgoing 2010 is
highly composite in the sense that the number of its distinct prime factors
is 4, maximal possible for a year $< 2310$.
Let me ...
- 13.4k
37
votes
2
answers
3k
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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 ...
- 1,700
35
votes
3
answers
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Solve in positive integers: $n!=m(m+1)$
Does anybody know a solution to this problem? (Sorry, I've missed one summand in the previous post.)
- 11.9k
34
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2
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The work of E. Artin and F. K. Schmidt on (what are now called) the Weil conjectures.
I was reading Dieudonne's "On the history of the Weil conjectures" and found two things that surprised me. Dieudonne makes some assertions about the work of Artin and Schmidt which are no doubt ...
- 40.8k
34
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2
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The value $\pm 1$ for the square root of Wilson's theorem, ((p-1)/2)! mod p
While teaching number theory this quarter, I have come across a phenomenon which was already addressed in another MO posting, but I have new questions. Let $p$ be a prime congruent to 3 mod 4. Then ...
- 56.2k
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votes
4
answers
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Can the difference of two distinct Fibonacci numbers be a square infinitely often?
Can the difference of two distinct Fibonacci numbers be a square infinitely often?
There are few solutions with indices $<10^{4}$ the largest two being $F_{14}-F_{13}=12^2$ and $F_{13}-F_{11}=12^2$...
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31
votes
6
answers
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Bass' stable range of $\mathbf Z[X]$
Let $n$ be a positive integer and $A$ be a commutative ring. The ring $A$ is said to be of Bass stable range $\mathrm{sr}(A)\leq n$ if for $a, a_1, \dots, a_n \in A$ one has the following implication:
...
- 2,501
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votes
5
answers
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Global fields: What exactly is the analogy between number fields and function fields?
Note: This comes up as a byproduct of Qiaochu's question "What are examples of good toy models in mathematics?"
There seems to be a general philosophy that problems over function fields are easier to ...
user709
29
votes
9
answers
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Diophantine equation with no integer solutions, but with solutions modulo every integer
It's probably common knowledge that there are Diophantine equations which do not admit any solutions in the integers, but which admit solutions modulo $n$ for every $n$. This fact is stated, for ...
- 10.2k
29
votes
1
answer
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The Riemann zeros and the heat equation
The Riemann xi function $\Xi(x)$ is defined, with $s=1/2+ix$, as
$$
\Xi(x)=\frac12 s(s-1)\pi^{-s/2}\Gamma(s/2)\zeta(s)=2\int_0^\infty \Phi(u)\cos(ux) \, du,
$$
where $\Phi(u)$ is defined as
$$
2\sum_{...
- 10.8k
29
votes
4
answers
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Are most cubic plane curves over the rationals elliptic?
%This is a new version of the original question modified in the light of the answers and comments.
The word 'most' in the title is ambiguous. The following is one way of making it precise.
Question1:...
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28
votes
3
answers
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Is any particular algebraic number known to have unbounded continued fraction coefficients?
The continued fraction
$$[1;1,2,3,4,5,\dots]=1+\cfrac{1}{1+\cfrac{1}{2+\cdots}}, $$ for instance, is known explicitly as a ratio of Bessel function values and is (I believe - SS) known to be ...
- 3,000
28
votes
3
answers
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Constructing prime numbers
The classical proof of the infiniteness of prime numbers is to take the $k$ first prime numbers $p_1,\ldots,p_k$, then to form
$$n_k:=1+p_1\cdots p_k.$$
Then $n_k$ has a prime factor, which is none of ...
- 51.6k
27
votes
5
answers
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Erdos Conjecture on arithmetic progressions
Introduction:
Let A be a subset of the naturals such that $\sum_{n\in A}\frac{1}{n}=\infty$. The Erdos Conjecture states that A must have arithmetic progressions of arbitrary length.
Question:
I ...
- 4,902
27
votes
6
answers
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$m$-fold composite $p^{(m)}(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ implies $p(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$
Let $p(x)$ be a polynomial, $p(x) \in \mathbb{Q}[x]$, and $p^{(m+1)}(x)=p(p^{(m)}(x))$ for any positive integer $m$.
If $p^{(2)}(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ it's not possible to say that $p(x) \in \mathbb{Z}...
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votes
2
answers
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Are these two new ways of representing odd zeta values as integrals known?
This is inspired by the same beautiful integral expression for $\zeta(3)$ as this question, but goes in a slightly different direction. Writing the original integral in the form $$\int_0^1\frac{x(1-x)}...
- 13.2k
26
votes
4
answers
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Why do congruence conditions not suffice to determine which primes split in non-abelian extensions?
How does one prove that the splitting of primes in a non-abelian extension of number fields is not determined by congruence conditions?
user19475
26
votes
2
answers
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Singmaster's conjecture
Has any work been done on Singmaster's conjecture since Singmaster's work?
The conjecture says there is a finite upper bound on how many times a number other than 1 can occur as a binomial ...
- 11.9k
26
votes
4
answers
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Why so difficult to prove infinitely many restricted primes?
I wondered whether there were an infinite number of
palindromic primes written in binary (11, 101, 111, 10001, 11111, 1001001, 1101011, ...)
and quickly discovered that it is unknown
(OEIS A117697).
...
- 149k
25
votes
3
answers
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Unexpected behavior involving √2 and parity
This post makes a focus on a very specific part of that long post. Consider the following map:
$$f: n \mapsto \left\{
\begin{array}{ll}
\left \lfloor{n/\sqrt{2}} \right \rfloor & \...
24
votes
2
answers
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Proportion of irreducible polynomials $P$ such that $\mathbf Z[X]/(P)$ is the ring of integers of $\mathbf Q[X]/(P)$
I know that number fields have been the object of many statistical experiments.
