On a Unit Fraction Question of Erdos and Graham
On page 161 of Guy's excellent book "Unsolved Problems in Number
Theory" (2nd Ed) it discusses expressing 1 as the sum of t distinct
unit fractions. Letting m(t) denote the smallest possible maximum
denominator in such a sum, he notes that m(3)=6 and m(4)=12. These
follow from the optimum 3-term and 4-term expressions
1 = 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/6
1 = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/6 + 1/12
However, the book goes on to say that m(12)=120. Is this just a typo?
If I've interpreted the definition of m(t) correctly it seems to me
m(12) cannot be greater than 30. Here's a table of the optimum
expansions for t=3 to 12:
t denominators of optimum expansion
--- -----------------------------------------------
3 2 3 6
4 2 4 6 12
5 2 4 10 12 15
6 3 4 6 10 12 15
7 3 4 9 10 12 15 18
8 3 5 9 10 12 15 18 20
9 4 5 8 9 10 15 18 20 24
10 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 18 20 24
11 5 6 8 9 10 15 18 20 21 24 28
12 6 7 8 9 10 14 15 18 20 24 28 30
I'm not actually certain the above expansion for t=12 is optimum, but
it proves that the maximum denominator of the optiumum expansion is
certainly no greater than 30. Am I missing something?
Richard Guy wrote:
This is indeed an error, and one which has been there since the
first edition, 15 years ago. I must have miscopied or misunderstood
it from Erd"os or Graham. It's surprising that no-one has pointed it
out earlier. I keep an updating file for UPINT and your message will
be incorporated.
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