July 30, 2015
We prove an asymptotic formula for the sum $\sum_{n \leq N} d(n^2 - 1)$, where $d(n)$ denotes the number of divisors of $n$. During the course of our proof, we also furnish an asymptotic formula for the sum $\sum_{d \leq N} g(d)$, where $g(d)$ denotes the number of solutions $x$ in $\mathbb{Z}_d$ to the equation $x^2 \equiv 1 \mod d$.
July 6, 2020
The divisor function $\sigma(n)$ denotes the sum of the divisors of the positive integer $n$. For a prime $p$ and $m \in \mathbb{N}$, the $p$-adic valuation of $m$ is the highest power of $p$ which divides $m$. Formulas for $\nu_{p}(\sigma(n))$ are established. For $p=2$, these involve only the odd primes dividing $n$. These expressions are used to establish the bound $\nu_{2}(\sigma(n)) \leq \lceil\log_{2}(n) \rceil$, with equality if and only if $n$ is the product of distin...
November 16, 2005
We study some divisibility properties of multiperfect numbers. Our main result is: if $N=p_1^{\alpha_1}... p_s^{\alpha_s} q_1^{2\beta_1}... q_t^{2\beta_t}$ with $\beta_1, ..., \beta_t$ in some finite set S satisfies $\sigma(N)=\frac{n}{d}N$, then N has a prime factor smaller than C, where C is an effective computable constant depending only on s, n, S.
March 7, 2015
We call $n$ a spoof odd perfect number if $n$ is odd and $n=km$ for two integers $k,m>1$ such that $\sigma(k)(m+1)=2n$, where $\sigma$ is the sum-of-divisors function. In this paper, we show how results analogous to those of odd perfect numbers could be established for spoof odd perfect numbers (otherwise known in the literature as Descartes numbers). In particular, we prove that $k$ is not almost perfect.
January 17, 2020
Let $k>2$ be a prime such that $2^k-1$ is a Mersenne prime. Let $n = 2^{\alpha-1}p$, where $\alpha>1$ and $p<3\cdot 2^{\alpha-1}-1$ is an odd prime. Continuing the work of Cai et al. and Jiang, we prove that $n\ |\ \sigma_k(n)$ if and only if $n$ is an even perfect number $\neq 2^{k-1}(2^k-1)$. Furthermore, if $n = 2^{\alpha-1}p^{\beta-1}$ for some $\beta>1$, then $n\ |\ \sigma_5(n)$ if and only if $n$ is an even perfect number $\neq 496$.
June 24, 2019
Let $\sigma(n)$ and $\gamma(n)$ denote the sum of divisors and the product of distinct prime divisors of $n$ respectively. We shall show that, if $n\neq 1, 1782$ and $\sigma(n)=(\gamma(n))^2$, then there exist odd (not necessarily distinct) primes $p, p^\prime$ and (not necessarily odd) distinct primes $q_i (i=1, 2, \ldots, k)$ such that $p, p^\prime\mid\mid n$, $q_i^2\mid\mid n (i=1, 2, \ldots, k)$ and $q_1\mid \sigma(p^2), q_{i+1}\mid\sigma(q_i^2) (1\leq i\leq k-1), p^\prim...
December 17, 2013
This article establishes a new upper bound on the function $\sigma^{*}(n)$, the sum of all coprime divisors of $n$. The article concludes with two questions concerning this function.
April 6, 2012
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 $...
February 12, 2024
Let $p_{\textrm{dsd}} (n)$ be the number of partitions of $n$ into distinct squarefree divisors of $n$. In this note, we find a lower bound for $p_{\textrm{dsd}} (n)$, as well as a sequence of $n$ for which $p_{\textrm{dsd}} (n)$ is unusually large.
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...