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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. For f=τf=\tau, the divisor function, and for f=ωf=\omega, the number of distinct prime factors, the property asked in Problem 122 holds: for every FF with F(n)/f(n)→0F(n)/f(n)\to0 for almost all nn and, as [Er97] requires, F(x)→∞F(x)\to\infty, there are infinitely many xx along which the number of nn with n+f(n)∈(x,x+F(x))n+f(n)\in(x,x+F(x)), divided by F(x)F(x), tends to infinity. Erdős reports the result in Problems in number theory, New Zealand J. Math. 26 (1997), 155--160, p. 155, and in Some of my favourite unsolved problems, Math. Japon. 46 (1997), 527--537, p. 533: he writes that he, Pomerance and Sárközy can prove it for τ\tau and ω\omega, and that it probably fails for ϕ\phi and σ\sigma. Neither paper gives an argument and no publication of the proof is recorded; the site's commentary (page last edited 2026-04-01) repeats the report.

Covers. f=τf=\tau and f=ωf=\omega, in the corrected reading of the question: F(n)/f(n)→0F(n)/f(n)\to0 for almost all nn, with the width F(x)→∞F(x)\to\infty as [Er97] requires. Every other ff, including ϕ\phi and σ\sigma, for which Erdős expected the property to fail, is outside the claim.

Published results for ω\omega. The paper of Erdős, Pomerance and Sárközy on locally repeated values, part IV (card; Ramanujan J. (1997), 227--241), proves results for f=ωf=\omega at single widths only. Its Theorem 1 gives, for every large xx, some n≤xn\le x with more than c(log⁡x)1/2(log⁡log⁡x)−1c(\log x)^{1/2}(\log\log x)^{-1} values mm satisfying m+ω(m)=nm+\omega(m)=n: clustering at a bounded width. Its method gives, as the site's commentary and the curator's thread comment of 2026-03-27 record, an interval I⊆[1,O(x)]I\subseteq[1,O(x)] of width about ((log⁡x)/log⁡log⁡x)1/2((\log x)/\log\log x)^{1/2} whose points nn all have n+ω(n)n+\omega(n) in one interval JJ of width about (log⁡log⁡x)1/2(\log\log x)^{1/2}. Each result fixes one width FF and settles no instance of the property, which quantifies over every FF, so neither is a claim on this problem. In the same comment the curator, Thomas Bloom, wrote that the results Erdős describes do not really appear in that paper.

Depends on. No page of this wiki.

Acceptance. None recorded. Erdős's report is the poser's word that a proof exists, with no argument to examine, and this page does not count it as acceptance evidence. The site labels the problem OPEN (page last edited 2026-04-01) and its proof-claims tab carries no entry, so the commentary repeating the report credits nothing. The curator's doubt of 2026-03-27 is not a refutation. There is no refereed proof and no formalization, so the claim stays claimed.