For any positive integer n, let $\sigma (n)$ be the sum of all positive divisors of n. We prove that for every integer k with $1\leq k\leq 29$ and $(k,30)=1,$

$$ \begin{align*} \sum_{n\leq K}\sigma(30n)>\sum_{n\leq K}\sigma(30n+k) \end{align*} $$

for all $K\in \mathbb {N},$ which gives a positive answer to a problem posed by Pongsriiam [‘Sums of divisors on arithmetic progressions’, Period. Math. Hungar. 88 (2024), 443–460].

Let $k\geq 4$ be an integer. We prove that the set $\mathcal {O}$ of all nonzero generalised octagonal numbers is a k-additive uniqueness set for the set of multiplicative functions. That is, if a multiplicative function $f_k$ satisfies the condition

$$ \begin{align*} f_k(x_1+x_2+\cdots+x_k)=f_k(x_1)+f_k(x_2)+\cdots+f_k(x_k) \end{align*} $$

for arbitrary $x_1,\ldots ,x_k\in \mathcal {O}$, then $f_k$ is the identity function $f_k(n)=n$ for all $n\in \mathbb {N}$. We also show that $f_2$ and $f_3$ are not determined uniquely.

In this article, we give generalizations of the well-known Fermat’s Little Theorem, Wilson’s theorem, and the little-known Gegenbauer’s theorem.

Let $\gcd (n_{1},\ldots ,n_{k})$ denote the greatest common divisor of positive integers $n_{1},\ldots ,n_{k}$ and let $\phi $ be the Euler totient function. For any real number $x>3$ and any integer $k\geq 2$, we investigate the asymptotic behaviour of $\sum _{n_{1}\ldots n_{k}\leq x}\phi (\gcd (n_{1},\ldots ,n_{k})). $

Let $\varphi $ be Euler’s function and fix an integer $k\ge 0$. We show that for every initial value $x_1\ge 1$, the sequence of positive integers $(x_n)_{n\ge 1}$ defined by $x_{n+1}=\varphi (x_n)+k$ for all $n\ge 1$ is eventually periodic. Similarly, for all initial values $x_1,x_2\ge 1$, the sequence of positive integers $(x_n)_{n\ge 1}$ defined by $x_{n+2}=\varphi (x_{n+1})+\varphi (x_n)+k$ for all $n\ge 1$ is eventually periodic, provided that k is even.

We discuss near-perfect numbers of various forms. In particular, we study the existence of near-perfect numbers in the Fibonacci and Lucas sequences, near-perfect values taken by integer polynomials and repdigit near-perfect numbers.

Celebrated theorems of Roth and of Matoušek and Spencer together show that the discrepancy of arithmetic progressions in the first $n$ positive integers is $\Theta (n^{1/4})$. We study the analogous problem in the $\mathbb {Z}_n$ setting. We asymptotically determine the logarithm of the discrepancy of arithmetic progressions in $\mathbb {Z}_n$ for all positive integer $n$. We further determine up to a constant factor the discrepancy of arithmetic progressions in $\mathbb {Z}_n$ for many $n$. For example, if $n=p^k$ is a prime power, then the discrepancy of arithmetic progressions in $\mathbb {Z}_n$ is $\Theta (n^{1/3+r_k/(6k)})$, where $r_k \in \{0,1,2\}$ is the remainder when $k$ is divided by $3$. This solves a problem of Hebbinghaus and Srivastav.

For a fixed integer h, the standard orthogonality relations for Ramanujan sums $c_r(n)$ give an asymptotic formula for the shifted convolution $\sum _{n\le N} c_q(n)c_r(n+h)$. We prove a generalised formula for affine convolutions $\sum _{n\le N} c_q(n)c_r(kn+h)$. This allows us to study affine convolutions $\sum _{n\le N} f(n)g(kn+h)$ of arithmetical functions $f,g$ admitting a suitable Ramanujan–Fourier expansion. As an application, we give a heuristic justification of the Hardy–Littlewood conjectural asymptotic formula for counting Sophie Germain primes.

Let $k\geq 2$ be an integer. We prove that the 2-automatic sequence of odious numbers $\mathcal {O}$ is a k-additive uniqueness set for multiplicative functions: if a multiplicative function f satisfies a multivariate Cauchy’s functional equation $f(x_1+x_2+\cdots +x_k)=f(x_1)+f(x_2)+\cdots +f(x_k)$ for arbitrary $x_1,\ldots ,x_k\in \mathcal {O}$ , then f is the identity function $f(n)=n$ for all $n\in \mathbb {N}$ .

We investigate, for given positive integers a and b, the least positive integer $c=c(a,b)$ such that the quotient $\varphi (c!\kern-1.2pt)/\varphi (a!\kern-1.2pt)\varphi (b!\kern-1.2pt)$ is an integer. We derive results on the limit of $c(a,b)/(a+b)$ as a and b tend to infinity and show that $c(a,b)>a+b$ for all pairs of positive integers $(a,b)$ , with the exception of a set of density zero.

Merca [‘Congruence identities involving sums of odd divisors function’, Proc. Rom. Acad. Ser. A Math. Phys. Tech. Sci. Inf. Sci.22(2) (2021), 119–125] posed three conjectures on congruences for specific convolutions of a sum of odd divisor functions with a generating function for generalised m-gonal numbers. Extending Merca’s work, we complete the proof of these conjectures.