Is there some kind of heuristics for the following?
Fix a degree $d$ and fix a bound $N$ on the coefficients of a monic ...
- 2,501
24
votes
1
answer
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How good is "almost all" when it comes to the Riemann Hypothesis?
Let $N(T)$ be the number of zeroes of the Riemann zeta function $\zeta$ having imaginary part strictly between $0$ and $T$, and let $N_0(T)$ be the number of those zeroes that also have real part ...
- 231
24
votes
1
answer
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Error to sum of Euler phi-functions
The number theory identity $\phi(1) + \phi(2) + \dots + \phi(n) \approx \frac{3n^2}{\pi^2}$ can be interpreted as counting relatively prime pairs of numbers $0 \leq \{ x,y \} \leq n$ .
&...
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3
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Why are values of Eisenstein $E_2^*$ algebraic integers?
I'm looking for a proof that the following term is an algebraic integer whenever $\tau_N=\frac{N+\sqrt{-N}}{2}$ is a quadratic irrationality with class number $1$:
$$A_N:=\sqrt{-N}\cdot\frac{E_2(\...
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4
answers
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Exhibit an explicit bijection between irreducible polynomials over finite fields and Lyndon words.
Let $q$ be a power of a prime. It's well-known that the function $B(n, q) = \frac{1}{n} \sum_{d | n} \mu \left( \frac{n}{d} \right) q^d$ counts both the number of irreducible polynomials of degree $n$...
- 115k
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1
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What is the precise relationship between Langlands and Tannakian formalism?
As anyone who's been reading the forums closely can see, I've been averaging a question a day about Tannakian formalism for the past few days. It's quite an interesting concept!
In any case, I wish ...
- 6,188
21
votes
3
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Simple Tamagawa number calculations
As is well known, Euler proved the Basel identity $\displaystyle\sum\limits_{i=0}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^2} = \frac{{\pi}^2}{6}$. By far the most illuminating explanation of this fact that I've seen is ...
- 6,942
21
votes
4
answers
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Integer points of an elliptic curve
Where can I found some resources to learn how to determine the integer points of given elliptic curve? I would like to learn a method based on computing the rank and the torsion group of given curve. ...
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4
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Irrationality proof technique: no factorial in the denominator
Jonathan Sondow elegantly proves the irrationality of e in his aptly titled A Geometric Proof that e Is Irrational and a New Measure of Its Irrationality (The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 113, ...
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On a Conjecture of Schinzel and Sierpinski
Melvyn Nathanson, in his book Elementary Methods in Number Theory (Chapter 8: Prime Numbers) states the following:
A conjecture of Schinzel and Sierpinski asserts that every positive rational number $...
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2
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Is there an irreducible but solvable septic trinomial $x^7+ax^n+b = 0$?
The following irreducible trinomials are solvable:
$$x^5-5x^2-3 = 0$$
$$x^6+3x+3 = 0$$
$$x^8-5x-5=0$$
Their Galois groups are isomorphic to ${\rm D}_5$, ${\rm S}_3 \wr {\rm C}_2$ and
$({\rm S}_4 \...
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votes
3
answers
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The sum of integers being a bijection
What are the pairs $(P,Q)$ of subsets of $\mathbb N$ for which the map
\begin{eqnarray*}
P\times Q & \rightarrow & {\mathbb N} \\\\
(p,q) & \mapsto & p+q
\end{eqnarray*}
is a bijection ...
- 51.6k
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2
answers
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Who first proved the generalization of Bertrand's postulate to (2n,3n) and (3n,4n)?
In Wikipedia's page for Bertrand's postulate, it is said that its (2n,3n) version was proved by El Bachraoui in 2006. Seems likely that it was first proved way before than that! Can anyone point to ...
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2
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Is formula valid for relating $\pi$ with ALL of its OEIS A002485(n)/A002486(n) convergents?
Could anyone try to prove that the below conjectured formula is valid for relating $\pi$ with ALL of its convergents - those, which are described in OEIS via A002485(n)/A002486(n)?
$$(-1)^n\cdot(\pi - ...
- 335
18
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3
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Not-lonely runners
The lonely runner conjecture
has several formulations.
They all involve a number $n$ runners running on a circular track,
each with a different speeds, and the conjecture is that each runner is ...
- 149k
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votes
1
answer
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Conjecture: The number of points modulo $p$ of certain elliptic curve is $p$ or $p+2$ for $p$ of form $p=27a^2+27a+7$
Numerical evidence suggests a conjecture that the number of
points of certain elliptic curve over $\mathbb{F}_p$ is
either $p$ or $p+2$ for $p$ of certain form.
Let $p$ be prime of the form $p=27a^2+...
- 24.2k
18
votes
2
answers
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Which types of Diophantine equations are solvable?
Is there a list somewhere of which types of Diophantine equations are solvable, which types are not solvable, and which types are not known to be solvable or not? (When I say solvable, I mean that we ...
- 2,539
18
votes
1
answer
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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,\...
- 537
18
votes
2
answers
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Efficient computation of integer representation as a sum of three squares
Recently I've been studying the problem of integer representation as sum of three squares. Most of the articles that I've found study the function $r_m(n)$ which counts the number of representations ...
- 1,573
18
votes
3
answers
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How to add two numbers from a group theoretic perspective?
It is known that adding two numbers and looking at the carrying operation has a link with cocycles in group theory. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3072368?origin=crossref)
When we add two numbers by ...
user6671
17
votes
3
answers
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A variant of the Goldbach Conjecture
I am asking if this variant of the weak Goldbach Conjecture is already known.
Let $N$ be an odd number. Does there exist prime numbers $p_1$, $p_2$ and $p_3$ such that $p_1+p_2-p_3=N$? Ideally, can ...
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