Sums of finitely many distinct rationals

Publication date: 4 February 2017

Abstract:

c a l E

denotes the family of all finite nonempty

S s u b s e t e q m a t h b b N := 1, 2, l d o t s

, and

c a l E (X) := c a l E c a p S : S s u b s e t e q X

when

X s u b s e t e q m a t h b b N

. Similarly,

c a l F

denotes the family of all finite nonempty

T s u b s e t e q {m a t h b b Q}^{+}

, and

c a l F (Y) := c a l F c a p T : T s u b s e t e q Y

where

{m a t h b b Q}^{+}

is the set of all positive rationals and

Y s u b s e t e q {m a t h b b Q}^{+}

. This paper treats the functions

s i g m a : c a l E i g h t a r r o w {m a t h b b Q}^{+}

given by

s i g m a : S m a p s t o s i g m a S := s u m 1 / x : x i n S

, the function

d e l t a : c a l E i g h t a r r o w m a t h b b N

defined by

s i g m a S = u S / d e l t a S

where the integers

u S

and

d e l t a S

are coprime, and the more general function

S i g m a : c a l F i g h t a r r o w {m a t h b b Q}^{+}

where

S i g m a T

denotes the sum of the elements in

T

for

T i n c a l F

. Theorem 1.1. For each

r i n {m a t h b b Q}^{+}

, there exists an infinite pairwise disjoint subfamily

{c a l H}_{r} s u b s e t e q c a l E

such that

r = s i g m a S

for all

S i n {c a l H}_{r}

. Theorem 1.2. Let

X

be a pairwise coprime set of positive integers. Then

s i g m a

restricted to

c a l E (X)

and

d e l t a

restricted to

c a l E (X)

are injective. Also,

s i g m a C i n m a t h b b N

for

C i n c a l E (X)

only if

C = 1

. Theorem 6.5. There is a set

X

of positive rational numbers for which

S i g m a : c a l F (X) i g h t a r r o w {m a t h b b Q}^{+}

is a surjection, but for which

1 i n X

and the only

S i n c a l F (X)

with

S i g m a S = 1

is

S = 1

.

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