where π is the prime-counting function and li is the logarithmic integral function. Skewes's number is much larger, but it is now known that there is a crossing between and near It is not known whether it is the smallest crossing.
Skewes's numbers
J.E. Littlewood, who was Skewes's research supervisor, had proved in Littlewood (1914) that there is such a number (and so, a first such number); and indeed found that the sign of the difference changes infinitely many times. All numerical evidence then available seemed to suggest that was always less than Littlewood's proof did not, however, exhibit a concrete such number .
Without assuming the Riemann hypothesis, Skewes (1955) proved that there exists a value of below
Skewes's task was to make Littlewood's existence proof effective: exhibiting some concrete upper bound for the first sign change. According to Georg Kreisel, this was at the time not considered obvious even in principle.
More recent estimates
These upper bounds have since been reduced considerably by using large-scale computer calculations of zeros of the Riemann zeta function. The first estimate for the actual value of a crossover point was given by Lehman (1966), who showed that somewhere between and there are more than consecutive integers with . Without assuming the Riemann hypothesis, H. J. J.te Riele(1987) proved an upper bound of . A better estimate was discovered by Bays & Hudson (2000), who showed there are at least consecutive integers somewhere near this value where . Bays and Hudson found a few much smaller values of where gets close to ; the possibility that there are crossover points near these values does not seem to have been definitely ruled out yet, though computer calculations suggest they are unlikely to exist. Chao & Plymen (2010) gave a small improvement and correction to the result of Bays and Hudson. Saouter & Demichel (2010) found a smaller interval for a crossing, which was slightly improved by Zegowitz (2010). The same source shows that there exists a number violating below . This can be reduced to assuming the Riemann hypothesis. Stoll & Demichel (2011) gave .
There is no explicit value known for certain to have the property though computer calculations suggest some explicit numbers that are quite likely to satisfy this.
Even though the natural density of the positive integers for which does not exist, Wintner (1941) showed that the logarithmic density of these positive integers does exist and is positive. Rubinstein & Sarnak (1994) showed that this proportion is about 0.00000026, which is surprisingly large given how far one has to go to find the first example.
Riemann's formula
Riemann gave an explicit formula for , whose leading terms are (ignoring some subtle convergence questions)
The largest error term in the approximation (if the Riemann hypothesis is true) is negative , showing that is usually larger than . The other terms above are somewhat smaller, and moreover tend to have different, seemingly random complex arguments, so mostly cancel out. Occasionally however, several of the larger ones might happen to have roughly the same complex argument, in which case they will reinforce each other instead of cancelling and will overwhelm the term .
The reason why the Skewes number is so large is that these smaller terms are quite a lot smaller than the leading error term, mainly because the first complex zero of the zeta function has quite a large imaginary part, so a large number (several hundred) of them need to have roughly the same argument in order to overwhelm the dominant term. The chance of random complex numbers having roughly the same argument is about 1 in . This explains why is sometimes larger than and also why it is rare for this to happen. It also shows why finding places where this happens depends on large scale calculations of millions of high precision zeros of the Riemann zeta function.
The argument above is not a proof, as it assumes the zeros of the Riemann zeta function are random, which is not true. Roughly speaking, Littlewood's proof consists of Dirichlet's approximation theorem to show that sometimes many terms have about the same argument. In the event that the Riemann hypothesis is false, the argument is much simpler, essentially because the terms for zeros violating the Riemann hypothesis (with real part greater than 1/2) are eventually larger than .
The reason for the term is that, roughly speaking, actually counts powers of primes, rather than the primes themselves, with weighted by . The term is roughly analogous to a second-order correction accounting for squares of primes.
Equivalent for prime k-tuples
An equivalent definition of Skewes' number exists for prime k-tuples (Tóth (2019)). Let denote a prime (k+1)-tuple, the number of primes below such that are all prime, let and let denote its Hardy–Littlewood constant (see First Hardy–Littlewood conjecture). Then the first prime that violates the Hardy–Littlewood inequality for the (k+1)-tuple , i.e., the first prime such that
(if such a prime exists) is the Skewes number for
The table below shows the currently known Skewes numbers for prime k-tuples:
In mathematics, the prime number theorem (PNT) describes the asymptotic distribution of the prime numbers among the positive integers. It formalizes the intuitive idea that primes become less common as they become larger by precisely quantifying the rate at which this occurs. The theorem was proved independently by Jacques Hadamard and Charles Jean de la Vallée Poussin in 1896 using ideas introduced by Bernhard Riemann.
The Riemann zeta function or Euler–Riemann zeta function, denoted by the Greek letter ζ (zeta), is a mathematical function of a complex variable defined as for , and its analytic continuation elsewhere.
In mathematics, the logarithmic integral function or integral logarithm li(x) is a special function. It is relevant in problems of physics and has number theoretic significance. In particular, according to the prime number theorem, it is a very good approximation to the prime-counting function, which is defined as the number of prime numbers less than or equal to a given value .
