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Coprime sums as partitions of prime support


Use the formulation of Problem 878 with summands 2≤ai≤n2\le a_i\le n and no prescribed number of summands. The following arguments are recorded by Plasma AI without independent review.

For n≥2n\ge2, let PP be its set of prime divisors. For each nonempty S⊆PS\subseteq P, define

wn(S)=max⁡{a≤n:{p:p∣a, p prime}=S}.w_n(S)=\max\{a\le n:\{p:p\mid a,\ p\text{ prime}\}=S\}.

The set is nonempty because ∏p∈Sp∣n\prod_{p\in S}p\mid n. Pairwise coprime summands have disjoint prime supports. A maximizing family uses every prime in PP: if pp is missing, the additional summand p≤np\le n strictly increases its sum. Conversely, choosing the maximizing integer for each block of a partition of PP gives a legal family. Thus

F(n)=max⁡P a partition of P∑S∈Pwn(S),f(n)=∑p∈Pwn({p}).F(n)=\max_{\mathcal P\text{ a partition of }P} \sum_{S\in\mathcal P}w_n(S), \qquad f(n)=\sum_{p\in P}w_n(\{p\}).

In particular,

F(n)=f(n)⟺wn(S)≤∑p∈Swn({p})for every nonempty S⊆P.F(n)=f(n)\quad\Longleftrightarrow\quad w_n(S)\le\sum_{p\in S}w_n(\{p\}) \quad\text{for every nonempty }S\subseteq P.

If one inequality fails, its block together with the remaining singleton blocks improves on f(n)f(n). If all hold, summing over any partition bounds its value by f(n)f(n). Bounded exponent enumeration computes every wn(S)w_n(S), so this is an exhaustive finite criterion for a specified nn.

For n=210n=210, the singleton maxima for 2,3,5,72,3,5,7 are respectively 128,81,125,49128,81,125,49, with sum 383383. The pair maxima are:

SupportMaximumMaximum plus the other singletons
{2,3}\{2,3\}192366
{2,5}\{2,5\}200330
{2,7}\{2,7\}196402
{3,5}\{3,5\}135312
{3,7}\{3,7\}189442
{5,7}\{5,7\}175384

These values follow by enumerating the positive exponent of the larger prime, then taking the largest admissible power of the smaller one. In the row order above the possible larger-prime exponents are 1,…,41,\ldots,4; 1,21,2; 1,21,2; 1,21,2; 1,21,2; and 11. The corresponding candidate maxima are (192,144,108,162)(192,144,108,162), (160,200)(160,200), (112,196)(112,196), (135,75)(135,75), (189,147)(189,147), and (175)(175).

Two pair blocks sum to at most 420420. A triple block and a singleton sum to at most 210+128=338210+128=338, and the four-prime block is at most 210210. Together with the all-singleton partition and the six rows, these cases exhaust all partitions of four primes. The family (128,189,125)(128,189,125) attains 442442, so

F(210)=442>383=f(210).F(210)=442>383=f(210).

This calculation does not establish the separate reported assertion max⁡n≤210f(n)=383\max_{n\le210}f(n)=383. Nor does it count the equality cases as nn varies. Such a count needs uniform information on the competition between the block weights, not merely a finite test at each input. The source Erdős's 1984 paper supplies density-one and limsup results and an upper bound for H(x)H(x); those have the scopes stated on the problem page. Its Theorem 8 is stated without a proof in that paper and is not a proved premise of this argument.