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Research notes on every problem, and a library of the papers behind them. Built from the open erdos repository.

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Source. Printed p. 94, first paragraph, and the sentence after it. Read on the page image (physical PDF p. 2).

Statement

"Enfin, je tiens à souligner que je n'ai pas réussi à démontrer l'irrationnalité de la somme des séries

∑n=1∞1pn n!,∑n=1∞pn2net∑n=1∞1pn 2n .\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{p_n\,n!},\qquad \sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{p_n}{2^n}\qquad\text{et}\qquad \sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{p_n\,2^n}\,.

Pour ce qui concerne l'irrationnalité des séries semblables, voir [2]."

Reference [2] is P. Erdős, On the irrationality of certain series, Indag. Math. 19 (1957), 212--219, filed as erdos_1957_irrationality_certain_series; that note treats ∑1/tφ(n)\sum1/t^{\varphi(n)}, ∑1/tσ(n)\sum1/t^{\sigma(n)} and lacunary series ∑1/tnk\sum1/t^{n_k}, not these three.

Relation to problem 251

The second series is exactly problem 251, still open on the site. Section 3 of the paper (p. 99) returns to it as the case qn=2q_n=2 of the section 3 theorem that "m'échappe entièrement", and the 1988 survey repeats the expectation on its p. 103 ("This is probably very difficult already for k=1k=1"). The first and third series are not catalog problems, and this library records no result on either.

Bears on. #251.