On a function introduced by Erdös and Nicolas (Q1788110): Difference between revisions

Let \(P_n(q)\) be a \(q\)-analog of the sum of divisors, defined by means of the generating function \[ \prod_{m=1}^\infty\frac{(1-t^m)^2}{(1-q\,t^m)(1-q^{-1}t^m)}=1+(q+q^{-1}-2)\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{P_n(q)}{q^{n-1}}\,t^n. \] In the paper under review, the author proves that for each integer \(n\geq 1\), the largest coefficient of \(P_n(q)\) is \(F(n)\), where \(F(n) =\max\{\mathrm{q}_t(n) : t \in\mathbb{R}^{*}_+\}\) and \(\mathrm{q}_t(n)=\{d: d|n, \frac{t}{2}<d\leq t\}\). A a corollary, the author shows that the polynomial \(P_n(q)\) has a coefficient larger than \(1\) if and only if \(2n\) is the perimeter of a Pythagorean triangle.