Event

A d-dimensional sum-and-distance system is a collection of d finite sets of integers such that the sums and differences formed by taking one element from each set generate a prescribed arithmetic progression

Dr Matthew Lettington: Joint work with Sally Hill, Martin Huxley and Karl Michael Schmidt.

  • Thu 15 Nov 18

    14:00 - 16:00

  • Colchester Campus

    STEM Centre 3.1

  • Event speaker

    Dr Matthew Lettington

  • Event type

    Lectures, talks and seminars

  • Event organiser

    Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science, School of

  • Contact details

    Dr Harrison

A d-dimensional sum-and-distance system is a collection of d  finite sets of integers such that the sums and differences formed by taking one element from each set generate a prescribed arithmetic progression.
In the talk, I will discuss how for a fixed dimension n, there exists a bijection between the set of principal reversible square matrices and the set of 2-dimensional sum-and-distance systems. The number of 2-dimensional sum-and-distance systems can then be obtained by using Ollerenshaw and Bree's enumeration argument for the number of principal reversible square matrices. By reworking their argument one  finds that the number of such principal reversible square matrices, (and so 2-dimensional sum-and-distance systems) can be expressed in terms of sums of products of the j-th non-trivial divisor function c_j(n).; this counts the total number of proper ordered factorisations of the integer n into j factors (i.e. excluding the factor 1, but counting permutations of the factors). If j is greater than the total number of prime factors of n, including repeats, then c_j(n) = 0. The non-trivial divisor function c_j(n) has been far less studied than its multiplicative cousin, the j-th divisor function d_j(n) . Further relations concerning these two functions are discussed in the talk.