Category Archives: open problems

unsolved mathematical problems

An exercise in number theory

Here is a cute little problem which I can’t solve. I thought I needed the answer but it turned out that I didn’t, so as far as I know there is no application. Let n = p1a1…psas, where the pi are distinct … Continue reading

Posted in doing mathematics, open problems | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Two things that should be related

Here are two things that look as if there should be a relation between them. A graph duality In my paper on graphs defined on groups, I invented an ad hoc duality relation between pairs of graphs. The context is … Continue reading

Posted in exposition, open problems | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

BCC29 at Lancaster

Last week we celebrated the 29th British Combinatorial Conference in Lancaster, face to face. (As a side observation, this was by far the largest social gathering I have been at since the start of the pandemic; I found it both … Continue reading

Posted in events, exposition, open problems | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

I’d like to see this solved

Here is a problem that I would really like to see solved. I have spent quite a bit of time on it myself, and have suggested it to a few other people, but it still resists all attacks, though it … Continue reading

Posted in doing mathematics, open problems | 9 Comments

A problelm

Given a finite permutation group G on a set X, the permutation character π of G is the function on G mapping an element g to its number of fixed points in X. This is a character of G, the … Continue reading

Posted in open problems | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Graphs on groups, 9

We continue to make progress with the graphs on groups project, but this post attempts to step back and look at the whole thing. What use is all this? Once, after I talked at a departmental colloquium at the University … Continue reading

Posted in doing mathematics, exposition, open problems | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Clive Sinclair

Yesterday I read the news that Clive Sinclair has died. This brought back memories of my first encounter with personal computers nearly 40 years ago. At the time I had a demanding job and three small children, and I was … Continue reading

Posted in doing mathematics, history, open problems | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Graphs on groups, 8

The dark clouds seem to have lifted a bit. Perhaps now, that the last rush of conferences for a while is over, life can return to something like normality … For me the most significant event was the last in … Continue reading

Posted in doing mathematics, events, open problems | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

A small problem

In connection with the research discussion about graphs and groups, I began to wonder which finite groups have the property that any two elements of the same order are conjugate. I thought about this, and got a certain distance, and … Continue reading

Posted in open problems | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

A little problem

In connection with the power graphs of unitary groups, I came across the following little number-theoretic conundrum. Can anyone solve it? Let q be an odd power of 2 (bigger than 2). Show that (q2−q+1)/3 is not a prime power … Continue reading

Posted in open problems | Tagged , , | 6 Comments