Semicomplete Arithmetic Sequences, Division of Hypercubes, and the Pell Constant

Abstract

In this paper we produce a few continuations of our previous work on partitions into fractions. Specifically, we study strictly increasing sequences of positive integers such that there are partitions for all natural numbers less than the floor of the sum of the first j terms divided by j, where j is greater than two. We also require that all summands be distinct terms drawn from this series of fractions. We call such sequences “semicomplete”. We find that there are only three semicomplete arithmetic sequences. We also study sequences that give the maximum number of pieces that an M dimensional hypercube can be cut into using N – 1 hyperplanes. We find that these are semicomplete in one, two, three, and four dimensions. As an aside, we use one of our generating functions to produce what appears to be a new identity for the Pell constant, a number which is closely connected to the density of solutions to the negative Pell equation.