Stacked lattice boxes (Q1306589)

The paper studies the number of solutions, \(L_k(n)\), of the Diophantine equation \(n= x_1x_2+ x_2x_3+ x_3x_4+\cdots+ x_kx_{k+1}\), where each \(x_i\geq 1\). Closed forms for \(L_k(n)\) in terms of divisor sums have been known for \(k\leq 4\), the case \(k= 4\) is equivalent to ``Liouville's last theorem.'' The paper yields a closed form in terms of divisor sums for the case \(k=5\) and yields an asymptotic formula for \(L_k(n)\). It is remarkable that another classic problem comes into play, MacMahon's partition function \(\nu_k(n)\), which is the number of partitions of \(n\), in which the parts take exactly \(k\) distinct values.