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Claim. The single Théorème (p. 765) of P. Erdős, Sur l'irrationalité d'une certaine série, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris Sér. I Math. 292 (1981), no. 17, 765--768, states that if a1<a2<⋯a_1<a_2<\cdots are integers with an+1−an→∞a_{n+1}-a_n\to\infty then

∑n≥1an2an\sum_{n\ge1}\frac{a_n}{2^{a_n}}

is irrational, and that the same holds with 22 replaced by any integer t>1t>1. Gaps tending to infinity force an/n→∞a_n/n\to\infty, so every such sequence is an instance of Problem 260, answered yes. The proof is by contradiction: if the sum were u/(v2r)u/(v2^r) with vv odd, then for each large kk, let an=2k−sa_n=2^k-s be the largest term below 2k2^k and write an+j=2k+tja_{n+j}=2^k+t_j. Multiplying through by v2anv2^{a_n} makes the tail in the note's equation (2) a positive integer, hence at least 11. If t1+s>kt_1+s>k (case (3)), the fractional-part estimate (4) bounds a tail sum below by 1/(2v2)1/(2v^2), while (5) and (6) show that this sum tends to 00, so case (3) fails for all large kk. If t1+s≤kt_1+s\le k, (7) and (8) write (2) as an integer plus three sums, two of which tend to 00, so (9) forces the fractional part of the first sum towards 11. Equations (10) to (13) show that this fractional part stays below 1−δ1-\delta for an absolute constant δ>0\delta>0, a contradiction. The note calls this case its only difficult part. Erdős writes that he had conjectured the theorem more than twenty years earlier, that before it only the case an>cnlog⁡na_n>cn\log n was known (his reference [2]), and that lim⁡an/n=∞\lim a_n/n=\infty very likely suffices, though he could not construct a sequence with lim sup⁡(an+1−an)=∞\limsup(a_{n+1}-a_n)=\infty and rational sum. The source card is erdos_1981_sur_l_irrationalite_d_une_certaine; the paper link is the author-archive scan of the note. The site's remarks credit the note with a second condition, an≫nlog⁡nlog⁡log⁡na_n\gg n\sqrt{\log n\log\log n}; the note does not contain it, and the source of that condition is unidentified.

Covers. Every increasing integer sequence with an+1−an→∞a_{n+1}-a_n\to\infty, for the base 22 of the question and for every integer base t>1t>1. Not covered: sequences with an/n→∞a_n/n\to\infty whose gaps do not tend to infinity, which is the gap the problem's question concerns and which Wang and Grau Ribas's pending claim addresses.

Acceptance. Refereed: the Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série I, volume 292, number 17, the issue of 11 May 1981, pp. 765--768, as the note's header and its received line print. The site labels the problem OPEN, so its curator's remark crediting the note with this case is commentary on an open problem and not acceptance, and no reviewed evidence is listed. The proof is not checked here.

Depends on. Nothing in this wiki.