Inequalities concerning the function π(x): Applications (Q4498549)

For any positive integer \(x\) let \(\pi(x)\) be the number of prime numbers not exceeding \(x\). In 1962, \textit{J. B. Rosser} and \textit{L. Schoenfeld} [Ill. J. Math. 6, 64-94 (1962; Zbl 0122.05001)] proved that \[ \frac {x} {\log x-1/2}< \pi(x)< \frac {x} {\log x-3/2} \] holds whenever \(x\) is large enough. More precisely, the left inequality holds for all \(x\geq 67\) and the right inequality holds for all \(x> e^{3/2}\). In the paper under review, the author sharpens the above bounds on \(\pi(x)\). He shows that the denominators \(\log x-1/2\) and \(\log x-3/2\) can be replaced by \(\log x-1+ (\log x)^{-1/2}\) (for \(x\geq 59\)) and \(\log x-1- (\log x)^{-1/2}\) (for \(x\geq 6\)), respectively. He also applies his estimates to check that the inequality \(\pi(x+y)\leq 2\pi (x/2)+ \pi(y)\) holds for all \(x\geq y\geq 2\) with \(x\geq 6\). The proofs use some sharp bounds for the Chebyshev functions \(\theta(x)\) and \(\psi(x)\) from \textit{L. Schoenfeld} [Math. Comput. 30, 337-360 (1976; Zbl 0326.10037)] together with some computations.