arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Herman J. J. te Riele.
This Report updates the tables of factorizations of a^n +- 1 for 13 < a < 100, previously published as CWI Report NM-R9212 (June 1992) and updated in CWI Report NM-R9419 (Update 1, September 1994) and CWI Report NM-R9609 (Update 2, March 1996). A total of 951 new entries in the tables are given here. The factorizations are now complete for n < 76, and there are no composite cofactors smaller than 10^102.
We establish Schmutz Schaller's conjecture that the hexagonal lattice is `better' than the square lattice. Schmutz Schaller (Bulletin of the AMS 35 (1998), p. 201), motivated by considerations from hyperbolic geometry, conjectured that in dimensions 2 to 8 the best known lattice sphere packings have `maximal lengths' and goes on to write: "In dimension 2 the conjecture means in particular that the hexagonal lattice is `better' than the square lattice. More precisely, let 0<h_1<h_2<... be the positive integers, listed in ascending order, which can be written as h_i=x^2+3y^2 for integers x and y. Let 0<q_1<q_2<... be the positive integers, listed in ascending order, which can be written as q_i=x^2+y^2 for integers x and y. Then the conjecture is that q_i<=h_i for i=1,2,3,..." Our proof requires computational prime number theory in combination with methods from a preprint of the first author (to appear in Math. Comp.), arXiv:math.NT/0112100.