In 1939, Erd\H{o}s and Mahler conjectured that an irrational real number $\xi$ must be a Liouville number whenever $P(p_nq_n)$ is bounded for infinitely many convergents $p_n/q_n$, where $P(N)$ denotes the largest prime factor of a nonzero integer $N$. In this note, we prove a neighbouring-denominator case of their conjecture: if $P(p_nq_nq_{n+1})$ is bounded for infinitely many $n$, then $\xi$ is a Liouville number. The proof combines the determinant identity for consecutive convergents with a fixed-base estimate for linear forms in $p$-adic logarithms.
In 1943, Erd\H{o}s considered the minimum number $f(n)$ of terms between two fractions in the Farey sequence of order $n$ whose numerators and denominators are oppositely ordered. Determining the constant $c$ in $f(n)=(c+o(1))n$ is known as Erd\H{o}s Problem 1005. Recently, Cipollini solved this asymptotic problem by proving that $f(n)=(1/4+o(1))n$. Following his framework, we give an analytic proof of an exact formula for $f(n)$ for all sufficiently large $n$. Combining this with a finite computer verification, we further determine $f(n)$ for every integer $n\geq 4$.
Let $P^+(n)$ denote the largest prime factor of $n$. One of Erd\H{o}s and Tur\'an's conjectures asserts that the asymptotic density of integers $n$ satisfying $P^+(n)<P^+(n+1)$ is 1/2. In this paper, we prove that this density is larger than 0.280, which improves the previous result 0.2017 by L\"u and Wang (2025). We also prove that there exists a positive density of $n$ such that $P^+(n)<P^+(n+1)<x^{41/107+\varepsilon}$. Define $T_c(x):=\#\{p\leq x:P^+(p-1)\geq p^c\}$. For $1/2<c<1$, we also show that \begin{align*} \mathop{\lim \sup}_{x\rightarrow\infty}\frac{T_c(x)}{\pi(x)}\leq \min\left(-\frac{7}{2}\log c,\frac{1-\delta}{2c}\right), \end{align*} where $\delta=\delta(c)>0$.
Let $a(n)$ be the sequence A028342 in the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS), defined by the exponential generating function $\sum_{n\ge0} a(n)x^n/n! = \prod_{i\ge1}(1-x^i)^{-1/i}$. Equivalently, $a(n)$ counts permutations of an $n$-element labeled set in which every cycle is assigned one divisor of its length, where a cycle of length $m$ has $d(m)$ choices, $d(m)$ being the number of positive divisors of $m$. We prove a family of congruences for $a$, conjectured by Peter Bala. They state that $k \mid a(n+k)+a(n)$ for odd $k$, that $k \mid a(n+k)-a(n)$ for $k\equiv 0,2,6 \pmod 8$, and that $k \mid 2(a(n+k)-a(n))$ for $k\equiv 4\pmod 8$. The proof first establishes a product congruence $a(n+k)\equiv a(n)a(k)\pmod k$, and then computes $a(p^r)\bmod p^r$ for each prime power by counting the colored permutations fixed by a subgroup of order $p$.
We prove a nine-distance theorem for Kronecker sequences on flat three-tori. That is, we show that among the first $N$ orbit points, at most nine distinct positive nearest-neighbour distances occur. This proves the conjecture of Haynes and Marklof. An example of Dettmann shows that nine is optimal. More generally, we prove that on a flat $d$-dimensional torus the number of such distances is at most $2^d+1$. The main tool is a new growth theorem for the denominators $q_1<q_2<\cdots$ of best simultaneous approximations in a $d$-dimensional inner-product space, which is of independent interest. We prove that, whenever $q_{n+2^d}$ is defined, either $q_{n+2^d}\ge2q_{n+1}$, or the indices $1,\ldots,2^d$ can be partitioned into disjoint pairs $\{j,k\}$, $j<k$, such that $q_{n+k}=q_n+q_{n+j}$. In particular, $$ q_{n+2^d}\ge \min\{2q_{n+1},q_n+q_{n+2^{d-1}}\}\ge q_n+q_{n+1}. $$
Fix a prime power $q$. Let $D_q(n)$ be the largest possible least degree of a polynomial omitted by a non-covering family of $n$ congruence classes in $\mathbb F_q[x]$. Assuming the known theorem that every non-covering family of $n$ classes omits a polynomial of degree less than $n$, we prove \[ D_q(n)=\frac{n}{q-1}+O_q(1). \] The upper bound combines a minimal-counterexample reduction to irreducible moduli with a truncated inclusion--exclusion (Brun sieve) argument. A nested-modulus construction gives the matching lower bound. This is a follow-up to the author's 2025 work.
Cameron and Erd\H{o}s asked if the number of sets free of arithmetic progressions of length $k$ is $2^{r_k(n)(1+o(1))}$, where $r_k(n)$ is the maximum cardinality of a $k$-AP-free subset of $\{1, \dots, n\}$. Balogh, Liu and Sharifzadeh made significant progress on this question showing that it is $2^{O(r_k(n))}$ for an infinite sequence of $n$. We improve their result in two ways. On the one hand, we prove that, for $k\geq 5$, the number of $k$-AP-free sets in $[n]$ is $2^{r_k(n)(1+o(1))}$ for an infinite sequence of $n$, solving the question of Cameron and Erd\H{o}s for infinitely many values. On the other hand, we also prove that for $k \geq 3$ and all $n$ the number of $k$-AP-free sets in $[n]$ is $2^{O(r_k(n))}$. These results are in fact special cases of a general framework that we develop to count families of sets excluding certain arithmetic patterns, which applies as long as the corresponding extremal threshold satisfies certain Behrend-type lower bounds. As further examples, we get analogous results for solution sets to almost all systems of linear equations as well as counting versions of the multidimensional Szemer\'edi theorem.
Patrick Morris, Miquel Ortega, Juanjo Ru'e· 0 citations