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Effective results in number theory

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onwards, and the question is 'how far must you go?' A special case is to find the first sign change. The interest of the question was that the numerical evidence known showed no change of sign: Littlewood's result guaranteed that this evidence was just a small number effect, but 'small' here included
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look weaker, but they have explicit constants and can actually be applied, in conjunction with machine computation, to prove that lists of solutions (suspected to be complete) are actually the entire solution set.
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for such constants, or can one recover a version in which 1000 (say) takes the place of the implied constant? In other words, if it were known that there was
560: 231:, may also need to be made explicit, for computational purposes. One reason Landau notation was a popular introduction is that it hides exactly what 243:
Many of the principal results of analytic number theory that were proved in the period 1900–1950 were in fact ineffective. The main examples were:
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is. In some indirect forms of proof it may not be at all obvious that the implied constant can be made explicit.
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is finite, the question is whether in principle the list could be printed out after a machine computation.
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The difficulties here were met by radically different proof techniques, taking much more care about
311:. These latter could be read quite directly as results on Diophantine equations, after the work of 349: 86:
result about its changing sign infinitely often would be a theorem including, for every value of
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The requirement of computability is reflected in and contrasts with the approach used in the
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The concrete information that was left theoretically incomplete included lower bounds for
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For historical reasons and in order to have application to the solution of
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obtained an effective upper bound for the first sign change, now known as
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could be computed with specified resources. In practical terms,
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the results. It for example brings into question any use of
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have been scrutinised more than in other branches of
402:(1914). "Sur la distribution des nombres premiers". 319:
in the proof is effective in the way it applies the
561:"Diophantine approximation, problems of effective" 74:In more detail, writing for a numerical sequence 607: 574:– comments on the ineffectiveness of the bound. 520: 335:, changed the position. Qualitatively speaking, 16:Theorems whose content is effectively computable 445:. Wellesley, MA: A K Peters. pp. 247–273. 150:and its implied constants: are assertions pure 368:that the difficulties may lie in the realm of 47:An early example of an ineffective result was 587: 558: 479:Journal of the London Mathematical Society 398: 382:, where we have no way of telling which. 35:. Where it is asserted that some list of 430: 608: 464: 455:See p. 9 of the preprint version. 238: 122:would be computed by taking values of 114:) have different signs, and such that 42: 343: 162:with a change of sign and such that 254:Siegel's theorem on integral points 13: 352:. The logic involved is closer to 14: 632: 581: 531:Quarterly Journal of Mathematics 51:'s theorem of 1914, that in the 436:"Kreisel's "unwinding" program" 370:computational complexity theory 331:Later results, particularly of 299:grow); and bounds for the best 551: 514: 458: 424: 392: 1: 468:(1933). "On the difference π( 385: 326: 590:"Diophantine approximations" 188:, say built up from powers, 7: 595:Encyclopedia of Mathematics 566:Encyclopedia of Mathematics 219:for some absolute constant 31:to see if their content is 10: 637: 588:Sprindzhuk, V.G. (2001) , 559:Sprindzhuk, V.G. (2001) , 55:the differences of