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Source and scope. This elementary expansion supplies the comparison with
2N/N used in Erdős (1945), Theorem 2, printed p. 899
(published scan).
It is not a separately numbered lemma in the paper.
Statement. For every integer N≥1,
2N2N≤BN≤N22N,BN=(⌊N/2⌋N).
Proof. Set qm=(m2m)/4m, so q0=1 and
qm−1qm=2m2m−1(m≥1).
We first show
2m1≤qm≤m+11(m≥1).
For the lower bound, q1=1/2. For m≥2,
(2m2m−1)2≥mm−1.
The recurrence therefore carries
qm−1≥1/(2m−1) to
qm≥1/(2m). For the upper bound, start with q0=1 and use
(2m2m−1)2≤m+1m(m≥1).
After clearing the positive denominators, this inequality is 1≤3m.
It carries qm−1≤1/m to
qm≤1/m+1.
For even N=2m, BN/2N=qm. For odd N=2m−1,
(m2m)=2(m−12m−1) gives the same identity.
Thus for every N≥1,
2NBN=q⌈N/2⌉.
Since ⌈N/2⌉≤N and
⌈N/2⌉+1≥N/2, the preceding two bounds imply the statement.
□
Use. The constants suffice for
Theorem 2
and the assertion that its order in N cannot be improved at fixed radius
one. No optimal constant or Stirling estimate is asserted.