Scribd
Upload
23 views

Arithmetic Combinatorics Additive Number Theory

Arithmetic combinatorics studies questions about the growth and structure of sets of integers under addition. Specifically, it examines whether the sum set of integers A (A + A) is only slightly larger than A, and if so, whether A has an arithmetic structure like an arithmetic progression. It also analyzes whether infinite sets contain long arithmetic progressions or if large integers can be written as sums of its elements. This emerging field combines additive number theory with other areas like ergodic theory and finite group theory.

Uploaded by

Shiny
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
23 views

Arithmetic Combinatorics Additive Number Theory

Arithmetic combinatorics studies questions about the growth and structure of sets of integers under addition. Specifically, it examines whether the sum set of integers A (A + A) is only slightly larger than A, and if so, whether A has an arithmetic structure like an arithmetic progression. It also analyzes whether infinite sets contain long arithmetic progressions or if large integers can be written as sums of its elements. This emerging field combines additive number theory with other areas like ergodic theory and finite group theory.

Uploaded by

Shiny
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Arithmetic combinatorics

Main articles: Arithmetic combinatorics and Additive number theory

Let A be a set of N integers. Consider the set A + A = { m + n | m, n A } consisting of all sums


of two elements of A. Is A + A much larger than A? Barely larger? If A + A is barely larger than
A, must A have plenty of arithmetic structure, for example, does A resemble an arithmetic
progression?

If we begin from a fairly "thick" infinite set , does it contain many elements in arithmetic

progression: , , say? Should it be possible to write large integers as sums of elements

of ?

These questions are characteristic of arithmetic combinatorics. This is a presently coalescing


field; it subsumes additive number theory (which concerns itself with certain very specific sets

of arithmetic significance, such as the primes or the squares) and, arguably, some of the
geometry of numbers, together with some rapidly developing new material. Its focus on issues of
growth and distribution accounts in part for its developing links with ergodic theory, finite group
theory, model theory, and other fields. The term additive combinatorics is also used; however,

the sets being studied need not be sets of integers, but rather subsets of non-commutative
groups, for which the multiplication symbol, not the addition symbol, is traditionally used; they

can also be subsets of rings, in which case the growth of and may be compared.

You might also like