scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1247826
Let \( a \geq 4 \). The authors are interested in the number \( S_a(N) \) of exceptional values \( n \leq N \), for which the diophantine equation \[ {a \over n} = {1 \over x} + {1 \over y} + {1 \over z} \] is insoluble. Strangely, they use the method of W. A. Webb (1970) and Li Delang (1981), based on Selberg's sieve, and not the much stronger method of R. C. Vaughan (1970), based on the large sieve, in order to show that for any \( k \) \[ S_a(N) < {N \over (\log N)^k}, \] if \( N \) is large \( (N \geq N_0). \) In order to motivate the use of the weaker method of Webb/Li Delang, the authors state, ``It appears easier to get explicit constants by our method. Collecting conditions on pages 173/174, Lemma 3, and pages 182/183, the reader might be able to obtain an explicit value for \( N_0 \). \{Reviewer's remark. Concerning the problems about the Erdős-Straus conjecture, there are important new results in the dissertation of Christian Elsholtz (1998) which has not been published yet\}.
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