Products of Ratios of Consecutive Integers

Take the product of the numbers (n/(n+1))^∊_n for 1≤ n < N, where each ∊_n is ± 1. Express the product as a/b in lowest terms. Evidently the minimal possible value for a over all choices for ∊_n is 1; just take each ∊_n = 1, or each ∊_n = 0. Denote the maximal possible value of a by A(N). It is known from work of Nicolas and Langevin that (log 4+o(1))N≤ log A(N)≤(2/3+o(1))Nlog N. Using the Rosse–Iwaniec sieve, we improve the lower bound to the same order of magnitude as the upper bound.For Jean-Louis Nicolas, on his sixtieth birthday2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary—11N56; Secondary—11N36