A nonstandard technique in combinatorial number theory

In [9], [15] it has been introduced a technique, based on nonstandard analysis, to study some problems in combinatorial number theory. In this paper we present three applications of this technique: the first one is a new proof of a known result regarding the algebra of \betaN, namely that the center of the semigroup (\beta\mathbb{N};\oplus) is \mathbb{N}; the second one is a generalization of a theorem of Bergelson and Hindman on arithmetic progressions of lenght three; the third one regards the partition regular polynomials in Z[X], namely the polynomials in Z[X] that have a monochromatic solution for every finite coloration of N. We will study this last application in more detail: we will prove some algebraical properties of the sets of such polynomials and we will present a few examples of nonlinear partition regular polynomials. In the first part of the paper we will recall the main results of the nonstandard technique that we want to use, which is based on a characterization of ultrafilters by means of nonstandard analysis

Partition Regularity of Nonlinear Polynomials: a Nonstandard Approach

In 2011, Neil Hindman proved that for every natural number $n,m$ the polynomial \begin{equation*} \sum_{i=1}^{n} x_{i}-\prod\limits_{j=1}^{m} y_{j} \end{equation*} has monochromatic solutions for every finite coloration of $\mathbb{N}$. We want to generalize this result to two classes of nonlinear polynomials. The first class consists of polynomials $P(x_{1},...,x_{n},y_{1},...,y_{m})$ of the following kind: \begin{equation*} P(x_{1},...,x_{n},y_{1},...,y_{m})=\sum_{i=1}^{n}a_{i}x_{i}M_{i}(y_{1},...,y_{m}), \end{equation*} where $n,m$ are natural numbers, $\sum\limits_{i=1}^{n}a_{i}x_{i}$ has monochromatic solutions for every finite coloration of $\mathbb{N}$ and the degree of each variable $y_{1},...,y_{m}$ in $M_{i}(y_{1},...,y_{m})$ is at most one. An example of such a polynomial is \begin{equation*} x_{1}y_{1}+x_{2}y_{1}y_{2}-x_{3}.\end{equation*} The second class of polynomials generalizing Hindman's result is more complicated to describe; its particularity is that the degree of some of the involved variables can be greater than one.\\ The technique that we use relies on an approach to ultrafilters based on Nonstandard Analysis. Perhaps, the most interesting aspect of this technique is that, by carefully chosing the appropriate nonstandard setting, the proof of the main results can be obtained by very simple algebraic considerations

Hypernatural Numbers as Ultrafilters

In this paper we present a use of nonstandard methods in the theory of ultrafilters and in related applications to combinatorics of numbers

Nonstandard Methods in Ramsey Theory and Combinatorial Number Theory

The goal of this present manuscript is to introduce the reader to the nonstandard method and to provide an overview of its most prominent applications in Ramsey theory and combinatorial number theory.Comment: 126 pages. Comments welcom

Fermat, Leibniz, Euler, and the gang: The true history of the concepts of limit and shadow

Fermat, Leibniz, Euler, and Cauchy all used one or another form of approximate equality, or the idea of discarding "negligible" terms, so as to obtain a correct analytic answer. Their inferential moves find suitable proxies in the context of modern theories of infinitesimals, and specifically the concept of shadow. We give an application to decreasing rearrangements of real functions.Comment: 35 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Notices of the American Mathematical Society 61 (2014), no.