The starting point of this question is the observation that the smallest positive integers $a,b,c$ satisfying


are absurdly high, namely $$(154476802108746166441951315019919837485664325669565431700026634898253202035277999,$$ $$36875131794129999827197811565225474825492979968971970996283137471637224634055579 ,$$ $$ 4373612677928697257861252602371390152816537558161613618621437993378423467772036) .$$ This leads to the following general question: Is the set $C\subseteq {\mathbb N}$ defined by $$ C = \{n\in\mathbb{N}\setminus\{0\}: (\exists a,b,c \in\mathbb{N}\setminus\{0\}):\frac{a}{b+c} + \frac{b}{a+c} + \frac{c}{a+b} = n\}$$ computable? (As user Watson points out in the comment section below, $C$ contains no odd numbers. It would also be great to see an even number $\geq 6$ not contained in $C$.)

  • 18
    $\begingroup$ I don't have the time to look into the details, but from a cursory glance at this quora answer it looks like the problem amounts to deciding whether a certain elliptic curve has solutions over $\mathbb{Q}$. Now IIRC there is an algorithm for that (find solutions locally and try to globalize) provided Ш is finite, which is conjecturally always the case. So I think conjecturally your set is indeed computable. $\endgroup$ – Gro-Tsen Aug 14 '17 at 19:28
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ So we're half done! $\endgroup$ – Joel David Hamkins Sep 14 '17 at 12:28
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ This is somewhat similar to the question which natural numbers $n$ are congruent numbers (i.e. the area of a right-angled triangle with rational sides), which comes down to asking whether the elliptic curve $E_n \colon y^2 = x^3-n^2x$ has positive rank over $\mathbb Q$. In this case, there is a conjectural answer (Tunnell's Theorem, conditional on the BSD conjecture), which relies on the fact that the $E_n$ are all quadratic twists of a fixed curve. The question asked here is likely to be harder, since the resulting curves are not twists, and there is the positivity condition. --> $\endgroup$ – Michael Stoll Oct 26 '17 at 15:29
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ (continued) Note that there are odd $n$ for which the associated elliptic curve has positive rank, but does not have rational points on the component that contains the positive points. (IIRC, $n = 19$ is an example.) This gives an additional twist to the question. $\endgroup$ – Michael Stoll Oct 26 '17 at 15:31
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Cross-posted to cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/39383/… $\endgroup$ – Emil Jeřábek Oct 26 '17 at 16:05

Your Answer


Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.