Number Theory Seminar

Monday, March 10, 2025 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

William Verreault, University of Toronto

On the minimal length of addition chains

An addition chain is a sequence of increasing numbers, starting with 1 and ending with n, such that each number is the sum of two previous ones in the sequence. A challenging problem is, given a positive integer n, to find the minimal length of an addition chain leading to n. I will present bounds on the distribution function of this minimal length, which are sharp up to a small constant. This is joint work with Jean-Marie De Koninck and Nicolas Doyon.

MC 2034