August 24, 2020
The divisor function $\sigma(n)$ sums the divisors of $n$. We call $n$ abundant when $\sigma(n) - n > n$ and perfect when $\sigma(n) - n = n$. I recently introduced the recursive divisor function $a(n)$, the recursive analog of the divisor function. It measures the extent to which a number is highly divisible into parts, such that the parts are highly divisible into subparts, so on. Just as the divisor function motivates the abundant and perfect numbers, the recursive divisor function motivates their recursive analogs, which I introduce here. A number is recursively abundant, or ample, if $a(n) > n$ and recursively perfect, or pristine, if $a(n) = n$. There are striking parallels between abundant and perfect numbers and their recursive counterparts. The product of two ample numbers is ample, and ample numbers are either abundant or odd perfect numbers. Odd ample numbers exist but are rare, and I conjecture that there are such numbers not divisible by the first $k$ primes -- which is known to be true for the abundant numbers. There are infinitely many pristine numbers, but that they cannot be odd, apart from 1. Pristine numbers are the product of a power of two and odd prime solutions to certain Diophantine equations, reminiscent of how perfect numbers are the product of a power of two and a Mersenne prime. The parallels between these kinds of numbers hint at deeper links between the divisor function and its recursive analog, worthy of further investigation.
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June 2, 2021
A positive integer $n$ is called perfect if $ \sigma(n)=2n$, where $\sigma(n)$ denote the sum of divisors of $n$. In this paper we study the ratio $\frac{\sigma(n)}{n}$. We define the function Abundancy Index $I:\mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{Q}$ with $I(n)=\frac{\sigma(n)}{n}$. Then we study different properties of the Abundancy Index and discuss the set of Abundancy Index. Using this function we define a new class of numbers known as superabundant numbers. Finally, we study superab...
April 23, 2021
This research explores the sum of divisors - $\sigma(n)$ - and the abundancy index given by the function $\frac{\sigma(n)}{n}$. We give a generalization of amicable pairs - feebly amicable pairs (also known as harmonious pairs), that is $m,n$ such that $\frac{n}{\sigma(n)}+ \frac{m}{\sigma(m)}=1$. We first give some groundwork in introductory number theory, then the goal of the paper is to determine if all numbers are feebly amicable with at least one other number by using kn...
February 8, 2011
A perfect number is a number whose divisors add up to twice the number itself. The existence of odd perfect numbers is a millennia-old unsolved problem. This note proposes a proof of the nonexistence of odd perfect numbers. More generally, the same analysis seems to generalize to a proof of the nonexistence of odd multiperfect numbers.
Let \sigma(n) = \sum_{d \mid n}d be the usual sum-of-divisors function. In 1933, Davenport showed that that n/\sigma(n) possesses a continuous distribution function. In other words, the limit D(u):= \lim_{x\to\infty} \frac{1}{x}\sum_{n \leq x,~n/\sigma(n) \leq u} 1 exists for all u \in [0,1] and varies continuously with u. We study the behavior of the sums \sum_{n \leq x,~n/\sigma(n) \leq u} f(n) for certain complex-valued multiplicative functions f. Our results cover many of...
August 1, 2010
In this paper some new ways of generalizing perfect numbers are investigated, numerical results are presented and some conjectures are established.
A perfect number is a positive integer $N$ such that the sum of all the positive divisors of $N$ equals $2N$, denoted by $\sigma(N) = 2N$. The question of the existence of odd perfect numbers (OPNs) is one of the longest unsolved problems of number theory. This thesis presents some of the old as well as new approaches to solving the OPN Problem. In particular, a conjecture predicting an injective and surjective mapping $X = \sigma(p^k)/p^k, Y = \sigma(m^2)/m^2$ between OPNs $...
December 30, 2009
A positive integer n is said to be perfect if sigma(n)=2n, where sigma denotes the sum of the divisors of n. In this article, we show that if n is an even perfect number, then any integer m<=n is expressed as a sum of some of divisors of n.
October 2, 2023
Let $\sigma(n)$ be the sum of the positive divisors of $n$. A number $n$ is said to be 2-near perfect if $\sigma(n) = 2n +d_1 +d_2 $, where $d_1$ and $d_2$ are distinct positive divisors of $n$. We give a complete description of those $n$ which are 2-near perfect and of the form $n=2^k p^i$ where $p$ is prime and $i \in \{1,2\}$. We also prove related results under the additional restriction where $d_1d_2=n$.
April 7, 2015
We say a natural number~$n$ is abundant if $\sigma(n)>2n$, where $\sigma(n)$ denotes the sum of the divisors of~$n$. The aliquot parts of~$n$ are those divisors less than~$n$, and we say that an abundant number~$n$ is pseudoperfect if there is some subset of the aliquot parts of~$n$ which sum to~$n$. We say~$n$ is weird if~$n$ is abundant but not pseudoperfect. We call a weird number~$n$ primitive if none of its aliquot parts are weird. We find all primitive weird numbers of ...
December 9, 2014
Using an extension of the abundancy index to imaginary quadratic rings with unique factorization, we define what we call $n$-powerfully perfect numbers in these rings. This definition serves to extend the concept of perfect numbers that have been defined and studied in the integers. We investigate the properties of $2$-powerfully perfect numbers in the rings $\mathcal O_{\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-1})}$, $\mathcal O_{\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-2})}$, and $\mathcal O_{\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-7})}$, t...