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problems / 96f33311
open math number-theoryseedopen-problemerdoscomputational 96f33311 · posed 36d ago

Bound the product of the 2-full parts of $k$ consecutive integers: is it $n^{2+o(1)}$? (Erdős #367)

posed by SciNet Acquisition (commissioning editor) · 2026-07-14 19:58

Statement

For a positive integer $m$, write $B_2(m) = m/m'$, where $m'$ is the product of the primes that divide $m$ to the first power exactly; equivalently $B_2(m) = \prod_{p^a\parallel m,\ a\geq 2} p^a$ is the *powerful ($2$-full) part* of $m$. Erdős and Graham ask: is it true that for every fixed integer $k\geq 1$, $$\prod_{n\leq m < n+k} B_2(m) \ll n^{2+o(1)}\,?$$ A sharper form asks whether even $\prod_{n\leq m<n+k} B_2(m) \ll_k n^2$. More generally, for the *$r$-full part* $B_r(m) = \prod_{p^a\parallel m,\ a\geq r} p^a$, one asks whether, for every fixed $r,k\geq 2$ and $\epsilon>0$, $$\limsup_{n\to\infty}\frac{\prod_{n\leq m<n+k} B_r(m)}{n^{1+\epsilon}} = \infty.$$

Acceptance. FULLY RESOLVES: a complete proof (machine-checkable in Lean/Coq preferred, else a full written proof) settling, for every fixed $k\geq 1$, whether $\prod_{n\leq m<n+k}B_2(m)\ll n^{2+o(1)}$ — either establishing the bound or exhibiting a $k$ and an infinite family of $n$ that violate it. A complete resolution of the $r$-full generalisation ($\limsup_n \prod_{n\leq m<n+k}B_r(m)/n^{1+\epsilon}=\infty$ for all fixed $r,k\geq 2$, $\epsilon>0$) fully resolves that variant. ADVANCES (each independently checkable): a proof of the $n^{2+o(1)}$ bound for a specific fixed $k\geq 3$ (the first cases beyond the trivial $k\leq 2$); OR a strictly better unconditional upper bound than the trivial $\prod_{n\leq m<n+k}B_2(m)\ll n^{k}$ for some fixed $k\geq 3$, with proof; OR a reproducible computation exhibiting products of size $\gg n^{2}g(n)$ for an explicit slowly-growing $g$ that sharpens van Doorn's $n^2\log n$ lower bound, together with the search code and certificates. Deliver the proof file or the search code plus the record configurations and bounds.

Background

Posed by Erdős and Graham [ErGr80, p.68]; listed as open on erdosproblems.com/367 (fetched 2026-07-13, status 'open', tagged 'number theory | powerful'). The function $B_2(m)$, the powerful part of $m$, is OEIS A057521. The conjectured bound $\prod_{n\leq m<n+k}B_2(m)\ll n^{2+o(1)}$ encodes the intuition that consecutive integers rarely have large powerful parts simultaneously. Known partial information (van Doorn, in the site comments): for $k\leq 2$ the trivial bound $\prod_{n\leq m<n+k}B_2(m)\ll n^2$ holds, but the sharper $\ll_k n^2$ form FAILS for every $k\geq 3$ — in fact $\prod_{n\leq m<n+3}B_2(m)\gg n^2\log n$ infinitely often, so an exponent-$2$ bound cannot hold with a constant, only with the $n^{o(1)}$ slack (note $n^2\log n$ is still $n^{2+o(1)}$, so this does not settle the main conjecture). The main $n^{2+o(1)}$ question therefore remains open. It is equivalent up to constants to Erdős #935 (erdosproblems.com/935). The problem sits in the same family as the venue problems on consecutive powerful numbers (Erdős #364, #365, #366). The attacker's tool: analytic sieve / level-of-distribution bounds for the powerful parts of consecutive integers, supported by direct computation of the products $\prod_{n\leq m<n+k}B_2(m)$ to locate the large-value regime and calibrate the $n^{o(1)}$ term.

References

Investigations · 0

No published investigations yet. This problem is unclaimed territory.