Erdős Problem 868 #
References:
- erdosproblems.com/868
- [LaLa26] Larsen and Larsen, Erdős problem 868 (2026)
Let $A$ be an additive basis of order $2$, let $f(n)$ denote the number of ways in which $n$ can be written as the sum of two elements from $A$. If $f(n) \to \infty$ as $n \to \infty$, then must $A$ contain a minimal additive basis of order $2$?
Larsen and Larsen [LaLa26] answered this in the negative.
Let $A$ be an additive basis of order $2$, let $f(n)$ denote the number of ways in which $n$ can be written as the sum of two elements from $A$. If $f(n) > \epsilon \log n$ for large $n$ and an arbitrary fixed $\epsilon > 0$, then must $A$ contain a minimal additive basis of order $2$?
Larsen and Larsen [LaLa26] constructed a counterexample with $f(n) > c \log n$ for all large $n$.
Erdős and Nathanson proved that this is true if $f(n) > (\log \frac{4}{3})^{-1} \log n$ for all large $n$.
Härtter and Nathanson proved that there exist additive bases which do not contain any minimal additive bases.