Proving it is impossible; on Erdos problem \# 278
Abstract
Erdos asked many mathematical questions. Some lead to exciting research, others turned out to be easily solved. In this article, we provide evidence that one of his questions, Erdos problem \#278 , has no general answer. We do so by relating it with a hard knapsack problem instance,and by demonstrating that different, non-equivalent formulas arise depending on the structure of the moduli.
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