Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
We estimate exponential sums with the Fermat-like quotients
where $g$ and $n$ are positive integers, $n$ is composite, and $P\left( n \right)$ is the largest prime factor of $n$. Clearly, both ${{f}_{g}}(n)$ and ${{h}_{g}}(n)$ are integers if $n$ is a Fermat pseudoprime to base $g$, and if $n$ is a Carmichael number, this is true for all $g$ coprime to $n$. Nevertheless, our bounds imply that the fractional parts $\left\{ {{f}_{g}}(n) \right\}$ and $\left\{ {{h}_{g}}(n) \right\}$ are uniformly distributed, on average over $g$ for ${{f}_{g}}(n)$, and individually for ${{h}_{g}}(n)$. We also obtain similar results with the functions ${{\tilde{f}}_{g}}(n)=g\,{{f}_{g}}(n)$ and ${{\tilde{h}}_{g}}(n)=g{{h}_{g}}(n)$.