A theorem on totally multiplicative functions (Q1160156)

The author shows that there are exactly two totally multiplicative functions \(F\) with values in \(\{\pm 1\}\) and with \(F(2) =1\), for which no positive integer a satisfies \(F(a) =F(a+2) = F(a + 3) = 1\). This resolves in the affirmative a conjecture of Emma Lehmer. The proof involves consideration of 67 different cases. As a corollary it is shown that for each prime \(p\geq 11\), the least positive integer\(=r(p)\) such that \(({r\over p}) = ({r+2\over p}) = ({r+3\over p}) = 1\) satisfies \(r(p)<1377.6 p^{1/4}\log p+ 288\).