Refined upper bounds on Schur-like numbers

Abstract

For positive integers $r, m$ and $N$, every $r$-coloring of $\{1, \dots, N\}$ contains a monochromatic solution to $x_1+\dots+x_{m+1}=y_1+\dots+y_m$ provided that $N \ge 3^r (r!)^{1/m}$, which is qualitatively optimal when $m$ is logarithmic in $r$.