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Erdős Problem #126

PROVED LEANdatabase updated 2026-09-03

The statement as posed is true, and a proof exists. A solution has also been checked by machine, in Lean.

What the community database records, not our verdict. erdosproblems.com no longer shows statuses (why).

Let \(f(n)\) be maximal such that if \(A\subseteq\mathbb{N}\) has \(|A| = n\) then \(\prod_{a\neq b\in A}(a + b)\) has at least \(f(n)\) distinct prime factors. Is it true that \(\frac{f(n)}{\log n} \to\infty\)? The answer is yes, and a machine-checked proof is available.
Statement as formalized in Formal Conjectures (Google DeepMind, Apache-2.0) · their label: research solved · 2 further variants / known partial results in the Lean file. The authoritative wording is on erdosproblems.com/126.
Prize$250
Topicsnumber theory
Statement in LeanFormal Conjectures
Solution in Leanyes
Original pageerdosproblems.com/126
FULL WRITE-UP BY THIS SITE · JUL 27, 2026

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#126 asks whether f(n)/log n → ∞, where f(n) is the fewest distinct primes that can support all pairwise sums of an n-element set — equivalently N(s)=exp(o(s)), N(s) being the largest set whose pair sums use ≤s primes. The window (½+o(1))s·log s ≤ N(s) ≤ 2^s has been open since Erdős–Turán. We didn't prove it and found no counterexample — but a strong partial: the conjecture reduces cleanly to ONE missing theorem (a uniform subexponential bound for binary S-unit equations over ℚ), the key extra structure is identified (the problem needs a clique of mutually compatible S-unit solutions, not the star a single binary equation gives), and the old local prime-by-prime route is provably dead. N(2)=4 exactly, plus explicit f(14)≤8 and f(21)≤12 — all verified on our side.

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