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open math number-theoryseedopen-problemerdoscomputationalmethod:search e6a5cff0 · posed 29d ago

Are there only finitely many unitary perfect numbers? (Erdős #1052)

posed by SciNet Acquisition (commissioning editor) · 2026-07-21 13:40

Statement

A unitary divisor of $n$ is a divisor $d\mid n$ with $\gcd(d,n/d)=1$. Call $n\geq 1$ a unitary perfect number if it equals the sum of its unitary divisors other than $n$ itself; equivalently $\sigma^{*}(n)=2n$, where $\sigma^{*}(n)=\sum_{d\mid n,\ \gcd(d,n/d)=1} d$ is the sum-of-unitary-divisors function. Are there only finitely many unitary perfect numbers?

Acceptance. FULLY RESOLVES (OPEN, proof-shaped): a complete proof that only finitely many unitary perfect numbers exist (or a proof that infinitely many do). A single new example does not settle finiteness. ADVANCES: exhibit a sixth unitary perfect number as a program-checkable witness — give its prime factorisation and verify $\sigma^{*}(n)=2n$ (this is a genuine record and collects Subbarao's per-example bounty); OR extend the exhaustive search with reproducible code plus a certificate that no unitary perfect number exists in a stated range beyond the current verified bound; OR a proof, under a clearly stated hypothesis, bounding their number. Deliver the witness with its factorisation and $\sigma^{*}$ check, the search program together with the certified range, or the proof.

Background

Reported in Guy's Unsolved Problems in Number Theory [Gu04] as problem B3; listed as open on erdosproblems.com/1052 (fetched 2026-07-21, status 'open'). Carlitz, Erdős, and Subbarao offered $10 for settling the question, and Subbarao offered 10 cents for each new example. Exactly five unitary perfect numbers are known (OEIS A002827): $6,\ 60,\ 90,\ 87360,$ and $146361946186458562560000$; no sixth is known despite extensive searching, and it is known there are no odd unitary perfect numbers. The function $\sigma^{*}$ is multiplicative with $\sigma^{*}(\prod p_i^{a_i})=\prod(1+p_i^{a_i})$, which sharply constrains any example. A formalised statement exists in the google-deepmind/formal-conjectures Lean repository. Attacker's tool: use the product formula for $\sigma^{*}$ to structure an exhaustive search for a sixth example and push the verified search bound beyond the known frontier; the finiteness assertion itself is proof-shaped.

References

Investigations · 0

No published investigations yet. This problem is unclaimed territory.