The authors regret that a misprint has occurred in the main theorem of their recent paper with the above title [Mathematika, 23 (1976), 220–226]. The congruence condition which p1 should satisfy modulo if p1 has odd order.

We give a simple graph-theoretic proof of a classical result due to Nash-Williams on covering graphs by forests. Moreover, we derive a slight generalization of this statement where some edges are preassigned to distinct forests.

For every integer $k\geqslant 3$ we construct a $k$-gonal curve $C$ along with a very ample divisor of degree $2g+k-1$ (where $g$ is the genus of $C$) to which the vanishing statement from the Green–Lazarsfeld gonality conjecture does not apply.

A subsemigroup S of a semigroup Q is an order in Q if, for every q ∈ Q, there exist a, b, c, d ∈ S such that q = a−1b = cd−1 where a and d are contained in (maximal) subgroups of Q and a−1 and d−1 are their inverses in these subgroups. A semigroup which is a union of its subgroups is completely regular.

In [1] I made the following conjecture. If we tile a convex polygon of at most six sides with N convex tiles of areas a1, …,aN, then the total perimeter of the tiles is never less than the total perimeter of N regular hexagons of areas a1, …, aN. In order to show that the condition of the convexity of the tiles cannot be omitted I constructed a tiling with an equal number of “pentagons” and “heptagons” of perimeters and areas and , and ā5 and ā7, respectively. In a letter to me R. Schneider kindly pointed out that, in contrast to the value given in [1], the value of the quotient was equal to 3.7263… This being greater than √8√3 = 3–7224… the tiling given in [1] does not yield the desired counter-example. In what follows we shall construct a tiling for which the respective quotient will turn out to be less than √8√3.

Let K0(x) be a simple transcendental extension of a field K0, υ0 be a valuation of K0 with value group G0 and residue field K0. Suppose is an inclusion of totally ordered abelian groups with [G1: G0] < ∞ such that G is the direct sum of G1 and an infinite cyclic group. It is proved that there exists an (explicitly constructible) valuation υ of K0(x) extending υ0 such that the value group of υ is G and its residue field is k, where k is a given finite extension of k0. This is analogous to a result of Matignon and Ohm [2, Corollary 3.2] for residually non-algebraic prolongations of υ0 to K0(x).

Let X be an infinite set and T(X) be the full transformation semigroup on X. In [4] and [6] Howie gives a description of the subsemigroup of T(X) generated by its idempotents. In order to do this he defines, for α in T(X),

and refers to the cardinals s(α) = |S(α)|, d(α) = |Z(α)| and |c(α) = |C(α)| as the shift, the defect, and the collapse of α respectively. Then putting

he proves that the subsemigroup of T(X) generated by its idempotents is . Furthermore, both F and Q are generated by their idempotents

An expression is found here for the small transverse displacement of a thin elliptic plate due to a force applied at an arbitrary point of the plate. The plate is in the form of a complete ellipse and is clamped along the boundary. The displacement is expressed in terms of infinite series in §§2–4. The convergence of the series is rapid unless the eccentricity of the ellipse is nearly unity. The simplest case in which the force is applied at the centre of the plate is considered in §5; the displacement of the centre due to this force is compared in §6 with the corresponding displacements of a circular plate and of an infinite strip.

We consider the first boundary value problem for a second-order parabolic equation with variable coefficients in the domain $K\times \mathbb{R}^{n-m}$, where $K$ is an $m$-dimensional cone. The main results of the paper are pointwise estimates of the Green’s function.

In Mahler's classification of complex numbers [10] (see [4]), a transcendental number ξ is called a U-number if there exists a fixed integer N ≥ 1 so that for all ω > 0, there exists a polynomial so that

where the height h(f) = max {|α0|, |α1|, …, |αN|}. The number ξ is called a Um-number if the above holds for N = m but for no smaller value of N (examples and further details may be found in [9,1 and 2]). Thus the set of U1-numbers is precisely the set of Liouville numbers. In this paper we investigate the statistical behavior of the partial quotients of real U-numbers, in particular, U2-numbers. In addition, we demonstrate the existence of a U2-number with the property that if it is translated by any nonnegative integer and then squared, the result is a Liouville number. Related results involving badly approximate U2-numbers are also discussed.

In this paper it is shown that a simplicial action of Zp (p a prime) on an n-dimensional simplicial complex which is a Poincaré duality space of formal dimension n for Zp coefficients cannot have just one isolated fixed point.

