Research notes on every problem, and a library of the papers behind them. Built from the open erdos repository.
Updated
Claim. Under the distinct-factor reading of Problem 786, call admissible when two finite subsets of whose products agree always have the same number of elements. Shisheng Li's full proof claim, submitted to the site's proof-claim tab on 28 September 2026 and declared as produced with GPT-6 Astra and GPT-5.6 Sol (OpenAI) and Claude (Anthropic), asserts two theorems. For the finite question: there is an absolute such that every admissible has for all large , so no admissible set has size . For the infinite question: an admissible has , so its logarithmic density, and with it its natural density where that exists, is at most , and no admissible set has density above for . Both answers are no. The route the summary gives for the finite bound: when some factors as a product of ratios , each of which is the quotient of at least pairwise disjoint pairs of members of , the identity equates a product of members with a product of members, which admissibility forbids, and some admits such a factorization with ; the Turán-Kubilius inequality shows that the primes most of whose multiples are missing from have a small sum of reciprocals, and a prime with many surviving multiples is written as a ratio of smaller quantities through a randomized pairing of with , where is a smooth integer near and the largest small-prime divisor of . The logarithmic bound comes from a parity argument on divisor boxes. The claim's notes say the constant is tiny and not optimized, where Tao's construction on the problem page suggests the true deficit is . The distinct-factor reading is the problem page's Statement (precise), so the claim, if it stands, answers it in full. Because the distinct-factor property is the weaker condition on , a negative answer under it is a negative answer under the repetitions-allowed reading as well.
Submission note. Posted to erdosproblems.com as a proof claim by Shisheng Li (account daizisheng) on 28 September 2026, giving "GPT-6 Astra, GPT-5.6 Sol (OpenAI); Claude (Anthropic)" as the AI used:
We answer both parts negatively (distinct factors). (ii): there is an absolute with for every admissible , large. If is a product of ratios , each with disjoint pairs in , then is a forbidden identity; we show some has such a factorisation with . Primes whose multiples are heavily deleted have small reciprocal sum (Turán–Kubilius). For other primes , pair with , where , is the largest small-prime divisor of and is a random smooth number ; since is recovered from , is nearly uniform, so has many pairs and reduces to smaller primes. (i): $\sum_{a\in A}1/a\leq \frac{1}{2}\log N+O((\log\log N)^2)$, by a divisor-box parity argument, so the logarithmic density is at most . Both formal-conjectures statements are proved in Lean. Notes: Historical note: Erdős (1980, p. 114) reports that Ruzsa had shown both answers are negative in the distinct-factor setting; no proof has appeared, and we claim no priority. Part (i) was answered earlier by Gessel (natural density ); our bound is stronger. The constant is not optimised (it is tiny); Tao's construction suggests the optimal deficit is . The Lean statements are copied verbatim from formal-conjectures (answer False); only the standard axioms are used.
Postings. The full proof claim on the site's proof-claim tab, submitted
28 September 2026 and declared as produced with GPT-6 Astra, GPT-5.6 Sol and
Claude; the manuscript
and the Lean folder in the author's GitHub repository, linked here at the
repository's last commit before the submission (28 September 2026, 08:11
UTC, by the repository's commit list accessed), where the
submission links the default branch. The claim's notes say
its Lean statements are copied from the formal-conjectures file for the
problem with the answer False and that the kernel reports only the three
standard axioms.
Acceptance. None on record. The site's label is OPEN (page last edited 11
April 2026, before the claim; proof-claim tab accessed 2026-10-06), the claim
has no comments, and no publication or named review exists. The claim's own note
says that Erdős's 1980 survey reports negative answers by Ruzsa in this setting,
for which no proof has appeared, and claims no priority; it credits
Gessel's partial claim
with the earlier answer to the first question and calls its own bound stronger.
The formalization is not listed as evidence: it has not been built or audited in
this corpus, and no statement-fidelity review exists. The claim stays claimed,
and the problem's standing is claimed, disproved, through this page.
Depends on. No page of this wiki.