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Melvyn B. Nathanson

Publications and source records attributed to Melvyn B. Nathanson.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
arXiv2007

Inverse Problems for Representation Functions in Additive Number Theory

For every positive integer h, the representation function of order h associated to a subset A of the integers or, more generally, of any group or semigroup X, counts the number of ways an element of X can be written as the sum (or product, if X is nonabelian) of h not necessarily distinct elements of X. The direct problem for representation functions in additive number theory begins with a subset A of X and seeks to understand its representation functions. The inverse problem for representation functions starts with a function f:X ->N_0 U {\infty} and asks if there is a set A whose representation function is f, and, if the answer is yes, to classify all such sets. This paper is a survey of recent progress on the inverse representation problem.

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arXiv2007

Asymptotic estimates for phi functions for subsets of {m+1, m+2,...,n}

Let f(m,n) denote the number of relatively prime subsets of {m+1,m+2,...,n}, and let Phi(m,n) denote the number of subsets A of {m+1,m+2,...,n} such that gcd(A) is relatively prime to n. Let f_k(m,n) and Phi_k(m,n) be the analogous counting functions restricted to sets of cardinality k. Simple explicit formulas and asymptotic estimates are obtained for these four functions.

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arXiv2007

Primitive sets and an Euler phi function for subsets of {1,2,...,n}

A nonempty subset A of {1,2,...,n} is called primitive if gcd(A)=1. Let f(n) and f_k(n) denote, respectively, the number of primitive subsets and the number of primitive subsets of cardinality k of {1,2,...,n}. Recursion formulas and asymptotic estimates are obtained for both functions.

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arXiv2007

Representation functions of bases for binary linear forms

Let F(x_1,...,x_m) = u_1 x_1 + ... + u_m x_m be a linear form with nonzero, relatively prime integer coefficients u_1,..., u_m. For any set A of integers, let F(A) = {F(a_1,...,a_m) : a_i in A for i=1,...,m}. The representation function associated with the form F is R_{A,F}(n) = card {(a_1,...,a_m) in A^m: F(a_1,..., a_m) = n}. The set A is a basis with respect to F for almost all integers the set Z\F(A) has asymptotic density zero. Equivalently, the representation function of an asymptotic basis is a function f:Z -> N_0 U {\infty} such that f^{-1}(0) has density zero. Given such a function, the inverse problem for bases is to construct a set A whose representation function is f. In this paper the inverse problem is solved for binary linear forms.

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arXiv2007

Inverse problems for linear forms over finite sets of integers

Let f(x_1,x_2,...,x_m) = u_1x_1+u_2 x_2+... + u_mx_m be a linear form with positive integer coefficients, and let N_f(k) = min{|f(A)| : A \subseteq Z and |A|=k}. A minimizing k-set for f is a set A such that |A|=k and |f(A)| = N_f(k). A finite sequence (u_1, u_2,...,u_m) of positive integers is called complete if {\sum_{j\in J} u_j : J \subseteq {1,2,..,m}} = {0,1,2,..., U}, where $U = \sum_{j=1}^m u_j.$ It is proved that if f is an m-ary linear form whose coefficient sequence (u_1,...,u_m) is complete, then N_f(k) = Uk-U+1 and the minimizing k-sets are precisely the arithmetic progressions of length k. Other extremal results on linear forms over finite sets of integers are obtained.

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arXiv2007

Dense sets of integers with prescribed representation functions

Let A be a set of integers and let h \geq 2. For every integer n, let r_{A, h}(n) denote the number of representations of n in the form n=a_1+...+a_h, where a_1,...,a_h belong to the set A, and a_1\leq ... \leq a_h. The function r_{A,h} from the integers Z to the nonnegative integers N_0 U {\infty} is called the representation function of order h for the set A. We prove that every function f from Z to N_0 U {\infty} satisfying liminf_{|n|->\infty} f (n)\geq g is the representation function of order h for some sequence A of integers, and that A can be constructed so that it increases "almost" as slowly as any given B_h[g] sequence. In particular, for every epsilon >0 and g \geq g(h,epsilon), we can construct a sequence A satisfying r_{A,h}=f and A(x)\gg x^{(1/h)-epsilon}.

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arXiv2007

Sums of products of congruence classes and of arithmetic progressions

Consider the congruence class R_m(a)={a+im:i\in Z} and the infinite arithmetic progression P_m(a)={a+im:i\in N_0}. For positive integers a,b,c,d,m the sum of products set R_m(a)R_m(b)+R_m(c)R_m(d) consists of all integers of the form (a+im)(b+jm)+(c+km)(d+\ell m) for some i,j,k,\ell\in Z. It is proved that if gcd(a,b,c,d,m)=1, then R_m(a)R_m(b)+R_m(c)R_m(d) is equal to the congruence class R_m(ab+cd), and that the sum of products set P_m(a)P_m(b)+P_m(c)P_m(d) eventually coincides with the infinite arithmetic progression P_m(ab+cd).