The article focuses on the evaluation of convolution sums $${W_k}(n): = \mathop \sum \nolimits_{_{m < {n \over k}}} \sigma (m)\sigma (n - km)$$ involving the sum of divisor function $$\sigma (n)$$ for k =21, 33, and 35. In this article, our aim is to obtain certain Eisenstein series of level 21 and use them to evaluate the convolution sums for level 21. We also make use of the existing Eisenstein series identities for level 33 and 35 in evaluating the convolution sums for level 33 and 35. Most of the convolution sums were evaluated using the theory of modular forms, whereas we have devised a technique which is free from the theory of modular forms. As an application, we determine a formula for the number of representations of a positive integer n by the octonary quadratic form $$(x_1^2 + {x_1}{x_2} + ax_2^2 + x_3^2 + {x_3}{x_4} + ax_4^2) + b(x_5^2 + {x_5}{x_6} + ax_6^2 + x_7^2 + {x_7}{x_8} + ax_8^2)$$, for (a, b)=(1, 7), (1, 11), (2, 3), and (2, 5).

Let $k\geqslant 1$ be a natural number and $\omega _k(n)$ denote the number of distinct prime factors of a natural number n with multiplicity k. We estimate the first and second moments of the functions $\omega _k$ with $k\geqslant 1$ . Moreover, we prove that the function $\omega _1(n)$ has normal order $\log \log n$ and the function $(\omega _1(n)-\log \log n)/\sqrt {\log \log n}$ has a normal distribution. Finally, we prove that the functions $\omega _k(n)$ with $k\geqslant 2$ do not have normal order $F(n)$ for any nondecreasing nonnegative function F.

Erdös and Zaremba showed that $ \limsup_{n\to \infty} \frac{\Phi(n)}{(\log\log n)^2}=e^\gamma$ , γ being Euler’s constant, where $\Phi(n)=\sum_{d|n} \frac{\log d}{d}$ .

We extend this result to the function $\Psi(n)= \sum_{d|n} \frac{(\log d )(\log\log d)}{d}$ and some other functions. We show that $ \limsup_{n\to \infty}\, \frac{\Psi(n)}{(\log\log n)^2(\log\log\log n)}\,=\, e^\gamma$ . The proof requires a new approach. As an application, we prove that for any $\eta>1$ , any finite sequence of reals $\{c_k, k\in K\}$ , $\sum_{k,\ell\in K} c_kc_\ell \, \frac{\gcd(k,\ell)^{2}}{k\ell} \le C(\eta) \sum_{\nu\in K} c_\nu^2(\log\log\log \nu)^\eta \Psi(\nu)$ , where C(η) depends on η only. This improves a recent result obtained by the author.

We give a new formula for the number of cyclic subgroups of a finite abelian group. This is based on Burnside’s lemma applied to the action of the power automorphism group. The resulting formula generalises Menon’s identity.

Let $n,r,k\in \mathbb{N}$. An $r$-colouring of the vertices of a regular $n$-gon is any mapping $\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}:\mathbb{Z}_{n}\rightarrow \{1,2,\ldots ,r\}$. Two colourings are equivalent if one of them can be obtained from another by a rotation of the polygon. An $r$-ary necklace of length $n$ is an equivalence class of $r$-colourings of $\mathbb{Z}_{n}$. We say that a colouring is $k$-alternating if all $k$ consecutive vertices have pairwise distinct colours. We compute the smallest number $r$ for which there exists a $k$-alternating $r$-colouring of $\mathbb{Z}_{n}$ and we count, for any $r$, 2-alternating $r$-colourings of $\mathbb{Z}_{n}$ and 2-alternating $r$-ary necklaces of length $n$.

Let $k$ be an arbitrary positive integer and let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}(n)$ stand for the product of the distinct prime factors of $n$. For each integer $n\geqslant 2$, let $a_{n}$ and $b_{n}$ stand respectively for the maximum and the minimum of the $k$ integers $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}(n+1),\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}(n+2),\ldots ,\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}(n+k)$. We show that $\liminf _{n\rightarrow \infty }a_{n}/b_{n}=1$. We also prove that the same result holds in the case of the Euler function and the sum of the divisors function, as well as the functions $\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}(n)$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FA}(n)$, which stand respectively for the number of distinct prime factors of $n$ and the total number of prime factors of $n$ counting their multiplicity.

A colouring of the vertices of a regular polygon is symmetric if it is invariant under some reflection of the polygon. We count the number of symmetric $r$-colourings of the vertices of a regular $n$-gon.

An $r$-ary necklace (bracelet) of length $n$ is an equivalence class of $r$-colourings of vertices of a regular $n$-gon, taking all rotations (rotations and reflections) as equivalent. A necklace (bracelet) is symmetric if a corresponding colouring is invariant under some reflection. We show that the number of symmetric $r$-ary necklaces (bracelets) of length $n$ is $\frac{1}{2} (r+ 1){r}^{n/ 2} $ if $n$ is even, and ${r}^{(n+ 1)/ 2} $ if $n$ is odd.

Let $\varphi$ denote the Euler function. In this paper, we show that for all large $x$ there are more than ${{x}^{0.33}}$ Carmichael numbers $n\,\le \,x$ with the property that $\varphi \left( n \right)$ is a perfect square. We also obtain similar results for higher powers.