Wiki
Wiki

Research notes on every problem, and a library of the papers behind them. Built from the open erdos repository.

Updated


Claim. Let F(n)F(n) be the largest prime factor of n(n+1)n(n+1), the quantity of Problem 368. For every ε>0\varepsilon>0 and all sufficiently large nn,

F(n)>log⁡log⁡n1+ε,F(n)>\frac{\log\log n}{1+\varepsilon},

so F(n)≫log⁡log⁡nF(n)\gg\log\log n. This follows from the theorem on p. 4 of K. Mahler, Über den grössten Primteiler spezieller Polynome zweiten Grades, Archiv for Mathematik og Naturvidenskab (1935), recorded on the library card Mahler 1935: if A0A_0 is one of ±1,±2\pm1,\pm2, D1D_1 is squarefree and coprime to A0A_0, and x0x_0 is a natural number coprime to A0A_0, then for every ε>0\varepsilon>0 and all large x0x_0 the number D1x02−A0D_1x_0^2-A_0 has a prime factor p>(log⁡log⁡x0)/(1+ε)p>(\log\log x_0)/(1+\varepsilon). With D1=1D_1=1, A0=1A_0=1 and x0=2n+1x_0=2n+1 one has x02−1=4n(n+1)x_0^2-1=4n(n+1); the prime factor the theorem gives exceeds 22 once nn is large, so it divides n(n+1)n(n+1), and log⁡log⁡(2n+1)≥log⁡log⁡n\log\log(2n+1)\ge\log\log n. The method extends Størmer's theory of the solutions of x2−Dy2=1x^2-Dy^2=1 whose yy has all its prime factors dividing DD, as the card records.

Covers. The lower bound F(n)≫log⁡log⁡nF(n)\gg\log\log n only. It improves Pólya's F(n)→∞F(n)\to\infty and is superseded by Pasten's (log⁡log⁡n)2/log⁡log⁡log⁡n(\log\log n)^2/\log\log\log n.

Depends on. Nothing in this wiki; the claim rests on the cited paper.

Acceptance. Refereed: the paper appeared in the journal Archiv for Mathematik og Naturvidenskab in 1935; the record gives no month, so the page is dated to the first day of the publication year. The site's commentary credits Mahler with the bound, but the site labels the problem OPEN, so that commentary is not acceptance and the page lists no reviewed evidence. The linked page is the collected-works archive hosting the paper. The proof is not reviewed in this corpus.