Related papers: On several irrationality problems for Ahmes series

Answering a question of Erd\H{o}s and Graham, we show that the double exponential growth condition $\limsup_{n\to\infty}a_n^{1/\phi^n}=\infty$ for a strictly increasing sequence of positive integers $\{a_n\}_{n=1}^\infty$ is sufficient for…

We show the existence of a constant $c > 0$ such that, for all positive integers $n$, there exist integers $1 \leq a_1 < \ldots < a_k \leq n$ such that there are at least $cn^2$ distinct integers of the form $\sum_{i=u}^{v}a_i$ with $1 \leq…

In this paper, we establish new irrationality criteria for certain sparse power series. As applications of these criteria, we generalize a result of Erd\H{o}s and obtain several irrationality results for various infinite series involving…

We give a negative answer to a question by Paul Erd\H{o}s and Ronald Graham on whether the series \[ \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{(n+1)(n+2)\cdots(n+f(n))} \] has an irrational sum whenever $(f(n))_{n=1}^{\infty}$ is a sequence of positive…

Let $F_1=1,F_2=1,\ldots$ be the Fibonacci sequence. Motivated by the identity $\displaystyle\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}\frac{1}{F_{2^k}}=\frac{7-\sqrt{5}}{2}$, Erd\"os and Graham asked whether $\displaystyle\sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{F_{n_k}}$ is…

We show that sequences of positive integers whose ratios $a_n^2/a_{n+1}$ lie within a specific range are almost uniquely determined by their reciprocal sums. For instance, the Sylvester sequence is uniquely characterized as the only…

A strictly increasing sequence $\mathscr{A}$ of positive integers is said to be primitive if no term of $\mathscr{A}$ divides any other. Erd\H{o}s showed that the series $\sum_{a \in \mathscr{A}} \frac{1}{a \log a}$, where $\mathscr{A}$ is…

For positive integers $k$ and $n$ let $\sigma_k(n)$ denote the sum of the $k$th powers of the divisors of $n$. Erd\H{o}s and Kac asked whether, for every $k$, the number $\alpha_k = \sum_{n\geq 1} \frac{\sigma_k(n)}{n!}$ is irrational. It…

In 1935, Erd\H{o}s proved that the sums $f_k=\sum_n 1/(n\log n)$, over integers $n$ with exactly $k$ prime factors, are bounded by an absolute constant, and in 1993 Zhang proved that $f_k$ is maximized by the prime sum $f_1=\sum_p 1/(p\log…

In correspondence with Goldbach, Euler began investigating series of the form $\sum_{k \geq 1} k^{-m}\left(1 + 2^{-n} + \cdots + k^{-n}\right)$, which are known today as Euler sums. For the case where $n=1$ and $m \geq 2$, Euler was able to…

The basic theme of this paper is the fact that if $A$ is a finite set of integers, then the sum and product sets cannot both be small. A precise formulation of this fact is Conjecture 1 below due to Erd\H os-Szemer\'edi [E-S]. (see also…

We give a short and elementary argument answering a question of Erd\H{o}s and Ingham negatively. Erd\H{o}s and Ingham showed that a Tauberian estimate they considered was equivalent to the non-vanishing of $1+\sum_{k}a_k^{-1-it}$ for any…

Euler gave recipes for converting alternating series of two types, I and II, into equivalent continued fractions, i.e., ones whose convergents equal the partial sums. A condition we prove for irrationality of a continued fraction then…

Let $k \ge 2$ and $\alpha_1, \beta_1, ..., \alpha_k, \beta_k$ be reals such that the $\alpha_i$'s are irrational and greater than 1. Suppose further that some ratio $\alpha_i/\alpha_j$ is irrational. We study the representations of an…

Let $\omega(n)$ denote the number of distinct prime factors of $n$. Assuming a suitably uniform version of the prime $k$-tuples conjecture, we show that the number \begin{align*} \sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{\omega(n)}{2^n} \end{align*} is…

Let s and k be integers with s \geq 2 and k \geq 2. Let g_k^{(s)}(n) denote the cardinality of the largest subset of the set {1,2,..., n} that contains no geometric progression of length k whose common ratio is a power of s. Let r_k(\ell)…

We study additive properties of consecutive prime numbers and the primality of the sums they generate. For a given prime number $p_n$, we consider the sums \[ S_k(p_n) = p_n + p_{n+1} + \cdots + p_{n+k-1}, \] where $k \ge 3$ is an odd…

Let $p$ be a prime and let $x$ be a $p$-adic integer. We provide two supercongruences for truncated series of the form $$\sum_{k=1}^{p-1} \frac{(x)_k}{(1)_k}\cdot \frac{1}{k}\sum_{1\le j_1\le\cdots\le j_r\le k}\frac{1}{j_1^{}\cdots…

The Erd\H{o}s discrepancy problem, now a theorem by T. Tao, asks whether every sequence with values plus or minus one has unbounded discrepancy along all homogeneous arithmetic progressions. We establish weighted variants of this problem,…

Dirichlet's $L$-functions are natural extensions of the Riemann zeta function. In this paper we first give a brief survey of Ap\'ery-like series for some special values of the zeta function and certain $L$-functions. Then, we establish two…