Multiplicative functions of polynomial values in short intervals
For every positive integer let be the largest prime number . Given a positive integer , we study the positive integer such that if we define recursively for , then is a prime or . We obtain upper bounds for as well as an estimate for the set of whose takes on a fixed value .
The goal of this paper is to outline the proof of a conjecture of Gelfond [6] (1968) in a recent work in collaboration with Christian Mauduit [11] concerning the sum of digits of prime numbers, reflecting the lecture given in Edinburgh at the Journées Arithmétiques 2007.
Let σ(n) denote the sum of positive divisors of the integer n, and let ϕ denote Euler's function, that is, ϕ(n) is the number of integers in the interval [1,n] that are relatively prime to n. It has been conjectured by Mąkowski and Schinzel that σ(ϕ(n))/n ≥ 1/2 for all n. We show that σ(ϕ(n))/n → ∞ on a set of numbers n of asymptotic density 1. In addition, we study the average order of σ(ϕ(n))/n as well as its range. We use similar methods to prove a conjecture of Erdős that ϕ(n-ϕ(n)) < ϕ(n)...
Given an integer base and a completely -additive arithmetic function taking integer values, we deduce an asymptotic expression for the counting functionunder a mild restriction on the values of . When , the base sum of digits function, the integers counted by are the so-called base Niven numbers, and our result provides a generalization of the asymptotic known in that case.
For an integer we denote by the largest prime factor of . We obtain several upper bounds on the number of solutions of congruences of the form and use these bounds to show that