Re: Solve stuck at 243
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg124232] Re: Solve stuck at 243
- From: Andrzej Kozlowski <akoz at mimuw.edu.pl>
- Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2012 02:58:40 -0500 (EST)
- Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
- References: <201201130953.EAA16531@smc.vnet.net>
I am not sure what happens there but the problem seems not difficult.
Let's first define a fast function that checks if a number is a perfect
square:
perfectSquare =
Compile[{{x, _Integer}}, Module[{w = N[Sqrt[x]]}, w == Round[w]],
RuntimeAttributes -> {Listable}, Parallelization -> True]
(I haven't really tested if this is the fastest way do to that, but it
should be pretty fast. Of course it's not guaranteed to be correct for
extremly large numbers but we hope they won't be needed). So now we
define our test:
test[n_] := Or @@ perfectSquare[(n - Prime[Range[2, PrimePi[n]]])/2]
In other words, we look at the differences between a number and all the
primes less than the number (excluding 2, of course), divide by two and
check if there are any perfect squares. If there aren't, we have our
solution.
Catch[
Do[If[Not[PrimeQ[i]] && Not[test[i]], Throw[i]], {i, 9, 10^4, 2}]]
5777
This is not as large as I had feared. We can actually confirm the
computation exactly.
Select[
Sqrt[With[{n = 5777}, (n - Prime[Range[2, PrimePi[n]]])/2]],
IntegerQ]
{}
Andrzej Kozlowski
On 13 Jan 2012, at 10:53, Ralph Dratman wrote:
> Project Euclid asks, "What is the smallest odd composite
> that cannot be written as the sum of a prime and twice a
> square?"
>
> I tried the following equation, not really expecting it to
> work:
>
> oddComposite == Prime[m] + 2 k^2
>
> Surprisingly, the above actually does work for all the odd
> composite numbers through 237.
>
> solveInstance[oddComposite_] := Solve[{oddComposite ==
> Prime[m] + 2*k^2, k > 0, m > 0}, {k, m}, Integers];
> For[i = 9, i < 300, i = i + 2,
> If[Not[PrimeQ[i]], Print[i,": ", solveInstance[i]]]]
>
> 9: {{k->1,m->4}}
> 15: {{k->1,m->6},{k->2,m->4}}
> 21: {{k->1,m->8},{k->2,m->6},{k->3,m->2}}
> 25: {{k->1,m->9},{k->2,m->7},{k->3,m->4}}
> 27: {{k->2,m->8}}
> 33: {{k->1,m->11}}
> 35: {{k->3,m->7},{k->4,m->2}}
> 39: {{k->1,m->12},{k->2,m->11},{k->4,m->4}}
> 45: {{k->1,m->14},{k->2,m->12},{k->4,m->6}}
> 49: {{k->1,m->15},{k->2,m->13},{k->3,m->11},{k->4,m->7}}
> 51: {{k->2,m->14},{k->4,m->8}}
>
> - - - - - - snip - - - - - -
>
> 217: {{k->3,m->46},{k->5,m->39},{k->8,m->24},{k->10,m->7}}
> 219: {{k->2,m->47},{k->10,m->8}}
> 221: {{k->6,m->35},{k->9,m->17}}
> 225: {{k->1,m->48},{k->4,m->44},{k->7,m->31},{k->8,m->25}}
> 231:
> {{k->1,m->50},{k->2,m->48},{k->4,m->46},{k->5,m->42},{k->8,m
> ->27},{k->10,m->11}}
> 235:
> {{k->1,m->51},{k->2,m->49},{k->6,m->38},{k->7,m->33},{k->8,m
> ->28},{k->9,m->21}}
> 237: {{k->2,m->50},{k->7,m->34},{k->8,m->29},{k->10,m->12}}
>
> - - - - - - but then, at 243, something changes - - - - -
>
> 243: {{k->1,m->53},{k->4,m->47},{k->5,m->44},{k->10,m->14}}
> Solve::nsmet: This system cannot be solved with the methods
> available to Solve. >>
>
> 245: Solve[{245==2 k^2+Prime[m],k>0,m>0},{k,m},Integers]
> Solve::nsmet: This system cannot be solved with the methods
> available to Solve. >>
>
> 247: Solve[{247==2 k^2+Prime[m],k>0,m>0},{k,m},Integers]
> Solve::nsmet: This system cannot be solved with the methods
> available to Solve. >>
>
> ... and so on. Strange.
>
> Does anyone know why such a threshold might appear?
>
> Thank you.
>
> Ralph Dratman
>
- References:
- Solve stuck at 243
- From: Ralph Dratman <ralph.dratman@gmail.com>
- Solve stuck at 243