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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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Alon and Erdős, Sure monochromatic subset sums, Acta Arith. 74 (1996), no. 3, 269–272, received 15 May 1995 (the page name's date). For n>1n>1 let f(n)f(n) be the least number of classes in a partition of {1,…,n−1}\{1,\ldots,n-1\} such that no class has a subset summing to nn, the function of Problem 360. Theorem 1.1 states that there are positive constants c1,c2c_1,c_2 with

c1n1/3(log⁡n)4/3≤f(n)≤c2n1/3(log⁡log⁡n)1/3(log⁡n)1/3c_1\frac{n^{1/3}}{(\log n)^{4/3}}\le f(n)\le c_2\frac{n^{1/3}(\log\log n)^{1/3}}{(\log n)^{1/3}}

for all n>1n>1, so f(n)=n1/3+o(1)f(n)=n^{1/3+o(1)}. The upper bound is an explicit partition into intervals [n/(k+1),n/k)[n/(k+1),n/k), sets of multiples of small primes not dividing nn, and small blocks covering the sieve's leftovers. The lower bound (Section 3) rests on Sárközy's theorem that the subset sums of a large subset of {1,…,m}\{1,\ldots,m\} contain a long arithmetic progression (Theorem 3.1, quoted from Sárközy's Finite addition theorems, II, Theorem 4), carried through Corollaries 3.3 and 3.4 to sets of primes and applied to a monochromatic set of at least 200 n1/3(log⁡n)2/3200\,n^{1/3}(\log n)^{2/3} primes between n2/3(log⁡n)1/3/200n^{2/3}(\log n)^{1/3}/200 and n2/3(log⁡n)1/3/100n^{2/3}(\log n)^{1/3}/100, which the prime number theorem and the pigeonhole principle supply once the number of colors is below c1n1/3/(log⁡n)4/3c_1n^{1/3}/(\log n)^{4/3}. The authors write that they suspect the upper bound is nearer the truth and leave the exact order open. The paper's digest is the library card. The account of Section 3 above gives its structure; its proofs are not checked on this page.

Covers. The growth exponent of ff, namely f(n)=n1/3+o(1)f(n)=n^{1/3+o(1)}, with the two displayed bounds; it does not determine the order of magnitude of ff, which the later full claim does.

Accepted: the result is refereed (Acta Arithmetica). The site's commentary records both bounds, but its SOLVED label credits the order of growth to Conlon, Fox and Pham, so the curator's label is not review of this result. Nothing here is this project's own review.