Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/iii/paper-8/4/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 8 4 a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the Chebyshev estimate from central binomial coefficients. DefineThe first is the Chebyshev theta function; the second counts prime powers with the same logarithmic prime weight. For a positive integer , every prime divides , henceSumming over dyadic intervals yields . By monotonicity and rounding upward to a power of two,
For the lower bound, the central binomial coefficient is the largest of the coefficients whose sum is , soThe exponent of a prime in the central coefficient isEach summand is zero or one. Therefore . Higher prime powers contribute onlyCombining the lower bound with just below shows for sufficiently large , with, for example, .
Let denote the number of primes at most . Since every prime weight is at most ,For the upper bound, separate the primes at . The small ones number at most , and every larger one has weight at least , givingSince , this provesfor all sufficiently large , for instance with and . This elementary Chebyshev estimate does not assume the Prime number theorem.
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