Erdős Problem #18 — Representing integers below n!n! as sums of few distinct divisors

About 31 years old · traced to

I proved long ago that every m<n!m < n! is the distinct sum of n−1n - 1 or fewer divisors of n!n!. Let h(m)h(m) be the smallest integer, if it exists, for which every integer less than mm is the distinct sum of h(m)h(m) or fewer divisors of mm. Srinivasan called the numbers for which h(m)h(m) exists practical. It is well known and easy to see that almost all numbers mm are not practical. I conjectured that there is a constant c≥1c \geq 1 for which for infinitely many mm we have h(m)<(log⁡log⁡m)ch(m) < (\log\log m)^c. M. Vose proved that h(n!)<cn1/2h(n!) < cn^{1/2}. Perhaps h(n!)<c(log⁡n)c2h(n!) < c(\log n)^{c_2}. I would be very glad to see a proof of h(n!)<nεh(n!) < n^{\varepsilon}.

References

Additional references

P. Erdős, Some of my favourite problems in number theory, combinatorics, and geometry, Resenhas IME-USP 2 (1995), 165-186.

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