Kempner-like harmonic series
Number Theory
2024-03-25 v3
Abstract
Inspired by a question asked on the list {\tt mathfun}, we revisit {\em Kempner-like series}, i.e., harmonic sums where the integers in the summation have ``restricted'' digits. First we give a short proof that , where is the sum of the binary digits of the integer . Then we propose two generalizations. One generalization addresses the case where is replaced with , the sum of -ary digits in base : we prove that . The second generalization replaces the sum of digits in base with any block-counting function in base , e.g., the function of -- possibly overlapping -- 's in the base- expansion of , for which we obtain .
Cite
@article{arxiv.2305.18180,
title = {Kempner-like harmonic series},
author = {Jean-Paul Allouche and Claude Morin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.18180},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
A slightly shorter version has been accepted by the American Mathematical Monthly