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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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Claim. Theorem 1 of Kyle Pratt, The irrationality of a divisor function series of Erdős and Kac, Acta Arith. 211 (2023), no. 3, 193--228 (arXiv:2209.11124, posted 2022-09-22), states that

α4=∑n≥1σ4(n)n!=42.30104…\alpha_4=\sum_{n\ge1}\frac{\sigma_4(n)}{n!}=42.30104\ldots

is irrational, with no hypothesis: the case k=4k=4 of Problem 252. The proof is sieve-theoretic, combined with exponential sum estimates, and the author writes that it pushes those techniques to their limit, so that new ideas seem necessary for k≥5k\ge5. The paper also frames αk\alpha_k through the entire EE-functions fk(z)=∑σk(n)zn/n!f_k(z)=\sum\sigma_k(n)z^n/n! and remarks that they do not appear to satisfy any differential equation to which the Siegel–Shidlovskii technique applies. The source card pratt_2022_irrationality_divisor_function_series_erdos_kac names the arXiv posting (the preprint link) as the copy read, whose first page states the theorem, and holds no file; the journal version is paywalled and was not compared. formal-conjectures tags its variant erdos_252.variants.k_eq_four research solved, citing the arXiv posting.

Covers. The case k=4k=4 only: ∑n≥1σ4(n)/n!\sum_{n\ge1}\sigma_4(n)/n! is irrational. Nothing about any k≥5k\ge5, which the paper leaves open.

Acceptance. Refereed: Acta Arithmetica, volume 211, issue 3 (2023), pp. 193--228; the Crossref record of the DOI gives these data. The site labels the problem OPEN, so its curator's remark crediting this paper with the case k=4k=4 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.