Logarithmic growth conjecture for all classes of consecutive powerful-number progressions

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Let A\mathcal{A} be the set of positive integers NN for which the corresponding triple N,N+d,N+2dN,N+d,N+2d is a three-term arithmetic progression of consecutive powerful numbers. Partition it as

A=A0⊔A1⊔A2,\mathcal{A}=\mathcal{A}_0\sqcup\mathcal{A}_1\sqcup\mathcal{A}_2,

where Ai\mathcal{A}_i consists of those NN for which the triple contains exactly ii squares. Logarithmic-growth conjecture. For every i∈{0,1,2}i\in\{0,1,2\},

∣Ai∩{1,2,…,n}∣≍log⁡n.\left|\mathcal{A}_i\cap\{1,2,\ldots,n\}\right|\asymp\log n.

In particular,

∣A∩{1,2,…,n}∣≍log⁡n.\left|\mathcal{A}\cap\{1,2,\ldots,n\}\right|\asymp\log n.

The conjecture is motivated by heuristic probability estimates for the three classes and remains unproved.

References

Primary source

Wouter van Doorn, “Three-term arithmetic progressions of consecutive powerful numbers”, arXiv:2605.06697 (2026).

Additional references

2 papers in this index state this conjecture (2015–2026). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:1502.02045.

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