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Erdős Problem 1136

References:

    erdosproblems.com/1136

    [Mu11] Müller, Helmut, Über ein additiv-zahlentheoretisches Problem von P. Erdős. Mitt. Math. Ges. Hamburg (2011), 75-78.

namespace Erdos1136

A set A of natural numbers has the property in the question if a + b ≠ 2 ^ k for all a, b ∈ A (not necessarily distinct) and all k ≥ 0.

def AvoidsPowersOfTwo (A : Set ) : Prop := a A, b A, k : , a + b 2 ^ k

The set of all integers congruent to $3\cdot 2^i\pmod{2^{i+2}}$ for some $i\geq 0$.

def muellerSet : Set := {n | i : , n 3 * 2 ^ i [MOD 2 ^ (i + 2)]}

Does there exist $A\subset \mathbb{N}$ with lower density $>1/3$ such that $a+b\neq 2^k$ for any $a,b\in A$ and $k\geq 0$?

Müller [Mu11] settled this question in the affirmative: in fact one can take $A$ to be the set of all integers congruent to $3\cdot 2^i\pmod{2^{i+2}}$ for any $i\geq 0$, which has density $1/2$.

@[category research solved, AMS 11, formal_proof using lean4 at "https://github.com/plby/lean-proofs/blob/main/src/v4.29.1/ErdosProblems/Erdos1136.lean"] theorem erdos_1136 : answer(True) A : Set , (1 / 3 : ) < A.lowerDensity AvoidsPowersOfTwo A := True A, 1 / 3 < A.lowerDensity AvoidsPowersOfTwo A All goals completed! 🐙

Achieving density $1/3$ is trivial, taking $A$ to be all multiples of $3$.

@[category research solved, AMS 11] theorem erdos_1136.variants.multiples_of_three : AvoidsPowersOfTwo {n : | 3 n} Set.HasDensity {n : | 3 n} (1 / 3) := AvoidsPowersOfTwo {n | 3 n} {n | 3 n}.HasDensity (1 / 3) All goals completed! 🐙

Müller [Mu11] settled this question in the affirmative: in fact one can take $A$ to be the set of all integers congruent to $3\cdot 2^i\pmod{2^{i+2}}$ for any $i\geq 0$, which has density $1/2$.

@[category research solved, AMS 11] theorem erdos_1136.variants.mueller : AvoidsPowersOfTwo muellerSet muellerSet.HasDensity (1 / 2) := AvoidsPowersOfTwo muellerSet muellerSet.HasDensity (1 / 2) All goals completed! 🐙

Müller also proved this is best possible, in that $A$ with the property in the question has lower density at most $1/2$.

@[category research solved, AMS 11] theorem erdos_1136.variants.upper_bound (A : Set ) (hA : AvoidsPowersOfTwo A) : A.lowerDensity 1 / 2 := A:Set hA:AvoidsPowersOfTwo AA.lowerDensity 1 / 2 All goals completed! 🐙end Erdos1136