Counting the number of solutions to the Erdős-Straus equation on unit fractions

DOI10.1017/S1446788712000468zbMATH Open1304.11018arXiv1107.1010MaRDI QIDQ2852274FDOQ2852274

Authors: Christian Elsholtz, Terence Tao 

Publication date: 8 October 2013

Published in: Journal of the Australian Mathematical Society (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: For any positive integer $n$, let $f(n)$ denote the number of solutions to the Diophantine equation $frac4n=frac1x+frac1y+frac1z$ with $x,y,z$ positive integers. The emph{ErdH{o}s-Straus conjecture} asserts that $f(n)>0$ for every $ngeq2$. To solve this conjecture, it suffices without loss of generality to consider the case when $n$ is a prime $p$. In this paper we consider the question of bounding the sum $su{m}_{p<N}f(p)$ asymptotically as $Noinfty$, where $p$ ranges over primes. Our main result establishes the asymptotic upper and lower bounds ${\displaystyle }$ N log^2 N ll sum_{p leq N} f(p) ll N log^2 N log log N.${\displaystyle }$ In particular, from this bound and the prime number theorem we have $f(p)=O(lo{g}^{3}ploglogp)$ for a subset of primes of density arbitrarily close to 1; thus a typical prime has a relatively small number of solutions to the ErdH{o}s-Straus Diophantine equation. We also establish some related results on $f$ and related quantities, for instance establishing the bound $$ for all primes $p$.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1107.1010

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zbMATH Keywords

Average value of arithmetical functionSolution of a Diophantine equation by polynomials.Upper and lower bounds of arithmetical functionErdős-Strauss Conjecture

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Asymptotic results on arithmetic functions (11N37) Diophantine equations in many variables (11D72) Rate of growth of arithmetic functions (11N56) Rational numbers as sums of fractions (11D68)

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Cited In (27)

• On \(\frac{1}{w} + \frac{1}{x} + \frac{1}{y} + \frac{1}{z} = \frac{1}{2}\) and some of its generalizations
• Explicit upper bound for an average number of divisors of quadratic polynomials
• A note on the Erdős-Straus conjecture
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Factorization length distribution for affine semigroups. I: Numerical semigroups with three generators
• A geometric consideration of the Erdős-Straus conjecture
• Unit fractions in norm-Euclidean rings of integers
• The estimate for mean values on prime numbers relative to \(\frac{4}{p} = \frac{1}{n_1} + \frac{1} {n_2} + \frac{1} {n_3}\)
• Counting ancient solutions on a strip with exponential growth
• On the number of divisors of the least common multiples of shifted prime powers
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• Sums of four and more unit fractions and approximate parametrizations
• The number of solutions of the Erdős-Straus equation and sums of \(k\) unit fractions
• Ternary Egyptian fractions with prime denominator
• The Erdős–Moser equation $1^{k}+2^{k}+\dots+(m-1)^{k}=m^{k}$ revisited using continued fractions
• On ternary Egyptian fractions with prime denominator
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