An extension of D. J. Newman's coprime mapping conjecture with applications to prime trees

Leanne Robertson, Mathematics Department, Seattle University

Abstract: In 1980, Pomerance and Selfridge proved D. J. Newman's coprime mapping conjecture: If N is a positive integer and I is a set of N consecutive integers, then there is a bijection f: {1,2,…,N}→ I such that gcd(i, f(i))=1 for 1≤ i≤ N. The function f described in their theorem is called a coprime mapping. Around the same time, Entringer conjectured that all trees are prime, that is, the vertex set V can be labeled with the distinct integers 1, 2,…, |V| such that for each edge xy the labels assigned to vertices x and y are coprime. So far, there has been little progress towards a proof of this conjecture. In this talk, I will prove a generalization of Newman's conjecture and use the result to show that various families of trees are prime (including regular firecrackers, banana trees, binomial trees, and families of spider colonies, all of which will be defined). This is joint work with Ben Small, a senior mathematics major at Seattle University.