both ψ( 283:based on the Siegel zero. 544:10.1093/qmath/os-5.1.293 249:Thue–Siegel–Roth theorem 492:10.1112/jlms/s1-8.4.277 364:. It is rather loosely 350:proofs by contradiction 273:The 1935 result on the 616:Analytic number theory 315:. The result used for 281:Siegel–Walfisz theorem 269:class number 1 problem 140:analytic number theory 33:effectively computable 621:Diophantine equations 295:for some families of 21:Diophantine equations 362:computable functions 358:computability theory 259:The 1934 theorem of 53:prime number theorem 239:The 'Siegel period' 43:Littlewood's result 344:Theoretical issues 321:mean value theorem 303:approximations to 293:ideal class groups 196:, that means only 181:for some explicit 152:existence theorems 534:. Oxford Series. 472:) − Li( 432:Feferman, Solomon 400:Littlewood, J. E. 317:Liouville numbers 305:algebraic numbers 135:up to a billion. 628: 602: 575: 573: 555: 549: 547: 518: 512: 511: 462: 456: 454: 440: 428: 422: 421: 396: 356:than to that of 337:Baker's theorems 229:implied constant 227:, the so-called 49:J. E. Littlewood 636: 635: 631: 630: 629: 627: 626: 625: 606: 605: 584: 579: 578: 556: 552: 519: 515: 463: 459: 438: 429: 425: 397: 393: 388: 346: 329: 241: 223:. The value of 148:Landau notation 45: 17: 12: 11: 5: 634: 624: 623: 618: 604: 603: 583: 582:External links 580: 577: 576: 550: 538:(1): 293–301. 526:Linfoot, E. H. 513: 457: 423: 405:Comptes Rendus 390: 389: 387: 384: 345: 342: 328: 325: 285: 284: 277: 271: 265:Edward Linfoot 261:Hans Heilbronn 257: 251: 240: 237: 217: 216: 179: 178: 69:Skewes' number 65:Stanley Skewes 44: 41: 15: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 633: 622: 619: 617: 614: 613: 611: 601: 597: 596: 591: 586: 585: 572: 568: 567: 562: 554: 545: 541: 537: 533: 532: 527: 523: 522:Heilbronn, H. 517: 509: 505: 501: 497: 493: 489: 485: 481: 480: 475: 471: 467: 461: 452: 448: 444: 437: 433: 427: 419: 415: 412:: 1869–1872. 411: 407: 406: 401: 395: 391: 383: 381: 378: 375: 371: 367: 363: 359: 355: 351: 341: 338: 334: 324: 322: 318: 314: 310: 306: 302: 298: 297:number fields 294: 290: 289:class numbers 282: 278: 276: 272: 270: 266: 262: 258: 255: 252: 250: 246: 245: 244: 236: 234: 230: 226: 222: 214: 210: 206: 202: 199: 198: 197: 195: 191: 187: 184: 176: 172: 168: 165: 164: 163: 161: 157: 153: 149: 145: 141: 136: 134: 129: 125: 121: 117: 113: 109: 105: 101: 97: 93: 89: 85: 81: 77: 72: 70: 66: 62: 58: 54: 50: 40: 38: 34: 30: 26: 25:number theory 23:, results in 22: 593: 564: 553: 535: 529: 516: 483: 477: 473: 469: 460: 442: 426: 409: 403: 394: 379: 376: 373: 354:proof theory 347: 330: 309:denominators 307:in terms of 286: 242: 232: 228: 224: 220: 218: 212: 208: 204: 200: 194:exponentials 185: 180: 174: 170: 166: 159: 155: 137: 132: 127: 123: 119: 115: 111: 107: 103: 99: 95: 91: 87: 83: 79: 75: 73: 60: 56: 46: 18: 486:: 277–283. 443:Kreiseliana 366:conjectured 275:Siegel zero 256:, from 1929 29:mathematics 610:Categories 508:0007.34003 500:59.0370.02 466:Skewes, S. 418:45.0305.01 386:References 333:Alan Baker 327:Later work 190:logarithms 131:values of 98:such that 90:, a value 600:EMS Press 571:EMS Press 313:Axel Thue 84:effective 434:(1996). 301:rational 183:function 110: ( 102: ( 78: ( 59:) and π( 37:integers 451:1435765 267:on the 506:  498:  449:  416:  106:) and 82:), an 439:(PDF) 203:< 158:> 144:prove 126:from 94:> 476:)". 360:and 279:The 263:and 247:The 192:and 169:= O( 540:doi 504:Zbl 496:JFM 488:doi 414:JFM 410:158 142:to 612:: 598:, 592:, 569:, 563:, 524:; 502:. 494:. 482:. 447:MR 441:. 408:. 377:or 177:)) 71:. 557:* 548:. 546:. 542:: 536:5 510:. 490:: 484:8 474:x 470:x 453:. 420:. 380:B 374:A 291:( 233:A 225:A 221:A 215:) 213:N 211:( 209:G 207:. 205:A 201:M 186:G 175:N 173:( 171:G 167:M 160:N 156:M 133:n 128:N 124:n 120:M 116:M 112:M 108:f 104:N 100:f 96:N 92:M 88:N 80:n 76:f 61:x 57:x

Index

Diophantine equations
number theory
mathematics
effectively computable
integers
J. E. Littlewood
prime number theorem
Stanley Skewes
Skewes' number
analytic number theory
prove
Landau notation
existence theorems
function
logarithms
exponentials
Thue–Siegel–Roth theorem
Siegel's theorem on integral points
Hans Heilbronn
Edward Linfoot
class number 1 problem
Siegel zero
Siegel–Walfisz theorem
class numbers
ideal class groups
number fields
rational
algebraic numbers
denominators
Axel Thue

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