On a conjecture of Erdős, Graham and Spencer
It is conjectured by Erdős, Graham and Spencer that if \(1 \leq a_1 \leq a_2 \leq \dots \leq a_s\) with \(\sum_{i=1}^s 1/a_i < n-1/30\), then this sum can be decomposed into \(n\) parts so that all partial sums are \(\leq 1\). This is not true for \(\sum_{i=1}^s 1/a_i = n-1/30\) as shown by \(a_1=2\), \(a_2=a_3=3\), \(a_4=\dots= a_{5n-3}=5\). In 1997, Sándor proved that Erdős--Graham--Spencer conjecture is true for \(\sum_{i=1}^s 1/a_i \leq n-1/2\). In this paper, we reduce Erdős--Graham--Spencer conjecture to finite calculations and prove that Erdős--Graham--Spencer conjecture is true for \(\sum_{i=1}^s 1/a_i \leq n-1/3\). Furthermore, it is proved that Erdős--Graham--Spencer conjecture is true if \(\sum_{i=1}^s 1/a_i < n-1/(\log n + \log\log n - 2)\) and no partial sum (certainly not a single term) is the inverse of an positive integer.
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