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Research notes on every problem, and a library of the papers behind them. Built from the open erdos repository.

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Claim. The answer to Problem 337 is no. Theorem 1 of I. Z. Ruzsa and S. Turjányi, A note on additive bases of integers, Publ. Math. Debrecen 32 (1985), 101--104 (source card), states that for every h≥3h\ge3 there is a basis AA of order hh with A(x)=o(x)A(x)=o(x) and lim inf⁡x→∞Ah−1(x)/A(x)<∞\liminf_{x\to\infty}A_{h-1}(x)/A(x)<\infty, where A(x)A(x) and Ak(x)A_k(x) count the elements of AA and of its kk-fold sumset up to xx. The construction adds to a thin basis BB of order hh, with B(x)=O(x1/h)B(x)=O(x^{1/h}), the integer intervals [dn−dn r,dn][d_n-d_n^{\,r},d_n] for a rapidly increasing sequence dnd_n and a suitable r∈(0,1)r\in(0,1). The print on p. 101 writes B(x)=o(x1/h)B(x)=o(x^{1/h}), a misprint: no basis of order hh has counting function o(x1/h)o(x^{1/h}), since the sums of at most hh elements of BB below xx number at most (B(x)+h)h(B(x)+h)^h, and the Lean formalization of the case h=3h=3 works with the OO bound, its thin-basis condition being B(x)≤Cx1/hB(x)\le Cx^{1/h}. The case h=3h=3 is a basis of order 33 with counting function o(x)o(x) whose two-fold sumset has counting function within a constant factor of A(x)A(x) along the dnd_n, so the limit in the problem is not infinite. The paper also records the repaired forms: Theorem 2 proves A3(3x)/A(x)→∞A_3(3x)/A(x)\to\infty for every basis with A(x)=o(x)A(x)=o(x), and Conjecture 1 asks the same of A2(2x)/A(x)A_2(2x)/A(x), which the Plünnecke--Ruzsa inequality gives, as the formal-conjectures statement file records; neither is part of this claim.

Acceptance. Refereed: the paper is a journal article (Publ. Math. Debrecen). Reviewed: the site's curator, T. F. Bloom, credits the negative answer to Turjányi's 1984 note, recorded at Turjányi 1984, and to this paper the generalization in which the kk-fold sumset replaces A+AA+A, for every k≥2k\ge2 (Theorem 1 with h=k+1h=k+1), and labels the problem disproved with a Lean qualifier at erdosproblems.com (label), which is the site's acceptance. The source card records the statements of Theorems 1--3 and Conjectures 1--2; none of the proofs is checked here.

The Lean proof. A comment in the problem's forum thread on 2025-12-10 reports that the Ruzsa--Turjányi solution has been formalized in Lean, the proof auto-formalized by the AI system Aristotle with the final statement written by hand. The file at the pinned commit names Ruzsa and Turjányi as its informal authors and Aristotle and Boris Alexeev as its formal authors. It defines a proposition erdos_337, that every set A⊆NA\subseteq\mathbb{N} which is a basis of some order kk and has counting function o(x)o(x) has ∣(A+A)∩[1,x]∣/∣A∩[1,x]∣→∞\lvert (A+A)\cap[1,x]\rvert/\lvert A\cap[1,x]\rvert\to\infty, builds a thin basis of order 33 (exists_thin_basis_order_three_positive) and proves not_erdos_337, under Lean 4.32.0 and Mathlib v4.32.0 by its header. The only axiom report the file prints is for the definition erdos_337 (propext, Classical.choice and Quot.sound); none is printed for not_erdos_337, so the proof's axioms are unreported here. The formal-conjectures statement file for the problem, at its commit of 2026-09-18, names this file as the formal proof of its own erdos_337 statement and records two differences of form: the file states the basis hypothesis as a tail of N\mathbb{N} contained in the kk-fold iterated sumset, and it indexes both counting functions by a real xx through ⌊x⌋\lfloor x\rfloor, where formal-conjectures indexes by N∈NN\in\mathbb{N}. This project has not built the file or audited its statement against the question, so no formalized evidence is listed; the acceptance rests on the refereed paper and the site's record.

Context. The page's date is the journal volume's year, 1985, with the day set to the year's first since the issue carries no finer date; the manuscript was received on 1983-11-28.

Depends on. No page of this wiki.