PEN P Problems

1

Show that any integer can be expressed as a sum of two squares and a cube.

2

Show that each integer $n$ can be written as the sum of five perfect cubes (not necessarily positive).

3

Prove that infinitely many positive integers cannot be written in the form \[{x_{1}}^{3}+{x_{2}}^{5}+{x_{3}}^{7}+{x_{4}}^{9}+{x_{5}}^{11},\] where $x_{1}, x_{2}, x_{3}, x_{4}, x_{5}\in \mathbb{N}$.

4

Determine all positive integers that are expressible in the form \[a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}+c,\] where $a$, $b$, $c$ are integers.

5

Show that any positive rational number can be represented as the sum of three positive rational cubes.

6

Show that every integer greater than $1$ can be written as a sum of two square-free integers.

7

Prove that every integer $n \ge 12$ is the sum of two composite numbers.

8

Prove that any positive integer can be represented as an aggregate of different powers of $3$, the terms in the aggregate being combined by the signs $+$ and $-$ appropriately chosen.

9

The integer $9$ can be written as a sum of two consecutive integers: 9=4+5. Moreover it can be written as a sum of (more than one) consecutive positive integers in exactly two ways, namely 9=4+5= 2+3+4. Is there an integer which can be written as a sum of $1990$ consecutive integers and which can be written as a sum of (more than one) consecutive positive integers in exactly $1990$ ways?

10

For each positive integer $\,n,\;S(n)\,$ is defined to be the greatest integer such that, for every positive integer $\,k\leq S(n),\;n^{2}\,$ can be written as the sum of $\,k\,$ positive squares. Prove that $S(n)\leq n^{2}-14$ for each $n\geq 4$. Find an integer $n$ such that $S(n)=n^{2}-14$. Prove that there are infinitely many integers $n$ such that $S(n)=n^{2}-14$.

11

For each positive integer $n$, let $f(n)$ denote the number of ways of representing $n$ as a sum of powers of 2 with nonnegative integer exponents. Representations which differ only in the ordering of their summands are considered to be the same. For instance, $f(4)=4$, because the number $4$ can be represented in the following four ways: \[4, 2+2, 2+1+1, 1+1+1+1.\] Prove that, for any integer $n \geq 3$, \[2^{n^{2}/4}< f(2^{n}) < 2^{n^{2}/2}.\]

12

The positive function $p(n)$ is defined as the number of ways that the positive integer $n$ can be written as a sum of positive integers. Show that, for all positive integers $n \ge 2$, \[2^{\lfloor \sqrt{n}\rfloor}< p(n) < n^{3 \lfloor\sqrt{n}\rfloor }.\]

13

Let $a_{1}=1$, $a_{2}=2$, $a_{3}$, $a_{4}$, $\cdots$ be the sequence of positive integers of the form $2^{\alpha}3^{\beta}$, where $\alpha$ and $\beta$ are nonnegative integers. Prove that every positive integer is expressible in the form \[a_{i_{1}}+a_{i_{2}}+\cdots+a_{i_{n}},\] where no summand is a multiple of any other.

14

Let $n$ be a non-negative integer. Find all non-negative integers $a$, $b$, $c$, $d$ such that \[a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}+d^{2}= 7 \cdot 4^{n}.\]

15

Find all integers $m>1$ such that $m^3$ is a sum of $m$ squares of consecutive integers.

16

Prove that there exist infinitely many integers $n$ such that $n, n+1, n+2$ are each the sum of the squares of two integers.

17

Let $p$ be a prime number of the form $4k+1$. Suppose that $r$ is a quadratic residue of $p$ and that $s$ is a quadratic nonresidue of $p$. Show that $p=a^{2}+b^{2}$, where \[a=\frac{1}{2}\sum^{p-1}_{i=1}\left( \frac{i(i^{2}-r)}{p}\right), b=\frac{1}{2}\sum^{p-1}_{i=1}\left( \frac{i(i^{2}-s)}{p}\right).\] Here, $\left( \frac{k}{p}\right)$ denotes the Legendre Symbol.

18

Let $p$ be a prime with $p \equiv 1 \pmod{4}$. Let $a$ be the unique integer such that \[p=a^{2}+b^{2}, \; a \equiv-1 \pmod{4}, \; b \equiv 0 \; \pmod{2}\] Prove that \[\sum^{p-1}_{i=0}\left( \frac{i^{3}+6i^{2}+i }{p}\right) = 2 \left( \frac{2}{p}\right),\] where $\left(\frac{k}{p}\right)$ denotes the Legendre Symbol.

19

Let $n$ be an integer of the form $a^2 + b^2$, where $a$ and $b$ are relatively prime integers and such that if $p$ is a prime, $p \leq \sqrt{n}$, then $p$ divides $ab$. Determine all such $n$.

20

If an integer $n$ is such that $7n$ is the form $a^2 +3b^2$, prove that $n$ is also of that form.

21

Let $A$ be the set of positive integers of the form $a^2 +2b^2$, where $a$ and $b$ are integers and $b \neq 0$. Show that if $p$ is a prime number and $p^2 \in A$, then $p \in A$.

