The Prouhet-Tarry-Escott problem revisited (Q1332381): Difference between revisions

The Prouhet-Tarry-Escott problem is to find two distinct sets of integers, \(x_1,\ldots, x_n\) and \(y_1,\ldots, y_n\) satisfying \[ x_1^ i+ \ldots+ x_n^i= y_1^i+ \ldots+ y_n^i, \qquad i=1,\ldots, k. \] In this survey article the authors collect some elementary results on the Prouhet-Tarry-Escott problem and on the relations between the \(n\) and the \(k\), and explore some properties of the solutions for the special case, \(n=k+1\). With the help of a computer, they provide some numerical reports for the cases, \(n=7\) and \(n=11\) and, on several occasions, they state some known numerical results with certain improvements. Some related problems investigated by \textit{P. Erdős} and \textit{G. Szekeres} [Acad. Serbe Sci., Publ. Inst. Math. 13, 29--34 (1959; Zbl 0097.033)] and by \textit{E. M. Wright} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 311--312, 170--173 (1979; Zbl 0409.10009)] are discussed. In the last section of the article there is a list of open problems and conjectures for interested readers.