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

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Claim. Let dk(p)d_k(p) be the density of the integers whose kkth smallest distinct prime factor is pp. Theorem 5 of Cambie's paper: indexed by the primes in increasing order, dk(p)d_k(p) is unimodal for k=1,2,3k=1,2,3 and is not unimodal for every 4≤k≤204\le k\le20. The question of Problem 690, whether dk(p)d_k(p) is unimodal for fixed k≥1k\ge1, is therefore answered no: the failure Erdős expected occurs for every kk from 44 to 2020. The proof writes dk(pi)d_k(p_i) as δk−1(i−1)/pi\delta_{k-1}(i-1)/p_i, with δr(i)\delta_r(i) the density of integers divisible by exactly rr of the first i+1i+1 primes p0=2,…,pip_0=2,\ldots,p_i, proves the three unimodal cases from the monotone tails of δ0,δ1,δ2\delta_0,\delta_1,\delta_2 and a finite check, and refutes unimodality for 4≤k≤204\le k\le20 by a computer check of that range (the notebook linked above), printing the k=4k=4 and k=5k=5 sequences in its appendix, which show the strict valleys d4(13)>d4(17)<d4(19)d_4(13)>d_4(17)<d_4(19) and d5(23)>d5(29)<d5(31)d_5(23)>d_5(29)<d_5(31); the library's Theorem 5 page recomputes a strict valley dk(a)>dk(b)<dk(c)d_k(a)>d_k(b)<d_k(c) for every kk in the range with exact rational arithmetic.

Reading of the question. The thread records two readings: is the sequence unimodal for every kk (answered no by this theorem), or, for each kk, decide whether it is (decided by this theorem for k≤20k\le20 only). On 2026-05-07 the site's curator adopted the first reading and said they would mark the problem solved by the small kk counterexamples unless someone defended the wider version; the site marked it solved on 10 May 2026. Under the second reading the remaining k>20k>20 are the subject of the pending Wang–Crapis claim. The claim value follows the question's polarity: a yes-or-no question answered no is disproved; the site's label, Solved, stays in the problem page's Status sentence.

Depends on. Nothing in this wiki.

The corpus's transcription of the proof is the library's Theorem 5 page, which recomputed the finite checks with exact rational arithmetic and notes that a printed implication in the source's proof is false in general and is avoided by comparing the dk(p)d_k(p) values themselves; that transcription is compilation, not acceptance evidence.

Acceptance. Refereed: Journal of Number Theory 280 (2026), 271--277, the peer-reviewed version of arXiv:2501.10333 (v1, 17 January 2025). Reviewed: the site's remarks cite the paper and thank the author, the site labels the problem SOLVED, and the thread post of 2026-05-07 by the site's curator, Thomas Bloom, records the decision to mark it solved by these counterexamples; Bloom is independent of the author.

Lean. Not formalized evidence: this corpus has not built or audited the files linked above, so they give no formalized evidence. The file src/latest/ErdosProblems/Erdos690.lean in Boris Alexeev's lean-proofs repository (GitHub plby), at the pinned revision linked above, declares itself "a Lean formalization of a solution to Erdős Problem 690" with Stijn Cambie as its informal author and Codex and GPT-5.6 Sol as its formal authors, under a copyright line of Joseph Tooby-Smith naming OpenAI Codex as author and a notice that the file was modified; its docstring says it proves the exact natural-density formula for the event that pp is the kkth distinct prime factor and formalizes Cambie's resolution, and its theorem erdos_690 states that conjunction: every dk(p)d_k(p) exists with the exact rational value, unimodal for k=1,2,3k=1,2,3, not unimodal for 4≤k≤204\le k\le20. The file has no sorry and no axiom, imports modules of the Problem 697 formalization, and ends with a #print axioms line without recorded output. As a formalization of the named claimant's result it is a link on this page, not a claim of its own. The formal-conjectures statement erdos_690 and its three solved variants point at its erdos_690 theorem through formal_proof attributes; the statement file is not a formalization link.