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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. The first question of Problem 436 has answer yes: Λ(k,2)<∞\Lambda(k,2)<\infty for every kk. The result is Theorem 1 of A. Hildebrand, On consecutive kkth power residues. II, Michigan Math. J. 38 (1991), no. 2, 241--253, DOI 10.1307/mmj/1029004331 (received 28 March 1990). The paper defines r(k,l,p)r(k,l,p) as the least rr such that r,r+1,…,r+l−1r,r+1,\ldots,r+l-1 are all kkth power residues modulo pp, which exists for every large prime pp by a theorem of Brauer, and Λ(k,l)=lim sup⁡p→∞r(k,l,p)\Lambda(k,l)=\limsup_{p\to\infty}r(k,l,p), the problem's definition. Theorem 1 (p. 241) states that Λ(k,2)<∞\Lambda(k,2)<\infty for all positive integers kk, and the paper restates it: for each kk there is a constant c0(k)c_0(k) such that every sufficiently large prime pp has a pair r,r+1r,r+1 of consecutive kkth power residues with 1≤r≤c0(k)1\le r\le c_0(k). No explicit bound for c0(k)c_0(k) is given.

The proof's shape. Theorem 1 is deduced (p. 242) from the paper's Theorem 2: for each kk there is a constant C0(k)C_0(k) such that every completely multiplicative function ff on the positive integers with fk=1f^k=1 has a positive integer n≤C0(k)n\le C_0(k) with f(n)=f(n+1)=1f(n)=f(n+1)=1. The deduction reduces to primes p≡1(modk)p\equiv1\pmod k, since the kkth power residues modulo pp are the ddth power residues for d=(k,p−1)d=(k,p-1), and builds ff from a primitive root modulo pp so that f(n)=1f(n)=1 exactly when nn is a kkth power residue. The proof of Theorem 2 finds a set of integers in which the quotients of any two members by their greatest common divisor are consecutive, Heath-Brown's special sets, on which ff takes the value 11, using the pigeonhole principle, Ramsey's theorem, elementary sieve estimates and estimates for multiplicative functions, as the introduction lists. Part I of the paper (Monatsh. Math. 102 (1986), 103--114) proved the case of prime kk; this page covers that case, so Part I has no page of its own. Before the theorem, Λ(k,2)\Lambda(k,2) was known finite for k≤7k\le7 by machine computation, with the exact values the problem page lists.

Covers. The first question, answered yes: Λ(k,2)\Lambda(k,2) is finite for every k≥2k\ge2. It does not cover the second question, whether Λ(k,3)\Lambda(k,3) is finite for every odd kk, or the third, how Λ(k,2)\Lambda(k,2) and Λ(k,3)\Lambda(k,3) grow with kk.

Depends on. No page of this wiki.

Acceptance. Refereed: the Michigan Mathematical Journal, a refereed journal, cited with its venue above. The site's commentary credits the theorem with the first question, but the site labels the problem OPEN, so the credit is not reviewed evidence. The page is dated by the publication year, since the record gives only the year. The proof of Theorem 2 (sections 2 to 4 of the paper) carries no independent review in this corpus.