A166332 Number of primes in (n^(3/2)*(log(n))^(1/2)..(n+1)^(3/2)*(log(n+1))^(1/2)] semi-open intervals, n >= 1.

1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 3, 3, 1, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 4, 2, 3, 4, 1, 4, 1, 4, 2, 4, 2, 3, 4, 4, 2, 4, 3, 1, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 4, 3, 3, 3, 5, 4, 4, 2, 3, 3, 5, 3, 5, 5, 4, 4, 2, 3, 4, 5, 3, 5, 5, 2, 3, 2, 5, 5, 6, 3, 4, 5, 6, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 2, 5, 5, 3, 3, 6, 5, 3, 6, 6, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5

Offset: 1

Author

Daniel Forgues, Oct 12 2009

Keywords

• nonn

Comments

Number of primes in (n*(n*log(n))^(1/2)..(n+1)*((n+1)*log(n+1))^(1/2)] semi-open intervals, n >= 1.

The semi-open intervals form a partition of the real line for x > 0, thus each prime appears in a unique interval.

a(n) = pi((n+1)^(3/2)*(log(n+1))^(1/2)) - pi(n^(3/2)*(log(n))^(1/2)) since the intervals are semi-open properly.

The n-th interval length is: ~ (1/2)*(n+1/2)^(1/2)*(3*(log(n+1/2))^(1/2)+(log(n+1/2))^(-1/2)) ~ (3/2)*n^(1/2)*(log(n))^(1/2) as n goes to infinity.

The n-th interval prime density is: ~ 2/(3*log(n+1/2)+log(log(n+1/2))) ~ 2/(3*log(n)) as n goes to infinity.

The expected number of primes for n-th interval is: ~ (n+1/2)^(1/2)*(3*(log(n+1/2))^(1/2)+(log(n+1/2))^(-1/2))/ (3*log(n+1/2)+log(log(n+1/2))) ~ n^(1/2)/(log(n))^(1/2) as n goes to infinity.

Using Excel 2003, for n in [1..1123], I obtain a(n) >= 1 (at least one prime per interval).

CAUTION: I will submit the b-file, but since Excel 2003 is limited to 15-digit precision, the rounding might assign to the wrong interval a prime which is extremely close to the limit of 2 successive intervals. The b-file NEEDS TO BE VERIFIED using interval arithmetic! (SEE NEXT)

CAUTION (ADDENDA): for n in [1..1123], the minimum ratio of... ABS(n^(3/2)*(log(n))^(1/2)-ROUND(n^(3/2)*(log(n))^(1/2)))/(n^(3/2)*(log(n))^(1/2)) that I got is 5.04999E-09 which is well above 1E-15 (15-digit limit of Excel 2003), so no interval ended too close to an integral value and every prime has then been assigned to its proper interval. My b-file should then be reliable.

If it can be proved that each interval always contains at least one prime, this would constitute shorter intervals than A143898(n) as n gets large.

The sequence A166363 gives even shorter intervals that seem to always contain at least one prime (for n > 1)!

Links

• Daniel Forgues, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..1123

Crossrefs

Cf. A143898, A134034, A143935 (for primes between successive n^K, for different K).

Cf. A144140 (showing that for n^K, K=3/2, some intervals fails to contain primes).

Cf. A166363 (for primes in even shorter intervals).

Cf. A014085 (for primes between successive squares).

Cf. A000720.

Extensions

Corrected and edited by Daniel Forgues, Oct 14 2009

Edited by Daniel Forgues, Oct 20 2009