Mathematics Atlas

How Proof Is Made
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Conjecture

Erdos Conjecture on Arithmetic Progressions

Number Theory

The Erdos conjecture on arithmetic progressions, often called the Erdos-Turan conjecture, is a conjecture in arithmetic combinatorics stating that if the sum of the reciprocals of the members of a set of positive integers diverges, then that set contains arithmetic progressions of every finite length.

Facts
Statement
If A is a set of positive integers such that the sum of the reciprocals of the members of A diverges, then A contains arithmetic progressions of every finite length. 1
Prize Status
Paul Erdos offered a cash prize for a proof of the conjecture: 3000 US dollars beginning in 1976, later raised to 5000 US dollars in 1996; the conjecture remains open and the prize unclaimed. 1
Progress Toward Resolution
Bloom and Sisask improved bounds toward the related density result in 2020, and in 2023 Kelley and Meka found a substantially improved bound, which Bloom and Sisask then further improved; the full conjecture on arithmetic progressions remains unsolved. 1
Classification
Resolution Status
Open 1
Prize Status
Prize Status (category)
Prize Offered, Unclaimed 1
Connections

In Branch

Source Erdos Conjecture on Arithmetic Progressions (Wikipedia)

Posed By

Sources
1. Erdos Conjecture on Arithmetic Progressions (Wikipedia)
  • Statement section
    If the sum of the reciprocals of the members of a set A of positive integers diverges, then A contains arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions.
  • Prize section
    Erdős offered a prize of US$3000 for a proof of this conjecture
  • Recent progress section
    a new bound of exp(-c(log N)^(1/12))N was found by computer scientists Kelley and Meka
  • In Branch: Combinatorics, Lead sentence
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.