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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. There is a strictly increasing real sequence x0=0<x1<x2<⋯x_0=0<x_1<x_2<\cdots with xn→∞x_n\to\infty and xn+1/xn→1x_{n+1}/x_n\to1 such that the multiples α,2α,…\alpha,2\alpha,\ldots are not uniformly distributed relative to (xn)(x_n) for almost every α>0\alpha>0. Schmidt's setting (p. 137): for 0<λ≤10<\lambda\le1, M(λ)M(\lambda) is the union of the lower λ\lambda-parts [xn,xn+λ(xn+1−xn))[x_n,x_n+\lambda(x_{n+1}-x_n)) of the gaps, n≥0n\ge0; the multiples are uniformly distributed relative to (xn)(x_n) when the proportion of k≤Nk\le N with kα∈M(λ)k\alpha\in M(\lambda) tends to λ\lambda for every λ\lambda; and f(x)f(x) is 11 on M(1/2)M(1/2) and −1-1 elsewhere. The theorem is printed as "Theorem 1. There is a function f(x)f(x) of the type considered above such that (6) lim sup⁡N→∞∣N−1∑n=1Nf(αn)∣=1\limsup_{N\to\infty}|N^{-1}\sum_{n=1}^Nf(\alpha n)|=1 for almost every α>0\alpha>0" (p. 137). In the problem page's notation, with ai=xia_i=x_i for i≥1i\ge1 (Schmidt's x0=0x_0=0 lies below a1a_1), the position f(y)f(y) of yy within its gap is below 1/21/2 exactly when y∈M(1/2)y\in M(1/2), so Schmidt's test function is 2⋅1[f<1/2]−12\cdot\mathbf 1[f<1/2]-1 and its averages are 2N−1#{n≤N:f(αn)<1/2}−12N^{-1}\#\{n\le N:f(\alpha n)<1/2\}-1; uniform distribution of the positions would force these to tend to 00, and (6) says their absolute value returns to 11 for almost every α>0\alpha>0 (an authored translation, recorded on the problem page). The finitely many nn with αn<a1\alpha n<a_1, where the problem's ff is undefined and Schmidt's first interval starts at x0=0x_0=0, do not affect the limit. So the sequence a1<a2<⋯a_1<a_2<\cdots tends to infinity with ai+1/ai→1a_{i+1}/a_i\to1, and for almost every α>0\alpha>0 the sequence f(αn)f(\alpha n) is not uniformly distributed: the corrected Statement of [[problems/number_theory/E0492/_index|Problem 492]] is false. The theorem is compiled on the result page theorem_1; the digest is on the card schmidt_1969_disproof_conjectures_diophantine_approximations.

Argument, in outline. Lemma 1 (pp. 138--140) builds, for given NN and ε\varepsilon, a subdivision of the unit interval with mesh below ε\varepsilon whose test function satisfies f(x)=f(mx)f(x)=f(mx) for every integer mm with 1≤m≤N1\le m\le N whenever xx and mxmx lie in the unit interval, outside a set of measure below ε\varepsilon, by Dirichlet's simultaneous approximation of the numbers log⁡m\log m; Section 3 (pp. 140--141) glues scaled copies on blocks [Nk−1,Nk)[N_{k-1},N_k) with Nk≥2k2Nk−1N_k\ge2k^2N_{k-1}, so that the kk-th block has gaps xn+1−xn≤1/kx_{n+1}-x_n\le1/k and, for α\alpha in a fixed interval outside exceptional sets of measure at most εkNk<1/k\varepsilon_kN_k<1/k, which tends to zero, so that almost every α\alpha avoids infinitely many of them, the values f(mα)f(m\alpha) agree for Nk/k≤m<Nk/bN_k/k\le m<N_k/b, which gives (6). The proof is not independently checked here.

Formalization. Collin Yuanjie Ren's AI-assisted Lean development, linked above at a pinned commit, formalizes Schmidt's counterexample in the form that the multiples are not uniformly distributed relative to the constructed sequence for almost every α>0\alpha>0, not the exact limsup (6); its root is Erdos492Real.schmidt_counterexample. It is third-party Lean, not built here, so no formalized evidence is listed.

Acceptance. Refereed: W. M. Schmidt, Disproof of some conjectures on Diophantine approximations, Studia Sci. Math. Hungar. 4 (1969), 137--144, received 2 April 1968 (the paper's running header misprints the volume as "3 (1968)"); the record carries no finer publication date than the year, so the page is named by its first day. Reviewed: the site's curator, Thomas F. Bloom, labels the problem DISPROVED and credits Schmidt, in the problem's commentary, with showing that the general conjecture is false; the curator neither wrote nor submitted the result. Nothing here is independently reviewed by this project.

Depends on. Nothing on the wiki; the construction is self-contained in the refereed paper linked above.