We show that x = 59 is the largest positive integer for which the fourth-powerfree part of x2 + 2 is at most 100. This implies the solution of the problem, posed recently by J. H. E. Cohn, to prove that (x, y) = (1, 1) is the only solution in nonnegative integers to the diophantine equation x2 – 3y4 = –2, as well as a new solution to the problem, posed a long time ago by the same J. H. E. Cohn and solved before by R. Bumby and N. Tzanakis, to prove that (x, y) = (1, 1), (11, 3) are the only solutions in nonnegative integers to the diophantine equation 2x2 – 3y4 = – 1.

Fixed point and random fixed point theorems are presented for weakly inward maps. Also a continuation theorem for weakly inward maps is presented.

In [10] we associate to a crossed module (T, G, მ) an invariant abelian crossed module H2(T, G, მ). The construction uses presentations by Set-free crossed modules. Now, Set-free crossed modules are special cases of totally free crossed modules, which are algebraic models of 2-dimensional CW complexes used by several authors (see [1] and [6]). The aim of this paper is to show that H2(T, G, მ) can also be constructed from presentations by arbitrary totally free crossed modules.

It is well known (Lee [13]) that the class of all distributive p-algebras B = Bω is a variety and that the class of all subvarieties of B forms a chain

where B-i is the trivial class, B0 is the class of Boolean algebras, and B1 is the class of Stone algebras.

We study a class of rings which are closely related to principal ideal domains, and prove in particular that finitely-generated projective modules over such rings are free. Examples include the ring of Lipschitz quaternions; Z[a½] with d = —3 or d = —7; and any subring R of M2(Z) such that R ⊇ M2(pZ) for some prime number/? and R/M2(pZ) is a field with p2 elements.

Let A be an operator on a Hillbert space with polar decomposition A = |A|, let  = |A|½U|A|½ and let  = V|Â| be the polar decomposition of Â. Write à for the operatorà = |Â|½V|Â|½. If = (A1,…,AN) is a doubly commuting n-tuple of p-hyponormal operators on a Hillbert space with equal defect and nullity, then = (Ã1,…,Ãn) is a doubly commuting n-tuple of hyponormal operators. In this paper we show that

where σ* denotes σTe (Taylor essential spectrum), σTw (Taylor-Weyl spectrum) and σTb (Taylor-Browder spectrum), respectively.

We show that continuous bilinear forms on spaces of continuous functions can be approximated by norm attaining bilinear forms.

Inthis note, we present a thorough investigation of convolution operators that are naturally associated to vector measures. We characterize those convolution operators that are weakly compact and compact on Ll(G) and C(G) as well as those that are p summing, (1 ≤ p ≤ ∞) and nuclear on C(G).

We discuss the relationship between the n-reflexivity of a linear sub-space S in B(H), property (A1/n), Class Co and strictly n-separating vectors. We also show that every algebraic operator with property (A2) is hyperreflexive.

In the following let Ω be the set of irrational numbers in the interval [0,1] and let λ be Lebesgue measure restricted to Ω. For any real number x, let {x} = x - [x] be the fractional part of x. Let N be anatural number and let α e Ω. Then

is known as the discrepancy of the sequence (nα)n>1 modulo 1; here c[x, y) denotes the characteristic function of the interval [x, y).

For X a complex Banach space and U an open subset of the complex plane С, let O (U, X) denote the space of analytic X- valued functions defined on U. This is a Frechet space when endowed with the topology of uniform convergence on compact subsets, and the space X may be viewed as simply the constants in O(U, X). Every bounded operator T on X induces a continuous mapping TU on O(U, X) given by (Tuf)(λ) = (λ – T)f(λ) for every f e O(U, X) and λ e U. Corresponding to each closed F ⊂ С there is also an associated analytic subspace XT(F) = X ∩ ran(7c//F). For an arbitrary T e L(X), the spaces XT(F) are T-invariant, generally non-closed linear manifolds in X.

All groups G considered in this paper are finite and all representations of G are defined over the field of complex numbers. The reader unfamiliar with projective representations is referred to [9] for basic definitions and elementary results. Let Proj (G, α) denote the set of irreducible projective characters of a group G with cocyle α. In previous papers (for exampe [2], [4], and [6]) numerous authors have considered the situation when Proj(G, α) = 1 or 2; such groups are said to be of α-central type or of 2α-central type, respectively. In particular in [4, Theorem A] the author showed that if Proj(G, α) = {ξ1, ξ2}, then ξ1(1)=ξ2(1). This result has recently been independently confirmed in [8, Corollary C].

Let A be a C*-algebra. For each Banach A-bimodule X, the second continuous Hochschild cohomology group H2(A, X) of A with coefficients in X is defined (see [6]); there is a natural correspondence between the elements of this group and equivalence classes of singular, admissible extensions of A by X. Specifically this means that H2(A, X) ≠ {0} for some X if and only if there exists a Banach algebra B with Jacobson radical R such that R2 = {0}, R is complemented as a Banach space, and B/R ≅ A, but B has no strong Wedderburn decomposition; i.e., there is no closed subalgebra C of B such that B ≅ C © R. In turn this is equivalent to db A ≥ 2, where db A is the homological bidimension of A; i.e., the homological dimension of A#, the unitization of A, as an,A-bimodule [6, III. 5.15]. This paper is concerned with the following basic question, which was posed in [7].

The cone length Cl(f) of a map f: X → Y is defined to be the least number of attaching maps possible in a conic (or iterated mapping cone) structure for f. Cone length is a homotopy invariant in the sense that if φ: X → X and ρ: Y → Y are homotopy equivalences then Cl (ρ°f°φ) = Cl(f). Furthermore Cl(f) depends only on the homotopy class of f. It was shown by Ganea [8] that the cone length of the map * → X coincides with the strong Lusternik-Schnirelmann category of X as a space (see Proposition 1.6 below). Recent work of Cornea ([3]–[6]) is much concerned with cone length and its role in critical point theory. For example, let f be a smooth real valued function on a manifold triad (M; V0, V1) with V0 ≠ θ. Under certain conditions, if f has only “reasonable” critical points then it must have at least Cl(V0↪M) of them (see [6]).

Let G be a finite group. The real genus p(G) [8] is the minimum algebraic genus of any compact bordered Klein surface on which G acts. There are now several results about the real genus parameter. The groups with real genus p ≤ 5 have been classified [8,9,12], and genus formulas have been obtained for several classes of groups [8,9,10,11,12]. Most notably, McCullough calculated the real genus of each finite abelian group [13]. In addition, there is a good general lower bound for the real genus of a finite group [11].

Recently, Saleh [3] claimed to have solved ‘a long standing open question’ in topology; namely, he proved that every almost continuous function is clousure continuous (= θ = continuous). Unforunately, this problem was settled long time ago and even a better result is known. Consider the following implications: Cont. ⇒ Almost cont. ⇒ Almost α-cont.⇒ η-cont. ⇒.θ-cont. ⇒ Weakley cont.

Proposition 3.1 of the paper Annihilators and the CS-condition, Glasgow Math. J. 40 (1998), 213–222, is incorrect as stated, and consequently the note added in proof is incorrect. Hence the question of Faith and Menal whether every strongly right Johns ring is quasi- Frobenius remains open. The problem is that the assumption that the left socle S1 and the right socle Sr are equal is not established. All we know is that Si⊆Sr = r(J) = l(J) by [8, Lemma 2.2]. We can prove the following result.