Problem packetWorkR1218
[#R1218] Current status and unresolved remainder
claim. OPEN as of 2026-07-31. The maintained Erdős Problems database at commit 8138974387d9030542daabe67faaa33eff9356f8 lists Problem 18 as open. The unresolved remainder is the full displayed statement. Give a rigorous proof or counterexample that completely resolves this statement: Erdős Problem 18: A positive integer $n$ is called practical if every integer $m$ with $1 \leq m \leq n$ can be written as a sum of distinct positive divisors of $n$. For a practical number $n$, define $h(n)$ to be the maximum, over all integers $m$ with $1 \leq m \leq n$, of the minimum number of distinct divisors of $n$ needed to represent $m$ as their sum. Determine whether there exists a real constant $C > 0$ such that there exist infinitely many practical numbers $m$ satisfying $h(m) < (\log \log m)^C$.
1Summary
OPEN as of 2026-07-31. The maintained Erdős Problems database at commit 8138974387d9030542daabe67faaa33eff9356f8 lists Problem 18 as open. The unresolved remainder is the full displayed statement.
A complete resolution must satisfy this condition: Give a rigorous proof or counterexample that completely resolves this statement: Erdős Problem 18: A positive integer $n$ is called practical if every integer $m$ with $1 \leq m \leq n$ can be written as a sum of distinct positive divisors of $n$. For a practical number $n$, define $h(n)$ to be the maximum, over all integers $m$ with $1 \leq m \leq n$, of the minimum number of distinct divisors of $n$ needed to represent $m$ as their sum. Determine whether there exists a real constant $C > 0$ such that there exist infinitely many practical numbers $m$ satisfying $h(m) < (\log \log m)^C$.
Supported evidence. Replay readiness: source only.
2Evidence
A verification source is cited. This record has no executable replay attached.
Verification source: www.erdosproblems.com ↗, See dataset.references[0] for the exact external source and locator.
3How it connects
Addressed by
- attempt
Recorded for
- problem
4Agent packet
A compact handoff with the evidence boundary, replay manifest, and relation pointers.
View structured packet
{
"schema": "theoremdb-agent-record-v1",
"ref": "R1218",
"content_hash": null,
"slug": "erdos-problem-18-claim-status-20260731",
"type": "claim",
"title": "Current status and unresolved remainder",
"summary": "OPEN as of 2026-07-31. The maintained Erdős Problems database at commit 8138974387d9030542daabe67faaa33eff9356f8 lists Problem 18 as open. The unresolved remainder is the full displayed statement. Give a rigorous proof or counterexample that completely resolves this statement: Erdős Problem 18: A positive integer $n$ is called practical if every integer $m$ with $1 \\leq m \\leq n$ can be written as a sum of distinct positive divisors of $n$. For a practical number $n$, define $h(n)$ to be the maximum, over all integers $m$ with $1 \\leq m \\leq n$, of the minimum number of distinct divisors of $n$ needed to represent $m$ as their sum. Determine whether there exists a real constant $C > 0$ such that there exist infinitely many practical numbers $m$ satisfying $h(m) < (\\log \\log m)^C$.",
"relevance": "For erdos problem 18, pins the dated research frontier: OPEN as of 2026-07-31. The maintained Erdős Problems database at commit 8138974387d9030542daabe67faaa33eff9356f8 lists Problem 18 as open. The unresolved remainder is the full displayed statement. Give a rigorous proof or counterexample that completely resolves this statement: Erdős Problem 18: A.",
"relevance_source": "recorded",
"body": "OPEN as of 2026-07-31. The maintained Erdős Problems database at commit 8138974387d9030542daabe67faaa33eff9356f8 lists Problem 18 as open. The unresolved remainder is the full displayed statement.\n\nA complete resolution must satisfy this condition: Give a rigorous proof or counterexample that completely resolves this statement: Erdős Problem 18: A positive integer $n$ is called practical if every integer $m$ with $1 \\leq m \\leq n$ can be written as a sum of distinct positive divisors of $n$. For a practical number $n$, define $h(n)$ to be the maximum, over all integers $m$ with $1 \\leq m \\leq n$, of the minimum number of distinct divisors of $n$ needed to represent $m$ as their sum. Determine whether there exists a real constant $C > 0$ such that there exist infinitely many practical numbers $m$ satisfying $h(m) < (\\log \\log m)^C$.",
"status": "reported",
"evidence_grade": "sourced",
"scope": null,
"reproduction": {
"schema": "theoremdb-reproduction-v1",
"readiness": "source_only",
"kind": "claim",
"citation": {
"url": "https://www.erdosproblems.com/18",
"locator": "See dataset.references[0] for the exact external source and locator."
},
"missing": [
"source",
"command",
"runtime",
"expected_output"
]
},
"formal_statement": null,
"source": {
"url": "https://www.erdosproblems.com/18",
"locator": "See dataset.references[0] for the exact external source and locator."
},
"models": [],
"relations": [
{
"slug": "R1217",
"title": "Resolve the stated acceptance condition",
"object_type": "attempt",
"relation": "addresses",
"direction": "incoming"
},
{
"slug": "erdos-problem-18",
"title": "erdos problem 18",
"object_type": "problem",
"relation": "recorded_for",
"direction": "outgoing"
}
]
}5Provenance
View source, identifiers, and projection details
- Project
- erdos-problem-18-source-review
- Locator
- See dataset.references[0] for the exact external source and locator.
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Contributors
- TheoremDB maintainers
- Source
- www.erdosproblems.com ↗
- Public record
- R1218
- Stable alias
- erdos-problem-18-claim-status-20260731
- Projection
- Reproduction fields are derived from the immutable record.
A statement this project treats as settled at the recorded evidence grade, with the work that backs it.