Let $G$ be a simple connected graph with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges and $d_{1}\geq d_{2}\geq \cdots \geq d_{n}>0$ its sequence of vertex degrees. If $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}_{1}\geq \unicode[STIX]{x1D707}_{2}\geq \cdots \geq \unicode[STIX]{x1D707}_{n-1}>\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}_{n}=0$ are the Laplacian eigenvalues of $G$, then the Kirchhoff index of $G$ is $\mathit{Kf}(G)=n\sum _{i=1}^{n-1}\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}_{i}^{-1}$. We prove some new lower bounds for $\mathit{Kf}(G)$ in terms of some of the parameters $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E5}=d_{1}$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E5}_{2}=d_{2}$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E5}_{3}=d_{3}$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}=d_{n}$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{2}=d_{n-1}$ and the topological index $\mathit{NK}=\prod _{i=1}^{n}d_{i}$.

We provide two new bounds on the number of visible points on exponential curves modulo a prime for all choices of primes. We also provide one new bound on the number of visible points on exponential curves modulo a prime for almost all primes.

For an edge $uv$ in a graph $G$, $W_{u,v}^{G}$ denotes the set of all vertices of $G$ that are closer to $u$ than to $v$. A graph $G$ is said to be quasi-distance-balanced if there exists a constant $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}>1$ such that $|W_{u,v}^{G}|=\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}^{\pm 1}|W_{v,u}^{G}|$ for every pair of adjacent vertices $u$ and $v$. The existence of nonbipartite quasi-distance-balanced graphs is an open problem. In this paper we investigate the possible structure of cycles in quasi-distance-balanced graphs and generalise the previously known result that every quasi-distance-balanced graph is triangle-free. We also prove that a connected quasi-distance-balanced graph admitting a bridge is isomorphic to a star. Several open problems are posed.

Let $a_{1},a_{2},\ldots ,a_{m}$ and $b_{1},b_{2},\ldots ,b_{l}$ be two sequences of pairwise distinct positive integers greater than $1$. Assume also that none of the above numbers is a perfect power. If for each positive integer $n$ and prime number $p$ the number $\prod _{i=1}^{m}(1-a_{i}^{n})$ is divisible by $p$ if and only if the number $\prod _{j=1}^{l}(1-b_{j}^{n})$ is divisible by $p$, then $m=l$ and $\{a_{1},a_{2},\ldots ,a_{m}\}=\{b_{1},b_{2},\ldots ,b_{l}\}$.

In this paper, it is proved that the complement of the zero-divisor graph of a partially ordered set is weakly perfect if it has finite clique number, completely answering the question raised by Joshi and Khiste [‘Complement of the zero divisor graph of a lattice’, Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 89 (2014), 177–190]. As a consequence, the intersection graph of an intersection-closed family of nonempty subsets of a set is weakly perfect if it has finite clique number. These results are applied to annihilating-ideal graphs and intersection graphs of submodules.

An additive basis $A$ is finitely stable when the order of $A$ is equal to the order of $A\cup F$ for all finite subsets $F\subseteq \mathbb{N}$. We give a sufficient condition for an additive basis to be finitely stable. In particular, we prove that $\mathbb{N}^{2}$ is finitely stable.

Let ${\mathcal{A}}=\{a_{1}<a_{2}<\cdots \,\}$ be a set of nonnegative integers. Put $D({\mathcal{A}})=\gcd \{a_{k+1}-a_{k}:k=1,2,\ldots \}$. The set ${\mathcal{A}}$ is an asymptotic basis if there exists $h$ such that every sufficiently large integer is a sum of at most $h$ (not necessarily distinct) elements of ${\mathcal{A}}$. We prove that if the difference of consecutive integers of ${\mathcal{A}}$ is bounded, then ${\mathcal{A}}$ is an asymptotic basis if and only if there exists an integer $a\in {\mathcal{A}}$ such that $(a,D({\mathcal{A}}))=1$.

Let $n\geq 1$ be an integer and $f$ be an arithmetical function. Let $S=\{x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n}\}$ be a set of $n$ distinct positive integers with the property that $d\in S$ if $x\in S$ and $d|x$. Then $\min (S)=1$. Let $(f(S))=(f(\gcd (x_{i},x_{j})))$ and $(f[S])=(f(\text{lcm}(x_{i},x_{j})))$ denote the $n\times n$ matrices whose $(i,j)$-entries are $f$ evaluated at the greatest common divisor of $x_{i}$ and $x_{j}$ and the least common multiple of $x_{i}$ and $x_{j}$, respectively. In 1875, Smith [‘On the value of a certain arithmetical determinant’, Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 7 (1875–76), 208–212] showed that $\det (f(S))=\prod _{l=1}^{n}(f\ast \unicode[STIX]{x1D707})(x_{l})$, where $f\ast \unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$ is the Dirichlet convolution of $f$ and the Möbius function $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$. Bourque and Ligh [‘Matrices associated with classes of multiplicative functions’, Linear Algebra Appl. 216 (1995), 267–275] computed the determinant $\det (f[S])$ if $f$ is multiplicative and, Hong, Hu and Lin [‘On a certain arithmetical determinant’, Acta Math. Hungar. 150 (2016), 372–382] gave formulae for the determinants $\det (f(S\setminus \{1\}))$ and $\det (f[S\setminus \{1\}])$. In this paper, we evaluate the determinant $\det (f(S\setminus \{x_{t}\}))$ for any integer $t$ with $1\leq t\leq n$ and also the determinant $\det (f[S\setminus \{x_{t}\}])$ if $f$ is multiplicative.

