Second Hardy–Littlewood conjecture

In number theory, the second Hardy–Littlewood conjecture concerns the number of primes in intervals. If π(x) is the number of primes up to and including x then the conjecture states that

π(x + y) ≤ π(x) + π(y)

for x, y ≥ 2.

This means that the number of primes from x + 1 to x + y is always less than or equal to the number of primes from 1 to y. This was proved to be inconsistent with the first Hardy–Littlewood conjecture on prime k-tuples, and the first violation is expected to likely occur for very large values of x.^[1] For example, an admissible k-tuple ^[2] (or prime constellation) of 447 primes can be found in an interval of y = 3159 integers, while π(3159) = 446. If the first Hardy–Littlewood conjecture holds, then the first such k-tuple is expected for x greater than 1.5 × 10¹⁷⁴ but less than 2.2 × 10¹¹⁹⁸.^[3]

References

1. Richards, Ian (1974). "On the Incompatibility of Two Conjectures Concerning Primes". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 80: 419–438. doi:10.1090/S0002-9904-1974-13434-8.
2. "Prime pages: k-tuple". Retrieved 2008-08-12.
3. "447-tuple calculations". Retrieved 2008-08-12.

• Engelsma, Thomas J. "k-tuple Permissible Patterns". Retrieved 2008-08-12.
• G. H. Hardy and J. E. Littlewood (1923). "On some problems of "partitio numerorum" III: On the expression of a number as a sum of primes". Acta Math. 44: 1–70. doi:10.1007/BF02403921.
• Oliveira e Silva, Tomás. "Admissible prime constellations". Retrieved 2008-08-12.