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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 question of Problem 732, as its precise Statement poses it, is answered yes. Theorem 2.3 of Noga Alon's note Blocking partial designs and block-compatible sequences, published as Theorem 4.5 of Section 4 of Alon's chapter Problems and Results in Extremal Combinatorics–V (card; the chapter's Problem 4.2 is Problem 732), states: for a large prime power qq and n=q2+q+1n=q^2+q+1, every nonincreasing integer sequence q+1≥x1≥⋯≥xn≥3q+1\ge x_1\ge\cdots\ge x_n\ge3, followed by ∑i≤n[(q+12)−(xi2)]\sum_{i\le n}\left[\binom{q+1}2-\binom{x_i}2\right] entries equal to 22, is block-compatible for nn; hence the number of block-compatible sequences for nn is at least

(n+q−2q−2)=2(1/2+o(1)) n1/2log⁡n\binom{n+q-2}{q-2}=2^{(1/2+o(1))\,n^{1/2}\log n}

with logarithms to base 22. The design is built from the lines of a projective plane of order qq: each line is shrunk to a subset of size xix_i, and every pair of points of the line left uncovered becomes a block of size 22. The note states the bound for nn of the form q2+q+1q^2+q+1. Two observations, made here, carry it to every large nn: adding a point to an nn-point design together with the nn blocks of size 22 joining it to the old points gives a design on n+1n+1 points, so the number of block-compatible sequences does not decrease with nn; and Bertrand's postulate gives a prime qq with q2+q+1≤nq^2+q+1\le n and q≫n1/2q\gg n^{1/2}. So at least exp⁡(cn1/2log⁡n)\exp(cn^{1/2}\log n) sequences are block-compatible for every large nn, for an absolute c>0c>0. Section 3 of the note, the Remarks of Section 4.3 of the chapter, also proves Erdős's upper bound 2O(n1/2log⁡n)2^{O(n^{1/2}\log n)}, so the count is exp⁡(Θ(n1/2log⁡n))\exp(\Theta(n^{1/2}\log n)). The note writes a sequence in nonincreasing order with xm≥2x_m\ge2; the site's 1<X1≤⋯≤Xm≤n1<X_1\le\cdots\le X_m\le n is the same sequence reversed.

Covers. The whole precise Statement: for an absolute c>0c>0 and every large nn, at least exp⁡(cn1/2log⁡n)\exp(cn^{1/2}\log n) sequences are block-compatible for {1,…,n}\{1,\ldots,n\}. Theorem 2.3 of the note, Theorem 4.5 of the chapter, is stated for n=q2+q+1n=q^2+q+1 only; the passage to every large nn is the two observations above, monotonicity in nn by adding a point with nn blocks of size 22, and Bertrand's postulate. Alon leaves that passage implicit while presenting Theorem 4.5 as settling the chapter's Problem 4.2 for all large nn.

Acceptance. Reviewed: the site's curator, Thomas Bloom, labels the problem proved and credits the lower bound to Alon, linking the note, independently of its author. The note carries no date and is listed without a venue on the author's publications page; the page is dated by the server's modification date of the file, 2024-08-03, the only date available, and the note's references reach to 2020. The result was then published as Theorem 4.5 of Noga Alon, Problems and Results in Extremal Combinatorics–V, in Sum(m)it280, Bolyai Society Mathematical Studies 32, Springer (2026), 13–29, online 2026-05-28, a proceedings volume whose refereeing is not documented, so the page lists no refereed evidence. The chapter's proof of Theorem 4.5 takes the lines of a projective plane of order qq, correcting the "order q+1q+1" of the note's first sentence. A Lean 4 development by Jingxuan Ding of the SpringSense Innovation Institute, posted on the site's discussion thread on 2026-10-04 and pinned above at its commit, names Alon's Problem 1.2 and Theorem 2.3 as its source and proves erdos732_yes: there is c>0c>0 such that for all large nn at least exp⁡(cnln⁡n)\exp(c\sqrt n\ln n) nonincreasing lists with entries in [2,n][2,n] are realized as the block sizes of a pairwise balanced design on nn points. Its statement audit records the passage to every large nn through monotonicity and Bertrand's postulate, and notes that the first sentence of the note's proof of Theorem 2.3 says a plane of order q+1q+1 where the theorem needs order qq. The development's README says its paper analysis was AI-assisted and names Codex for release packaging. This corpus has not built or audited it, so the page lists no formalized evidence.