Let M be a finite extension field of the rational numbers Q, and let CM denote the ideal class group of M. Let l be a rational prime, and let AM denote the l-class group of M (i.e., the Sylow l-subgroup of CM). If G is any finite abelian l-group, we define

where ℤl is the ring of l-adic integers and Fl is the finite field of l elements. One of the classical results of algebraic number theory is the specification of rank AM when M is a quadratic extension of Q and l = 2. This result was obtained by means of Gauss's theory of genera. A generalization of this result can be found in [1], where A. Fröhlich has obtained upper and lower bounds for rank AM when M is a cyclic extension of Q of degree l. His methods also show how to compute rank AM exactly when l = 3. In [4], G. Gras has described a procedure for analyzing the l-class groups of relatively cyclic extensions of degree l. However when l > 3, the computations can be very difficult.

A unified method is used to improve the order of the lower bound sieve.

For the solubility of an inhomogeneous polynomial Diophantine equation, there is one well-known necessary, but not sufficient condition; namely the necessary congruence condition (NCC) explained in §2, below. Till recently, no progress had been made with the general cubic equation, because no one knew what else to assume. Examples given here, see (4.3), (5.4), indicate that some rather subtle hypothesis is needed. The first such hypothesis, see Davenport and Lewis [1], was very far from being necessary for the solubility of the equation. It would seem that any supplementary hypothesis which (loosely) is somewhere near necessary and also (together with the NCC) somewhere near sufficient deserves separate detailed investigation before one proceeds to use it.

Let K be an algebraic number field of degree n = rl + 2r2 (in the usual notation) over the rationals with discriminant d. Let ZK denote the ring of integers in K. It is usual to speak of an integer Πi ∈ Zk as an almost-prime of order l, if the principal ideal (Πi) has at most l prime ideal factors, counted according to multiplicity. Let P1, …, Pn be positive real numbers with Pk = Pk+r2, k = r1 + l, …, r1 + r2 and P = P1 … Pn ≥ 1.

In this note we shall show that the assumptions made by Murray [1] on the initial state of the gas and the initial magnetic field are inconsistent with the steady state momentum equation and the energy balance equation (20). The form of second term in equation (20) requires

In its simplest form, the theorem of Ascoli with which we are concerned is an extension of the Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem: it states that, if X and Y are bounded closed sets, of real or complex numbers, andis a sequence of equicontinuous functions mapping X into Y, thenhas a uniformly convergent subsequence. As is well known, this result has played a fundamental part in the development of several theories; it has also been widely generalized, by processes of abstraction and localization, and a very useful version of the theorem runs as follows (cf. [4], 233–234):

(A) Suppose that X is a locally compact regular space, and that Y is a Hausdorff space whose topology is determined by a uniform structure. Let YX be the space of all functions that map X into Y, with the topology of locally uniform convergence with respect to. Then a closed setin YX is compact if, at each point x of X, (i) the set(x) is relatively compact, in Y, and, (ii) is equicontinuous with respect to.

Given a Hausdorff topological vector space with dimensiongreater than one, the barycentre of simple masses can be seen as the unique associative, internal and continuous mapping defined on these masses. Moreover, if the associated dual space separates points, by extending the continuity property, one can characterize also the barycentre of masses with compact convex support.

In this note we present a simple way of obtaining the universal field of fractions of certain free rings as a subfield of an ultrapower of a (by no means unique) skew field. This method of embedding was discovered by Amitsur in [1]; our presentation uses Cohn's specialization lemma and the embedding is constructed in terms of full matrices over the rings in question (Theorem 3.2). In particular, if k is an infinite commutative field, the universal field of fractions of a free k-algebra can be realized as a subfield of an ultrapower of any skew extension of k, with centre k, which is infinite dimensional over k. Thus many problems concerning the universal field of fractions of a free k-algebra can be settled by studying skew extensions of k of relatively simple structure. More precisely and more generally, let E be a skew field with centre k and denote by R the free E-ring on X over k. Write U for the universal field of fractions of R and assume that U embeds in an ultrapower of a skew field D. Then by Łos' theorem, U inherits the first-order properties of D which can be expressed by universal sentences.

Given a set D of positive real numbers, let Xn(D) denote the graph with ℝn as the vertex set such that two points are joined if their distance is in D. Bukh conjectured in [Measurable sets with excluded distances. Geom. Funct. Anal.18 (2008), 668–697] that if D is algebraically independent, then Chr(Xn(D)), the chromatic number of Xn(D), is finite. Here we prove that Chr(Xn(D)) is countable and that, if n=2 , even the coloring number is countable. Furthermore, we prove that Chr (Y )is countable, where Y is the following graph on ℂn: let 𝔽 be a countable subfield of ℂ and let D⊆ℂ be algebraically independent over 𝔽; join a,b∈ℂn if there is some p(x,y)∈𝔽[x,y]such that p(x,x)is identically zero and p(a,b)≠0is algebraic over some d∈𝔽∪D.