files / problems / two-squares-gap / PROBLEM.md

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A smaller constant in the two-squares gap

Statement

It is unknown whether every sufficiently large X has a sum of two squares in [X - (1/10) X^{1/4}, X]. The elementary O(X^{1/4}) scale is known; this explicit constant is not.

Tonight

Beat the published explicit constant, or certify a larger C such that every large X has a sum of two squares in [X - C X^{1/4}, X], with an independent verifier. A table of gaps is an incomplete search unless it produces a new infinite-family bound or a documented counterexample to a stated constant. Do not claim the Landau–Ramanujan density.