The Riemann hypothesis is one of the most important conjectures in mathematics. It is a statement about the zeros of the Riemann zeta function. Various geometrical and arithmetical objects can be described by so-called global L-functions, which are formally similar to the Riemann zeta-function. One can then ask the same question about the zeros of these L-functions, yielding various generalizations of the Riemann hypothesis. Many mathematicians believe these generalizations of the Riemann hypothesis to be true. The only cases of these conjectures which have been proven occur in the algebraic function field case.
In mathematics, analytic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses methods from mathematical analysis to solve problems about the integers. It is often said to have begun with Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet's 1837 introduction of Dirichlet L-functions to give the first proof of Dirichlet's theorem on arithmetic progressions. It is well known for its results on prime numbers and additive number theory.
In mathematics, the prime-counting function is the function counting the number of prime numbers less than or equal to some real number x. It is denoted by π(x) (unrelated to the number π).
In mathematics, the Hurwitz zeta function is one of the many zeta functions. It is formally defined for complex variables s with Re(s) > 1 and a ≠ 0, −1, −2, … by
In mathematics, the polylogarithm (also known as Jonquière's function, for Alfred Jonquière) is a special function Lis(z) of order s and argument z. Only for special values of s does the polylogarithm reduce to an elementary function such as the natural logarithm or a rational function. In quantum statistics, the polylogarithm function appears as the closed form of integrals of the Fermi–Dirac distribution and the Bose–Einstein distribution, and is also known as the Fermi–Dirac integral or the Bose–Einstein integral. In quantum electrodynamics, polylogarithms of positive integer order arise in the calculation of processes represented by higher-order Feynman diagrams.
In mathematics, the Selberg trace formula, introduced by Selberg (1956), is an expression for the character of the unitary representation of a Lie group G on the space L2(Γ\G) of square-integrable functions, where Γ is a cofinite discrete group. The character is given by the trace of certain functions on G.
In number theory, the Elliott–Halberstam conjecture is a conjecture about the distribution of prime numbers in arithmetic progressions. It has many applications in sieve theory. It is named for Peter D. T. A. Elliott and Heini Halberstam, who stated a specific version of the conjecture in 1968.
In mathematics, the von Mangoldt function is an arithmetic function named after German mathematician Hans von Mangoldt. It is an example of an important arithmetic function that is neither multiplicative nor additive.
In mathematics, the explicit formulae for L-functions are relations between sums over the complex number zeroes of an L-function and sums over prime powers, introduced by Riemann (1859) for the Riemann zeta function. Such explicit formulae have been applied also to questions on bounding the discriminant of an algebraic number field, and the conductor of a number field.
In mathematics, the dilogarithm (or Spence's function), denoted as Li2(z), is a particular case of the polylogarithm. Two related special functions are referred to as Spence's function, the dilogarithm itself:
In mathematics, a reflection formula or reflection relation for a function f is a relationship between f(a − x) and f(x). It is a special case of a functional equation. It is common in mathematical literature to use the term "functional equation" for what are specifically reflection formulae.
In mathematics, the Chebyshev function is either a scalarising function (Tchebycheff function) or one of two related functions. The first Chebyshev functionϑ (x) or θ (x) is given by
In number theory, a prime k-tuple is a finite collection of values representing a repeatable pattern of differences between prime numbers. For a k-tuple (a, b, …), the positions where the k-tuple matches a pattern in the prime numbers are given by the set of integers n such that all of the values (n + a, n + b, …) are prime. Typically the first value in the k-tuple is 0 and the rest are distinct positive even numbers.
In mathematics, the Riemann hypothesis is the conjecture that the Riemann zeta function has its zeros only at the negative even integers and complex numbers with real part 1/2. Many consider it to be the most important unsolved problem in pure mathematics. It is of great interest in number theory because it implies results about the distribution of prime numbers. It was proposed by Bernhard Riemann, after whom it is named.
In mathematics, the Riemann–Siegel formula is an asymptotic formula for the error of the approximate functional equation of the Riemann zeta function, an approximation of the zeta function by a sum of two finite Dirichlet series. It was found by Siegel (1932) in unpublished manuscripts of Bernhard Riemann dating from the 1850s. Siegel derived it from the Riemann–Siegel integral formula, an expression for the zeta function involving contour integrals. It is often used to compute values of the Riemann–Siegel formula, sometimes in combination with the Odlyzko–Schönhage algorithm which speeds it up considerably. When used along the critical line, it is often useful to use it in a form where it becomes a formula for the Z function.
In number theory, the first Hardy–Littlewood conjecture states the asymptotic formula for the number of prime k-tuples less than a given magnitude by generalizing the prime number theorem. It was first proposed by G. H. Hardy and John Edensor Littlewood in 1923.
Stanisław Knapowski was a Polish mathematician who worked on prime numbers and number theory. Knapowski published 53 papers despite dying at only 36 years old.
Zegowitz, Stefanie (2010), On the positive region of (masters), Master's thesis, Manchester Institute for Mathematical Sciences, School of Mathematics, University of Manchester
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
