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Erdős Problem 1193

References:

    erdosproblems.com/1193

    [Er80] Erdős, Paul, A survey of problems in combinatorial number theory. Ann. Discrete Math. (1980), 89-115.

open AdditiveCombinatorics Setnamespace Erdos1193

Let $A\subset \mathbb{N}$ and let $g(n)$ be a non-decreasing function of $n$ which is always $>0$.

Is the lower density of $${ n : 1_A\ast 1_A(n)=g(n)}$$ always $0$?

The answer is trivially no to both questions: indeed if $A=\mathbb{N}$ (assuming $0\in\mathbb{N}$) then $1_A\ast 1_A(n)=n+1$ for all $n$. Presumably Erdős had some additional restrictions on either $g$ or $A$ in mind, but these are not recorded in [Er80].

@[category research solved, AMS 5 11] theorem erdos_1193.parts.i : answer(False) (A : Set ) (g : ), Monotone g ( n, 0 < g n) {n : | sumRep A n = g n}.lowerDensity = 0 := False (A : Set ) (g : ), Monotone g (∀ (n : ), 0 < g n) {n | sumRep A n = g n}.lowerDensity = 0 All goals completed! 🐙

Let $A\subset \mathbb{N}$ and let $g(n)$ be a non-decreasing function of $n$ which is always $>0$.

Is the upper density of $${ n : 1_A\ast 1_A(n)=g(n)}$$ always $<c$ for some constant $c<1$?

The answer is trivially no to both questions: indeed if $A=\mathbb{N}$ (assuming $0\in\mathbb{N}$) then $1_A\ast 1_A(n)=n+1$ for all $n$. Presumably Erdős had some additional restrictions on either $g$ or $A$ in mind, but these are not recorded in [Er80].

@[category research solved, AMS 5 11] theorem erdos_1193.parts.ii : answer(False) c < (1 : ), (A : Set ) (g : ), Monotone g ( n, 0 < g n) {n : | sumRep A n = g n}.upperDensity < c := False c < 1, (A : Set ) (g : ), Monotone g (∀ (n : ), 0 < g n) {n | sumRep A n = g n}.upperDensity < c All goals completed! 🐙

Indeed if $A=\mathbb{N}$ (assuming $0\in\mathbb{N}$) then $1_A\ast 1_A(n)=n+1$ for all $n$.

@[category research solved, AMS 5 11, formal_proof using lean4 at "https://github.com/plby/lean-proofs/blob/main/src/v4.29.1/ErdosProblems/Erdos1193.lean"] theorem erdos_1193.variants.sumRep_univ (n : ) : sumRep (Set.univ : Set ) n = n + 1 := n:sumRep univ n = n + 1 All goals completed! 🐙

Erdős writes the upper density can be positive, but he believes it is bounded away from $1$.

@[category research solved, AMS 5 11] theorem erdos_1193.variants.upper_density_pos : (A : Set ) (g : ), Monotone g ( n, 0 < g n) 0 < {n : | sumRep A n = g n}.upperDensity := A g, Monotone g (∀ (n : ), 0 < g n) 0 < {n | sumRep A n = g n}.upperDensity All goals completed! 🐙end Erdos1193