Appendix

1 Number Theory and Calculus

1.1 Greatest Common Divisor
Let a , , ak E N be such that max (ai , , ak ) > O. Their greatest common divisor (g.c.d)
is the largest positive integer dividing all of them. It is denoted by g.c.d (a l , , ak ). Clearly,
removing all zero elements does not change the g.c.d, so that we may assume without loss
of generality that all the ak 's are positive.
Let {a n )„ 1 be a sequence of positive integers. The sequence {dk ) k> I defined by dk =
g.c.d (ai , , ak) is bounded below by 1 and is nonincreasing, and it therefore has a limit
d > 1, a positive integer called the g.c.d of the sequence {an ) R> . Since the dk 's are integers,
the limit is attained after a finite number of steps, and therefore there exists a positive integer
k0 such that d = g.c.d (a , , ak ) for all k > ko.

Lemma 1.1.
Let S C Z contain at least one nonzero element and be closed under addition and subtraction.
Then S contains a least positive element a, and S = {ka ;k E Z).

Proof. Let c e S, c # O. Then c — c = 0 E S. Also 0 — c = —c E S. Therefore.

S contains at least one positive element. Denote by a the smallest positive element of
S. Since S is closed under addition and subtraction, S contains a, a + a = 2a, and
0 — a = —a, 0 — 2a = —2a, , that is, {ka ;k E Z) C S.
Let c E S. Then c = ka + r, where k E Z and 0 < r < a. Since r = c — ka E S, we
cannot have r > 0, because this would contradict the definition of a as the smallest positive
integer in S. Therefore, r = 0, i.e., c = ka. Therefore, S C (ka ;k E Z). ❑

Lemma 1.2.
Let a i , , ak be positive integers with greatest common divisor d. There exist n 1 , , nk E
Z such that d = n i ai .

Proof. The set S = n; a, n i , , nk E Zi is closed under addition and substrac-

tion, and therefore, by Lemma 1.1, S = {ka ,k E Z), where a =Ks'. i niai is the smallest
positive integer in S.

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Since d divides all the al's, d divides a, and therefore 0 < d < a. Also, each a; is in S
and is therefore a multiple of a, which implies that a < g.c.d (at , ak) = d. Therefore,
d=a. ❑

Theorem 1.1.
Let d be the g.c.d of A = {an , n > I }, a set of positive integers that is closed under addition.
Then A contains all but a finite number of the positive multiples of d.

Proof. We may assume without loss of generality that d = 1 (otherwise, divide all the an
by d). For some k, d = 1 = g.c.d. (at, ak), and therefore by Lemma 1.2,

1 = E n,a;
r-1

for some n 1 , , nk E Z. Separating the positive from the negative terms in the latter
equality, we have 1 = M — P, where M and P are in A.
Let n E N, n > P (P — I). We have n = a P + r, where r E [0, P — 1]. Necessarily,
a> P-1,otherwise, if a < P— 2, then n = a P + r < P(P —1). Using 1 =M—P, we
have that n = aP + r (M — P) = (a — r) P + rM. But a — r > O. Therefore, n is in A.
We have thus shown that any n E N sufficiently large—say n > P (P — 1 )—is in A. ❑

1.2 Abel's Theorem

Lemma 1.3. Abel's Lemma
Let {h) >1 and {a n } n , 1 be two sequences of real numbers such that

b1>b2? >bn > 0,

and such that for some real numbers m and M, and all n > 1,

m << a1+ + an <M

Then, for all n > 1,

h i m <aibi+ + an bn <b1 M (1.1)

Proof. Let sn = at + + an , and use Abel's summation technique to obtain

at b1 + + an bn =b t s t +b2 (s2 — st) + + bn (sn —s i _1)

= s1[b1 — 62] + + sn-1[bn..1 — bn] + s [bn]•

The bracketed terms are all nonnegative, and therefore replacing each s; by its lower bound
or upper bound yields the result.

We recall without proof a standard result of calculus.