TITLE: Two problems about Squarefree numbers
QUESTION [7 upvotes]: (1) For every $n\in \Bbb N$, there exist squarefree numbers $x$ and $y$ such that $x+y=n$, i.e., every natural number can be written as the sum of two squarefree numbers; (2) For every $n\in \Bbb N$, there exist squarefree numbers $k$ and $l$ such that $k-l=n$, i.e., every natural number can be written as the difference of two squarefree numbers.

For the squarefree numbers, I only know the definition of it, and I really did not quite understand how to prove these two from the definition. 
Any help, please. Thanks in advance.

REPLY [5 votes]: By the inclusion-exclusion principle, the number of squarefree numbers not exceeding $N$ is
$$\begin{align}
\operatorname{sf}(N) &= \sum_{k = 0}^\infty \mu(k)\left\lfloor\frac{N}{k^2}\right\rfloor\\
&= N\sum_{k=0}^\infty \frac{\mu(k)}{k^2} - \sum_{k \leqslant\sqrt{N}}\mu(k)\left(\frac{N}{k^2} - \left\lfloor\frac{N}{k^2}\right\rfloor\right) - \sum_{k > \sqrt{N}} \mu(k)\frac{N}{k^2}\\
&= \frac{6}{\pi^2}N  - \sum_{k \leqslant\sqrt{N}}\mu(k)\left(\frac{N}{k^2} - \left\lfloor\frac{N}{k^2}\right\rfloor\right) - \sum_{k > \sqrt{N}} \mu(k)\frac{N}{k^2}\\
&\geqslant \frac{6N}{\pi^2} - 2\sqrt{N},
\end{align}$$
where $\mu$ is the Möbius function.
For $N > 1192$, that bound implies $\operatorname{sf}(N) \geqslant \frac{11}{20}N$. For $N \leqslant 1192$, this bound can easily be verified by explicit computation.
Since the smallest (non-negative) squarefree number is $1$, to write $0$ or $1$ as the sum of two squarefree numbers, we need to allow negative squarefree numbers. If we do, we have $0 = 1 + (-1)$ and $1 = 2 + (-1)$.
For $n \geqslant 2$, the above bound implies that $n - S(n)$ and $S(n)$ intersect, where $S(n) = \{ k : 0 \leqslant k \leqslant n, k \text{ squarefree}\}$, so $n$ can be written as the sum of two non-negative squarefree numbers.
For the difference, $0 = 1 - 1$, and for positive $n$, we set $N = 20n$, and find that there are at least $10n$ squarefree numbers $n < k \leqslant N$, and at least $\left\lceil \frac{209}{20}n\right\rceil > 10n$ squarefree numbers $\leqslant 19n$, hence the sets $S(20n)$ and $n + S(19n)$ must intersect, since there are only $19n$ numbers between $n$ and $20n$, hence $n$ can be written as the difference of two squarefree numbers.