Dual View Random Solved Random Open
PROVED (LEAN) This has been solved in the affirmative and the proof verified in Lean.
Are there infinitely many integers $n,m$ such that $\phi(n)=\sigma(m)$?
This would follow immediately from the twin prime conjecture. The answer is yes, proved by Ford, Luca, and Pomerance [FLP10], who in fact prove there are at least\[\exp((\log\log x)^c)\]many $a\leq x$ such that $a=\phi(n)=\sigma(m)$ for some $n,m$, where $c>0$ is an absolute constant. This lower bound was improved to\[\exp((\log\log x)^{\omega(x)})\]for some $\omega(x)\to \infty$ by Garaev [Ga11].

This is problem B38 of Guy's collection [Gu04].
Proof expositions (0)
If you would like to contribute an exposition of a proof related to this problem, please message a moderator or leave your exposition as a comment.

No proof expositions yet.
Comments (0) Proof claims (0)
More information and links
This page was last edited 17 October 2025. (View history) (View the LaTeX source)

When referring to this problem, please use the original sources of Erdős. If you wish to acknowledge this website, the recommended citation format is:

T. F. Bloom, Erdős Problem #48, https://www.erdosproblems.com/48, accessed 2026-09-01

From the external database. (You can help update this.)
Formalised statement? Yes
Reactions
Likes None
Open to collaboration None
Currently working on None
Looks difficult None
Looks tractable None
Could be formalisable None
Working on formalising None