The disjoint zero-block conjecture for the floor-function differences

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Let n≥1n\geq 1 be an odd integer, and define

dn(ℓ):=⌊2ℓn⌋−⌊(2ℓ−1)n⌋.d_n(\ell):=\left\lfloor\sqrt{2\ell n}\right\rfloor-\left\lfloor\sqrt{(2\ell-1)n}\right\rfloor.

Suppose that δ:=dn(λ)≥2\delta:=d_n(\lambda)\geq 2 for some λ≥1\lambda\geq 1. Disjoint zero-block conjecture. Each such λ\lambda corresponds to δ−1\delta-1 consecutive integers ℓλ,…,ℓλ+δ−2\ell_{\lambda},\ldots,\ell_{\lambda}+\delta-2 such that

dn(ℓλ+j)=0(j=0,…,δ−2),d_n(\ell_{\lambda}+j)=0\qquad (j=0,\ldots,\delta-2),

and the sets of these zero values are disjoint. The statement describes the observed relationship between values of the floor-function differences: a value at least 22 is paired with a consecutive block of zero values, with different blocks disjoint. The supplied text does not state whether this claim has been proved or remains open.

References

Primary source

Marc Chamberland and Karl Dilcher, “An alternating sum of the floor function of square roots”, arXiv:2510.26291 (2025).

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