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Brocard's conjecture approval

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 Brocard’s conjecture approval
Marouane RHAFLI
June 19, 2020

Abstract
By using Rhafli’s odd composites counting function, we approve Bro-
card’s conjecture

1 Introduction
Brocard’s conjecture, is a conjecture that there are at least 4 prime numbers
between p2n and p2n+1 , for n ≥ 2, where pn is the n-th prime number [1]. In this
research, we’ll use rhafli’s [2] odd composites counting function to prove this
conjecture

Notations
pn : n-th prime number
pn+1 : (n+1)-th prime number
N : odd composite number
π 0 (x) : odd composite counting function
b...c : Floor function
d...e : Ceil function

2 On the odd composites counting function

When calculating the exact prime counting function, a new odd composite
counting function has been introduced [2], it calculate the exact odd composites
up to x as follow
√ √
pn ≤ x   pn−1 ≤ x pn
$ %
X x + 2pn − p2n X X x − p2j
π 0 (x) = − ( )
pn =3
2pn n=1 j=1
2pn pj+1

2.1 Segmented odd composites counting function

If we want to calculate the odd composites between the interval [a, b], where
[a, b] ∈ Z + , the above equation becomes

1
 √ √
≤ b
pnX  pn−1 ≤ b pn
$ % & '

b + 2pn − p2n
 
a + 2pn − p2n X X b − p2j a − p2j
0 0
π (b)−π (a) = ( − )− ( − )
pn =3
2pn 2pn n=1 j=1
2pn pj+1 2pn pj+1
(1)

2.2 The interval [a, b] = [p2n , p2n+1 ]

We replace a with p2n and b with p2n+1 in equation 1, we get then the number of
odd composites between π 0 (p2n+1 ) and π 0 (p2n ) as follow
pn ≤pn+1 ≤pn+1 pn
 pn−1X $ % & '
X  2
pn+1 + 2pn − p2n
  2
pn + 2pn − p2n X p2n+1 − p2j p2n − p2j
( − )− ( − )
pn =3
2pn 2pn n=1 j=1
2pn pj+1 2pn pj+1

After simplifying, the above equation becomes

pn ≤pn+1 pn−1 ≤pn+1 pn
& '
X  2
pn+1 + 2pn − p2n
 X X p2n − p2j
π 0 (p2n+1 )−π 0 (p2n ) = ( −1)+ ( )
pn =3
2pn n=1 j=1
2pn pj+1
(2)

3 The method to prove Brocad’s conjecture

In this section, we’ll prove that the primes existing in the interval [p2n+1 , p2n ]
≥ 4, by using the inclusion/exclusion principle

3.1 Number of odd numbers in the open interval ]p2n+1 , p2n [

The exact number of odd numbers included in the open interval ]p2n+1 , p2n [ is
given by
 2
pn+1 − p2n

( )−1 (3)
2
Ex: for the primes pn = 3 and pn+1 = 5, the number of odd numbers in the
interval [9, 25] is exactly 7

3.2 Number of primes in the open interval ]p2n+1 , p2n [

The number of primes included in the interval ]p2n+1 , p2n [ is calculated by the
inclusion/exclusion principle, it is then the number of odd numbers minus the
number of odd composites in the given interval, then it is given by
 pn ≤p
Xn+1  p2n+1 + 2pn − p2n  pn−1 ≤pn+1 pn
&
X p2n − p2j
'
p2n+1 − p2n
 X
( ) − 1 −( ( −1)+ ( ))
2 p =3
2pn n=1 j=1
2pn pj+1
n
(4)

2
4 Approval
In order to prove Brocard’s conjecture, We must prove that the equation 4 gen-
erates at least 4 primes for any large prime pn ≥ 3, which means
 2  pn ≤p
Xn+1  p2n+1 + 2pn − p2n  pn−1 ≤pn+1 pn
&
X p2n − p2j
'
pn+1 − p2n X
lim ( ( ) − 1 −( ( −1)+ ( )) ≥ 4
n→∞ 2 p =3
2pn n=1 j=1
2pn pj+1
n

4.1 Simplification
For large n, we’ll use some simplifications to calculate the lower bound
 2
pn+1 − p2n p2 − p2n

( ) − 1 ≈ ( n+1 )−1
2 2
pn ≤pn+1  2
pn+1 + 2pn − p2n p2 + 2pn − p2n
X 
( − 1 ≈ n+1 −1
p =3
2pn 2pn
n

pn−1 ≤pn+1 pn
& '
X X p2n − p2j p2 − p2n+1
( )≈ n
n=1 j=1
2pn pj+1 2pn pn+1

4.2 Calculation
After applying the simplifications, we get

p2n+1 − p2n p2 + 2pn − p2n p2 − p2n+1

lim ( − 1 − ( n+1 − 1) − ( n ))
n→∞ 2 2pn 2pn pn+1
Now let’s assume that the above expression is ≥ 4

p2n+1 − p2n p2 + 2pn − p2n p2 − p2n+1

− 1 − ( n+1 − 1) − ( n )≥4
2 2pn 2pn pn+1
We get then

p2n+1 pn pn+1
p2n+1 − p2n − + pn − + ≥ 10
p2n pn+1 pn
As the left side of the above inequality is increasing when n increases, then the
lower bound is calculated for pn = 3 and pn+1 5, after numerical application, we
get

p2n+1 pn pn+1
p2n+1 − p2n − + pn − + ≈ 11, 73
p2n pn+1 pn
it implies that our assumption is true, then

p2n+1 − p2n p2 + 2pn − p2n p2 − p2n+1

lim inf ( − 1 − ( n+1 − 1) − ( n )) ≥ 4
n→∞ 2 2pn 2pn pn+1
Brocard’s conjecture is then proved to be true.

3
 References
[1] Brocard’s conjecture Brocard’s conjecture. Sloane, N. J. A. Sequence
A050216 in ”The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences.
[2] The exact prime counting function. OSR Journal of Mathematics (IOSR-
JM) e-ISSN: 2278-5728, p-ISSN: 2319-765X. Volume 16, Issue 3 Ser. III
(May – June 2020), PP 41-45 . DOI: 10.9790/5728-1603034145

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