22

Show that an integer can be expressed as the difference of two squares if and only if it is not of the form $4k+2 \; (k \in \mathbb{Z})$.

23

Show that there are infinitely many positive integers which cannot be expressed as the sum of squares.

24

Show that any integer can be expressed as the form $a^{2}+b^{2}-c^{2}$, where $a, b, c \in \mathbb{Z}$.

25

Let $a$ and $b$ be positive integers with $\gcd(a, b)=1$. Show that every integer greater than $ab-a-b$ can be expressed in the form $ax+by$, where $x, y \in \mathbb{N}_{0}$.

26

Let $a, b$ and $c$ be positive integers, no two of which have a common divisor greater than $1$. Show that $2abc-ab-bc-ca$ is the largest integer which cannot be expressed in the form $xbc+yca+zab$, where $x, y, z \in \mathbb{N}_{0}$

27

Determine, with proof, the largest number which is the product of positive integers whose sum is $1976$.

28

Prove that any positive integer can be represented as a sum of Fibonacci numbers, no two of which are consecutive.

29

Show that the set of positive integers which cannot be represented as a sum of distinct perfect squares is finite.

30

Let $a_{1}, a_{2}, a_{3}, \cdots$ be an increasing sequence of nonnegative integers such that every nonnegative integer can be expressed uniquely in the form $a_{i}+2a_{j}+4a_{k}$, where $i, j, $ and $k$ are not necessarily distinct. Determine $a_{1998}$.

31

A finite sequence of integers $a_{0}, a_{1}, \cdots, a_{n}$ is called quadratic if for each $i \in \{1,2,\cdots,n \}$ we have the equality $\vert a_{i}-a_{i-1} \vert = i^2$. Prove that for any two integers $b$ and $c$, there exists a natural number $n$ and a quadratic sequence with $a_{0}=b$ and $a_{n}=c$. Find the smallest natural number $n$ for which there exists a quadratic sequence with $a_{0}=0$ and $a_{n}=1996$.

32

A composite positive integer is a product $ab$ with $a$ and $b$ not necessarily distinct integers in $\{2,3,4,\dots\}$. Show that every composite positive integer is expressible as $xy+xz+yz+1$, with $x,y,z$ positive integers.

33

Let $a_{1}, a_{2}, \cdots, a_{k}$ be relatively prime positive integers. Determine the largest integer which cannot be expressed in the form \[x_{1}a_{2}a_{3}\cdots a_{k}+x_{2}a_{1}a_{3}\cdots a_{k}+\cdots+x_{k}a_{1}a_{2}\cdots a_{k-1}\] for some nonnegative integers $x_{1}, x_{2}, \cdots, x_{k}$.

34

If $n$ is a positive integer which can be expressed in the form $n=a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}$, where $a, b, c$ are positive integers, prove that for each positive integer $k$, $n^{2k}$ can be expressed in the form $A^2 +B^2 +C^2$, where $A, B, C$ are positive integers.

35

Prove that every positive integer which is not a member of the infinite set below is equal to the sum of two or more distinct numbers of the set \[\{ 3,-2, 2^{2}3,-2^{3}, \cdots, 2^{2k}3,-2^{2k+1}, \cdots \}=\{3,-2, 12,-8, 48,-32, 192, \cdots \}.\]

36

Let $k$ and $s$ be odd positive integers such that \[\sqrt{3k-2}-1 \le s \le \sqrt{4k}.\] Show that there are nonnegative integers $t$, $u$, $v$, and $w$ such that \[k=t^{2}+u^{2}+v^{2}+w^{2}, \;\; \text{and}\;\; s=t+u+v+w.\]

37

Let $S_{n}=\{1,n,n^{2},n^{3}, \cdots \}$, where $n$ is an integer greater than $1$. Find the smallest number $k=k(n)$ such that there is a number which may be expressed as a sum of $k$ (possibly repeated) elements in $S_{n}$ in more than one way. (Rearrangements are considered the same.)

38

Find the smallest possible $n$ for which there exist integers $x_{1}$, $x_{2}$, $\cdots$, $x_{n}$ such that each integer between $1000$ and $2000$ (inclusive) can be written as the sum (without repetition), of one or more of the integers $x_{1}$, $x_{2}$, $\cdots$, $x_{n}$.

39

In how many ways can $2^{n}$ be expressed as the sum of four squares of natural numbers?

40

Show that infinitely many perfect squares are a sum of a perfect square and a prime number, infinitely many perfect squares are not a sum of a perfect square and a prime number.

41

The famous conjecture of Goldbach is the assertion that every even integer greater than $2$ is the sum of two primes. Except $2$, $4$, and $6$, every even integer is a sum of two positive composite integers: $n=4+(n-4)$. What is the largest positive even integer that is not a sum of two odd composite integers?

42

Prove that for each positive integer $K$ there exist infinitely many even positive integers which can be written in more than $K$ ways as the sum of two odd primes.

43

A positive integer $n$ is abundant if the sum of its proper divisors exceeds $n$. Show that every integer greater than $89 \times 315$ is the sum of two abundant numbers.