An edge-coloured graph $G$ is called properly connected if any two vertices are connected by a properly coloured path. The proper connection number, $pc(G)$, of a graph $G$, is the smallest number of colours that are needed to colour $G$ such that it is properly connected. Let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}(n)$ denote the minimum value such that $pc(G)=2$ for any 2-connected incomplete graph $G$ of order $n$ with minimum degree at least $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}(n)$. Brause et al. [‘Minimum degree conditions for the proper connection number of graphs’, Graphs Combin.33 (2017), 833–843] showed that $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}(n)>n/42$. In this note, we show that $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}(n)>n/36$.

In this note, we evaluate sums of partial theta functions. Our main tool is an application of an extended version of the Bailey transform to an identity of Gasper and Rahman on $q$-hypergeometric series.

We provide a generalised Laplace expansion for the permanent function and, as a consequence, we re-prove a multinomial Vandermonde convolution. Some combinatorial identities are derived by applying special matrices to the expansion.

We determine the metric dimension of the annihilating-ideal graph of a local finite commutative principal ring and a finite commutative principal ring with two maximal ideals. We also find bounds for the metric dimension of the annihilating-ideal graph of an arbitrary finite commutative principal ring.

We present several results on the connectivity of McKay quivers of finite-dimensional complex representations of finite groups, with no restriction on the faithfulness or self-duality of the representations. We give examples of McKay quivers, as well as quivers that cannot arise as McKay quivers, and discuss a necessary and sufficient condition for two finite groups to share a connected McKay quiver.

For a positive real number $t$, define the harmonic continued fraction

$$\begin{eqnarray}\text{HCF}(t)=\biggl[\frac{t}{1},\frac{t}{2},\frac{t}{3},\ldots \biggr].\end{eqnarray}$$

$$\begin{eqnarray}\text{HCF}(t)=\frac{1}{1-2t(\frac{1}{t+2}-\frac{1}{t+4}+\frac{1}{t+6}-\cdots \,)}.\end{eqnarray}$$

We obtain a lower bound on the largest prime factor of the denominator of rational numbers in the Cantor set. This gives a stronger version of a recent result of Schleischitz [‘On intrinsic and extrinsic rational approximation to Cantor sets’, Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. to appear] obtained via a different argument.

An undirected graph $G$ is determined by its $T$-gain spectrum (DTS) if every $T$-gain graph cospectral to $G$ is switching equivalent to $G$. We show that the complete graph $K_{n}$ and the graph $K_{n}-e$ obtained by deleting an edge from $K_{n}$ are DTS, the star $K_{1,n}$ is DTS if and only if $n\leq 2$, and an odd path $P_{2m+1}$ is not DTS if $m\geq 2$. We give an operation for constructing cospectral $T$-gain graphs and apply it to show that a tree of arbitrary order (at least $5$) is not DTS.

Let I be a zero-dimensional ideal in the polynomial ring $K[x_1,\ldots ,x_n]$ over a field K. We give a bound for the number of roots of I in $K^n$ counted with combinatorial multiplicity. As a consequence, we give a proof of Alon’s combinatorial Nullstellensatz.

Let p be a prime and let x be a p-adic integer. We prove two supercongruences for truncated series of the form

$$\begin{align*}\sum_{k=1}^{p-1} \frac{(x)_k}{(1)_k}\cdot \frac{1}{k}\sum_{1\le j_1\le\cdots\le j_r\le k}\frac{1}{j_1^{}\cdots j_r^{}}\quad\mbox{and}\quad \sum_{k=1}^{p-1} \frac{(x)_k(1-x)_k}{(1)_k^2}\cdot \frac{1}{k}\sum_{1\le j_1\le\cdots\le j_r\le k}\frac{1}{j_1^{2}\cdots j_r^{2}}\end{align*}$$

Given $d\in \mathbb{N}$, we establish sum-product estimates for finite, nonempty subsets of $\mathbb{R}^{d}$. This is equivalent to a sum-product result for sets of diagonal matrices. In particular, let $A$ be a finite, nonempty set of $d\times d$ diagonal matrices with real entries. Then, for all $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{1}<1/3+5/5277$,

$$\begin{eqnarray}|A+A|+|A\cdot A|\gg _{d}|A|^{1+\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{1}/d},\end{eqnarray}$$

