The least common multiple of consecutive arithmetic progression terms

Abstract: Let

k g e 0, a g e 1

and

b g e 0

be integers. We define the arithmetic function

g_{k, a, b}

for any positive integer

n

by

g_{k, a, b} (n) := f r a c (b + n a) (b + (n + 1) a) ... (b + (n + k) a) m l c m (b + n a, b + (n + 1) a, ..., b + (n + k) a) .

Letting

a = 1

and

b = 0

, then

g_{k, a, b}

becomes the arithmetic function introduced previously by Farhi. Farhi proved that

g_{k, 1, 0}

is periodic and that

k!

is a period. Hong and Yang improved Farhi's period

k!

to

m l c m (1, 2, ..., k)

and conjectured that

f r a c m l c m (1, 2, ..., k, k + 1) k + 1

divides the smallest period of

g_{k, 1, 0}

. Recently, Farhi and Kane proved this conjecture and determined the smallest period of

g_{k, 1, 0}

. For the general integers

a g e 1

and

b g e 0

, it is natural to ask the interesting question: Is

g_{k, a, b}

periodic? If so, then what is the smallest period of

g_{k, a, b}

? We first show that the arithmetic function

g_{k, a, b}

is periodic. Subsequently, we provide detailed

p

-adic analysis of the periodic function

g_{k, a, b}

. Finally, we determine the smallest period of

g_{k, a, b}

. Our result extends the Farhi-Kane theorem from the set of positive integers to general arithmetic progressions.

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