A lower bound on the number of rough numbers

Abstract

Conceptually, a rough number is a positive integer with no small prime factors. Formally, for real numbers $x$ and $y$, let $\Phi(x,y)$ denote the number of positive integers at most $x$ with no prime factors less than $y$. In this paper we establish the lower bound $\Phi(n,p)\geq \lfloor 2n/p \rfloor +1$ when $p\geq 11$ is prime and $n\geq 2p$.