For two given graphs $G_{1}$ and $G_{2}$, the planar Ramsey number $PR(G_{1},G_{2})$ is the smallest integer $N$ such that every planar graph $G$ on $N$ vertices either contains $G_{1}$, or its complement contains $G_{2}$. Let $C_{4}$ be a quadrilateral, $T_{n}$ a tree of order $n\geq 3$ with maximum degree $k$, and $K_{1,k}$ a star of order $k+1$. We show that $PR(C_{4},T_{n})=\max \{n+1,PR(C_{4},K_{1,k})\}$. Combining this with a result of Chen et al. [‘All quadrilateral-wheel planar Ramsey numbers’, Graphs Combin.33 (2017), 335–346] yields exact values of all the quadrilateral-tree planar Ramsey numbers.

In this paper, we prove some conjectures of K. Stolarsky concerning the first and third moments of the Beatty sequences with the golden section and its square.

Let $K$ be an algebraic number field. A cuboid is said to be $K$-rational if its edges and face diagonals lie in $K$. A $K$-rational cuboid is said to be perfect if its body diagonal lies in $K$. The existence of perfect $\mathbb{Q}$-rational cuboids is an unsolved problem. We prove here that there are infinitely many distinct cubic fields $K$ such that a perfect $K$-rational cuboid exists; and that, for every integer $n\geq 2$, there is an algebraic number field $K$ of degree $n$ such that there exists a perfect $K$-rational cuboid.

Let $\mathbb{N}$ be the set of all nonnegative integers. For a given set $S\subset \mathbb{N}$ the representation function $R_{S}(n)$ counts the number of solutions of the equation $n=s+s^{\prime }$ with $s<s^{\prime }$ and $s,s^{\prime }\in S$. We obtain some results on a problem of Chen and Lev [‘Integer sets with identical representation functions’, Integers16 (2016), Article ID A36, 4 pages] about sets $A$ and $B$ such that $A\cup B=\mathbb{N}$, $A\cap B=r+m\mathbb{N}$ and whose representation functions coincide.

Using elementary means, we improve an explicit bound on the divisor function due to Friedlander and Iwaniec [Opera de Cribro, American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 2010]. Consequently, we modestly improve a result regarding a sieving inequality for Gaussian sequences.

In this paper, we investigate the two-dimensional shrinking target problem in beta-dynamical systems. Let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}>1$ be a real number and define the $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$-transformation on $[0,1]$ by $T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}:x\rightarrow \unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}x\;\text{mod}\;1$. Let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F9}_{i}$ ($i=1,2$) be two positive functions on $\mathbb{N}$ such that $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F9}_{i}\rightarrow 0$ when $n\rightarrow \infty$. We determine the Lebesgue measure and Hausdorff dimension for the $\limsup$ set

$$\begin{eqnarray}W(T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F9}_{1},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F9}_{2})=\{(x,y)\in [0,1]^{2}:|T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}^{n}x-x_{0}|<\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F9}_{1}(n),|T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}^{n}y-y_{0}|<\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F9}_{2}(n)\text{ for infinitely many }n\in \mathbb{N}\}\end{eqnarray}$$

$x_{0},y_{0}\in [0,1]$

Varieties of the form $G\times S_{\!\text{reg}}$, where $G$ is a complex semisimple group and $S_{\!\text{reg}}$ is a regular Slodowy slice in the Lie algebra of $G$, arise naturally in hyperkähler geometry, theoretical physics and the theory of abstract integrable systems. Crooks and Rayan [‘Abstract integrable systems on hyperkähler manifolds arising from Slodowy slices’, Math. Res. Let., to appear] use a Hamiltonian $G$-action to endow $G\times S_{\!\text{reg}}$ with a canonical abstract integrable system. To understand examples of abstract integrable systems arising from Hamiltonian $G$-actions, we consider a holomorphic symplectic variety $X$ carrying an abstract integrable system induced by a Hamiltonian $G$-action. Under certain hypotheses, we show that there must exist a $G$-equivariant variety isomorphism $X\cong G\times S_{\!\text{reg}}$.

Recently, Freiman et al. [‘Small doubling in ordered groups’, J. Aust. Math. Soc. 96(3) (2014), 316–325] proved two ‘structure theorems’ for ordered groups. We give elementary proofs of these two theorems.

Let $G$ be a finite solvable group and let $p$ be a prime. We prove that the intersection of the kernels of irreducible monomial $p$-Brauer characters of $G$ with degrees divisible by $p$ is $p$-closed.

The algebraic proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra uses two facts about real numbers. First, every polynomial with odd degree and real coefficients has a real root. Second, every nonnegative real number has a square root. Shipman [‘Improving the fundamental theorem of algebra’, Math. Intelligencer29(4) (2007), 9–14] showed that the assumption about odd degree polynomials is stronger than necessary; any field in which polynomials of prime degree have roots is algebraically closed. In this paper, we give a simpler proof of this result of Shipman.

We compute the Alexander polynomial of a nonreduced nonirreducible complex projective plane curve with mutually coprime orders of vanishing along its irreducible components in terms of certain multiplier ideals.

We derive some structural properties of a trifactorised finite group $G=AB=AC=BC$, where $A$, $B$, and $C$ are subgroups of $G$, provided that $A=A_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}}\times A_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}^{\prime }}$ and $B=B_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}}\times B_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}^{\prime }}$ are $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}$-decomposable groups, for a set of primes $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}$.