English

Most numbers are not normal

Number Theory 2022-11-30 v3 General Topology

Abstract

We show, from a topological viewpoint, that most numbers are not normal in a strong sense. More precisely, the set of numbers x(0,1]x \in (0,1] with the following property is comeager: for all integers b2b\ge 2 and k1k\ge 1, the sequence of vectors made by the frequencies of all possibile strings of length kk in the bb-adic representation of xx has a maximal subset of accumulation points, and each of them is the limit of a subsequence with an index set of nonzero asymptotic density. This extends and provides a streamlined proof of the main result given by Olsen in [Math. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 137 (2004), 43--53]. We provide analogues in the context of analytic P-ideals and regular matrices.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2101.03607,
  title  = {Most numbers are not normal},
  author = {Andrea Aveni and Paolo Leonetti},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.03607},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

Accepted in Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society

R2 v1 2026-06-23T21:58:04.532Z