For a given set $S\subseteq \mathbb {Z}_m$ and $\overline {n}\in \mathbb {Z}_m$ , let $R_S(\overline {n})$ denote the number of solutions of the equation $\overline {n}=\overline {s}+\overline {s'}$ with ordered pairs $(\overline {s},\overline {s'})\in S^2$ . We determine the structure of $A,B\subseteq \mathbb {Z}_m$ with $|(A\cup B)\setminus (A\cap B)|=m-2$ such that $R_{A}(\overline {n})=R_{B}(\overline {n})$ for all $\overline {n}\in \mathbb {Z}_m$ , where m is an even integer.

We examine a recursive sequence in which $s_n$ is a literal description of what the binary expansion of the previous term $s_{n-1}$ is not. By adapting a technique of Conway, we determine the limiting behaviour of $\{s_n\}$ and dynamics of a related self-map of $2^{\mathbb {N}}$ . Our main result is the existence and uniqueness of a pair of binary sequences, each the complement-description of the other. We also take every opportunity to make puns.

A (positive definite and integral) quadratic form is said to be prime-universal if it represents all primes. Recently, Doyle and Williams [‘Prime-universal quadratic forms $ax^2+by^2+cz^2$ and $ax^2+by^2+cz^2+dw^2$ ’, Bull. Aust. Math. Soc.101 (2020), 1–12] classified all prime-universal diagonal ternary quadratic forms and all prime-universal diagonal quaternary quadratic forms under two conjectures. We classify all prime-universal diagonal quadratic forms regardless of rank, and prove the so-called 67-theorem for a diagonal quadratic form to be prime-universal.

We sharpen earlier work of Dabrowski on near-perfect power values of the quartic form $x^{4}-y^{4}$, through appeal to Frey curves of various signatures and related techniques.

The notion of $\theta $ -congruent numbers is a generalisation of congruent numbers where one considers triangles with an angle $\theta $ such that $\cos \theta $ is a rational number. In this paper we discuss a criterion for a natural number to be $\theta $ -congruent over certain real number fields.

In 1945–1946, C. L. Siegel proved that an $n$-dimensional lattice $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6EC}$ of determinant $\text{det}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6EC})$ has at most $m^{n^{2}}$ different sublattices of determinant $m\cdot \text{det}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6EC})$. In 1997, the exact number of the different sublattices of index $m$ was determined by Baake. We present a systematic treatment for counting the sublattices and derive a formula for the number of the sublattice classes under unimodular equivalence.

We find and prove a class of congruences modulo 4 for eta-products associated with certain ternary quadratic forms. This study was inspired by similar conjectured congruences modulo 4 for certain mock theta functions.

We study lower bounds of a general family of L-functions on the $1$ -line. More precisely, we show that for any $F(s)$ in this family, there exist arbitrarily large t such that $F(1+it)\geq e^{\gamma _F} (\log _2 t + \log _3 t)^m + O(1)$ , where m is the order of the pole of $F(s)$ at $s=1$ . This is a generalisation of the result of Aistleitner, Munsch and Mahatab [‘Extreme values of the Riemann zeta function on the $1$ -line’, Int. Math. Res. Not. IMRN2019(22) (2019), 6924–6932]. As a consequence, we get lower bounds for large values of Dedekind zeta-functions and Rankin-Selberg L-functions of the type $L(s,f\times f)$ on the $1$ -line.

The Severi variety $V_{d,n}$ of plane curves of a given degree $d$ and exactly $n$ nodes admits a map to the Hilbert scheme $\mathbb{P}^{2[n]}$ of zero-dimensional subschemes of $\mathbb{P}^{2}$ of degree $n$. This map assigns to every curve $C\in V_{d,n}$ its nodes. For some $n$, we consider the image under this map of many known divisors of the Severi variety and its partial compactification. We compute the divisor classes of such images in $\text{Pic}(\mathbb{P}^{2[n]})$ and provide enumerative numbers of nodal curves. We also answer directly a question of Diaz–Harris [‘Geometry of the Severi variety’, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc.309 (1988), 1–34] about whether the canonical class of the Severi variety is effective.