abundancy “outlaws” of the form σ strongnstrong)+t strongnstrong.pdfVIP

1 2 Journal of Integer Sequences, Vol. 10 (2007), 3 Article 07.9.6 47 6 23 11 Abundancy “Outlaws” of the Form σ (N )+t N William G. Stanton and Judy A. Holdener Department of Mathematics Kenyon College Gambier, Ohio 43022 USA stantonw@kenyon.edu holdenerj@kenyon.edu Abstract The abundancy index of a positive integer n is defined to be the rational number I (n) = σ (n)/n, where σ is the sum of divisors function σ (n) = d|n d. An abundancy outlaw is a rational number greater than 1 that fails to be in the image of of the map I . In this paper, we consider rational numbers of the form (σ (N ) + t)/N and prove that under certain conditions such rationals are abundancy outlaws. 1 Introduction The abundancy index of a positive integer n is defined to be the rational number I (n) = σ (n)/n, where σ is the sum of divisors function, σ (n) = d|n d. Positive integers having integer-valued abundancy indices are said to be multiperfect numbers, and if I (n) = 2 in particular, then n is perfect. More generally, the abundancy index of a number n can be thought of as a measure of its perfection; if I (n) 2 then n is said to be deficient, and if I (n) 2 then n is abundant. In this way, the abundancy index is a useful tool in gaining a better understanding of perfect numbers. In fact, th