dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaResolution of Erd\H{o}s Problem #728: a writeup of Aristotle's Lean proof
| Authors | Nat Sothanaphan |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | 2601.07421vv5 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.07421 |
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Abstract
We provide a writeup of a resolution of Erd\H{o}s Problem #728; this is the first Erd\H{o}s problem (a problem proposed by Paul Erd\H{o}s which has been collected in the Erd\H{o}s Problems website) regarded as fully resolved autonomously by an AI system. The system in question is a combination of GPT-5.2 Pro by OpenAI and Aristotle by Harmonic, operated by Kevin Barreto. The final result of the system is a formal proof written in Lean, which we translate to informal mathematics in the present writeup for wider accessibility. The proved result is as follows. We show a logarithmic-gap phenomenon regarding factorial divisibility: For any constants $0<C_1<C_2$ and $0 < \varepsilon < 1/2$ there exist infinitely many triples $(a,b,n)\in\mathbb N^3$ with $\varepsilon n \le a,b \le (1-\varepsilon)n$ such that \[ a!\,b!\mid n!\,(a+b-n)!\qquad\text{and}\qquad C_1\log n < a+b-n < C_2\log n. \] The argument reduces this to a binomial divisibility $\binom{m+k}{k}\mid\binom{2m}{m}$ and studies it prime-by-prime. By Kummer's theorem, $\nu_p\binom{2m}{m}$ translates into a carry count for doubling $m$ in base $p$. We then employ a counting argument to find, in each scale $[M,2M]$, an integer $m$ whose base-$p$ expansions simultaneously force many carries when doubling $m$, for every prime $p\le 2k$, while avoiding the rare event that one of $m+1,\dots,m+k$ is divisible by an unusually high power of $p$. These "carry-rich but spike-free" choices of $m$ force the needed $p$-adic inequalities and the divisibility. The overall strategy is similar to results regarding divisors of $\binom{2n}{n}$ studied earlier by Erd\H{o}s and by Pomerance.
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"abstract": "We provide a writeup of a resolution of Erd\\H{o}s Problem #728; this is the first Erd\\H{o}s problem (a problem proposed by Paul Erd\\H{o}s which has been collected in the Erd\\H{o}s Problems website) regarded as fully resolved autonomously by an AI system. The system in question is a combination of GPT-5.2 Pro by OpenAI and Aristotle by Harmonic, operated by Kevin Barreto. The final result of the system is a formal proof written in Lean, which we translate to informal mathematics in the present writeup for wider accessibility.\n The proved result is as follows. We show a logarithmic-gap phenomenon regarding factorial divisibility: For any constants $0\u003cC_1\u003cC_2$ and $0 \u003c \\varepsilon \u003c 1/2$ there exist infinitely many triples $(a,b,n)\\in\\mathbb N^3$ with $\\varepsilon n \\le a,b \\le (1-\\varepsilon)n$ such that \\[ a!\\,b!\\mid n!\\,(a+b-n)!\\qquad\\text{and}\\qquad C_1\\log n \u003c a+b-n \u003c C_2\\log n. \\] The argument reduces this to a binomial divisibility $\\binom{m+k}{k}\\mid\\binom{2m}{m}$ and studies it prime-by-prime. By Kummer\u0027s theorem, $\\nu_p\\binom{2m}{m}$ translates into a carry count for doubling $m$ in base $p$. We then employ a counting argument to find, in each scale $[M,2M]$, an integer $m$ whose base-$p$ expansions simultaneously force many carries when doubling $m$, for every prime $p\\le 2k$, while avoiding the rare event that one of $m+1,\\dots,m+k$ is divisible by an unusually high power of $p$. These \"carry-rich but spike-free\" choices of $m$ force the needed $p$-adic inequalities and the divisibility. The overall strategy is similar to results regarding divisors of $\\binom{2n}{n}$ studied earlier by Erd\\H{o}s and by Pomerance.",
"arxiv_id": "2601.07421",
"authors": [
"Nat Sothanaphan"
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"license": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"title": "Resolution of Erd\\H{o}s Problem #728: a writeup of Aristotle\u0027s Lean proof",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.07421",
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