Erdős Problem #305

For integers \(1\leq a<b\) let \(D(a,b)\) be the minimal value of \(n_k\) such that there exist integers \(1\leq n_1<\cdots <n_k\) with \[\frac{a}{b}=\frac{1}{n_1}+\cdots+\frac{1}{n_k}.\] Estimate \(D(b)=\max_{1\leq a<b}D(a,b)\). Is it true that \[D(b) \ll b(\log b)^{1+o(1)}?\] Bleicher and Erdős [BlEr76] have shown that \(D(b)\ll b(\log b)^2\). If \(b=p\) is a prime then \(D(p) \gg p\log p\). This was solved by Yokota [Yo88], who proved that \[D(b)\ll b(\log b)(\log\log b)^4(\log\log\log b)^2.\] This was improved by Liu and Sawhney [LiSa24] to \[D(b)\ll b(\log b)(\log\log b)^3(\log\log\log b)^{O(1)}.\]