Prime and Nonprime Totatives: A Sharp Construction and Exact Thresholds

Abstract

For \(n\ge2\), let \(A(n)=π(n)-ω(n)\) and \(B(n)=ϕ(n)-π(n)+ω(n)\) denote the numbers of prime and nonprime totatives of \(n\), respectively, with \(1\) included in \(B(n)\). We construct an explicit injectively parametrized family \(\mathcal C_n\) of composite totatives by completing suitably restricted squarefree products of prime totatives with a larger prime totative that is the unique largest prime factor, making the parametrization recoverable. We prove \(\lvert\mathcal C_n\rvert/A(n)\ge (e^{-γ}-o(1))\log A(n)/\log\log A(n)\), realizing the sharp classical leading constant \(e^{-γ}\). For the same family, with the same defining parameters, we obtain an effective refinement with error of order \((\log\log A(n))^{-1/4}\) and absolute effectively computable constants. Classical minimal-order results and the prime number theorem show that \(e^{-γ}\) is optimal: no family contained in the nonprime totatives can satisfy a uniform lower bound at this scale with a larger leading constant. We also determine exact eventual thresholds. Let \(N_k\) and \(M_k\) be the least integers such that \(ϕ(n)>kπ(n)\) for every \(n\ge N_k\) and \(B(n)>kA(n)\) for every \(n\ge M_k\), respectively. We prove \(M_k\le N_{k+1}\) for every \(k\ge1\), determine \(N_1,\ldots,N_6\) and \(M_1,\ldots,M_5\) exactly, and obtain \(M_k=N_{k+1}\) for \(1\le k\le5\).