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arXiv2007

Heights on the finite projective line

Define the height function h(a) = min{k+(ka\mod p): k=1,2,...,p-1} for a = 0,1,...,p-1. It is proved that the height has peaks at p, (p+1)/2, and (p+c)/3, that these peaks occur at a= [p/3], (p-3)/2, (p-1)/2, [2p/3], p-3,p-2, and p-1, and that h(a) \leq p/3 for all other values of a.

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arXiv2007

Heights in finite projective space, and a problem on directed graphs

Let $\F_p = \Z/p\Z$. The \emph{height} of a point $\mathbf{a}=(a_1,..., a_d) \in \F_p^d$ is $h_p(\mathbf{a}) = \min \left\{\sum_{i=1}^d (ka_i \mod p) : k=1,...,p-1\right\}.$ Explicit formulas and estimates are obtained for the values of the height function in the case $d=2,$ and these results are applied to the problem of determining the minimum number of edges the must be deleted from a finite directed graph so that the resulting subgraph is acyclic.

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arXiv2007

Binary linear forms over finite sets of integers

Let A be a finite set of integers. For a polynomial f(x_1,...,x_n) with integer coefficients, let f(A) = {f(a_1,...,a_n) : a_1,...,a_n \in A}. In this paper it is proved that for every pair of normalized binary linear forms f(x,y)=u_1x+v_1y and g(x,y)=u_2x+v_2y with integral coefficients, there exist arbitrarily large finite sets of integers A and B such that |f(A)| > |g(A)| and |f(B)| < |g(B)|.

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arXiv2006

Semidirect Products and Functional Equations for Quantum Multiplication

The quantum integer [n]_q is the polynomial 1 + q + q^2 + ... + q^{n-1}, and the sequence of polynomials { [n]_q }_{n=1}^{\infty} is a solution of the functional equation f_{mn}(q) = f_m(q)f_n(q^m). In this paper, semidirect products of semigroups are used to produce families of functional equations that generalize the functional equation for quantum multiplication.

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arXiv2006

Adjoining identities and zeros to semigroups

This note shows how iteration of the standard process of adjoining identities and zeros to semigroups gives rise naturally to the lexicographical ordering on the additive semigroup of n-tuples of nonnegative integers and n-tuples of integers.

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arXiv2006

Perfect difference sets constructed from Sidon sets

A set A of positive integers is called a perfect difference set if every nonzero integer has an unique representation as the difference of two elements of A. We construct dense perfect difference sets from dense Sidon sets. As a consequence of this new approach, we prove that there exists a perfect difference set A such that A(x) >> x^{\sqrt{2}-1-o(1)}. We also prove that there exists a perfect difference set A such that limsup_{x\to \infty}A(x)/\sqrt x\geq 1/\sqrt 2.

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arXiv2006

Sets with more sums than differences

Let A be a finite subset of the integers or, more generally, of any abelian group, written additively. The set A has "more sums than differences" if |A+A|>|A-A|. A set with this property is called an MSTD set. This paper gives explicit constructions of families of MSTD sets of integers.

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arXiv2006

Problems in additive number theory, I

Problems in additive number theory related to sum and difference sets, more general binary linear forms, and representation functions of additive bases for the integers and nonnegative integers.

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arXiv2006

Tennenbaum at Penn and Rochester

This is the text of a lecture at the Logic Conference in Memory of Stanley Tennenbaum at the CUNY Graduate Center on April 7, 2006.

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arXiv2006

Density of sets of natural numbers and the Levy group

Let $\N$ denote the set of positive integers. The asymptotic density of the set $A \subseteq \N$ is $d(A) = \lim_{n\to\infty} |A\cap [1,n]|/n$, if this limit exists. Let $ \mathcal{AD}$ denote the set of all sets of positive integers that have asymptotic density, and let $S_{\N}$ denote the set of all permutations of the positive integers \N. The group $\mathcal{L}^{\sharp}$ consists of all permutations $f \in S_{\N}$ such that $A \in \mathcal{AD}$ if and only if $f(A) \in \mathcal{AD}$, and the group $\mathcal{L}^{\ast}$ consists of all permutations $f \in \mathcal{L}^{\sharp}$ such that $d(f(A)) = d(A)$ for all $A \in \mathcal{AD}$. Let $f:\N \to \N $ be a one-to-one function such that $d(f(\N))=1$ and, if $A \in \mathcal{AD}$, then $f(A) \in \mathcal{AD}$. It is proved that $f$ must also preserve density, that is, $d(f(A)) = d(A)$ for all $A \in \mathcal{AD}$. Thus, the groups $\mathcal{L}^{\sharp}$ and $\mathcal{L}^{\ast}$ coincide.

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