Wiki
Wiki

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

Updated


Claim. For m≥1m\ge1 let (yk)=(ykq,m)(y_k)=(y_k^{q,m}) be the increasing sequence of the sums ε0+ε1q+⋯+εnqn\varepsilon_0+\varepsilon_1q+\cdots+\varepsilon_nq^n with digits εi∈{0,1,…,m}\varepsilon_i\in\{0,1,\ldots,m\}. Theorem IV of Erdős and Komornik (p. 59) is printed as "If 1<q≤21/41<q\le2^{1/4} and if qq is different from the square root of the second Pisot number, then yk+1−yk→0y_{k+1}-y_k\to0 for every m≥1m\ge1". With m=1m=1 the sequence is the ordered set 0=x1<x2<⋯0=x_1<x_2<\cdots of finite sums of distinct powers of qq in Problem 1096, so xk+1−xk→0x_{k+1}-x_k\to0 for every qq in (1,21/4](1,2^{1/4}] except possibly p2\sqrt{p_2}, where p2≈1.38p_2\approx1.38 is the second Pisot number (the site's q1q_1). Since 21/4≈1.18922^{1/4}\approx1.1892 and p2≈1.1749\sqrt{p_2}\approx1.1749, every qq in (1,p2)(1,\sqrt{p_2}) is covered, and the problem's question, whether some ϵ>0\epsilon>0 makes the gaps tend to 00 for every q∈(1,1+ϵ)q\in(1,1+\epsilon), has the answer yes with ϵ=p2−1≈0.175\epsilon=\sqrt{p_2}-1\approx0.175. The introduction (p. 57) cites the question as Problem 4 of the 1990 Bulletin paper of Erdős, Joó and Komornik and says that one purpose of the paper is to answer it affirmatively; Remark (a) after the theorem says the property probably holds at p2\sqrt{p_2} as well. The theorem is compiled on the result page theorem_iv; the digest is on the card erdos_komornik_1998_developments_non_integer_bases.

Argument, in outline. The proof (pp. 77--78) applies the paper's Lemma 3.2, which turns a finite accumulation point of the difference set of one digit pattern, and bounded gaps of two others, into gaps tending to 00 for their sum. For q<21/4q<2^{1/4} with q2q^2 not Pisot, the pattern of even powers is the sequence for q2q^2, whose difference set has a finite accumulation point by Theorem I (b) because q2<(1+5)/2q^2<(1+\sqrt5)/2, while the patterns on the exponents ≡1\equiv1 and ≡3(mod4)\equiv3\pmod4 have bounded gaps by Lemma 3.1, which needs q4≤2q^4\le2; for q=p1q=\sqrt{p_1}, p1≈1.3247p_1\approx1.3247 the smallest Pisot number, the same runs with period 33 through q3≈1.525q^3\approx1.525, which is not Pisot. Only p2\sqrt{p_2} is left out. The proof's reductions are checked; Theorem I (b) and the two lemmas are not checked. The result page records one filing observation: the first case is written for q<21/4q<2^{1/4} while the theorem allows equality, where the same argument applies.

Lean. The file Erdos1096.lean in Boris Alexeev's repository, at the commit linked above (30 August 2026), names Erdős and Komornik as the informal authors and Codex and GPT-5.6 Sol as the formal authors, and proves erdos_1096, the right-hand side of the formal-conjectures statement, with ε=1/1000\varepsilon=1/1000, from three lemmas of a companion module (small differences in the spectrum of q2q^2 for q2<1.01q^2<1.01, eventual right-density of the spectrum of qq, and gaps tending to zero from that density), the route through q2q^2 that this paper and Feng's share. It is the qualifier of the site's label PROVED (LEAN) and is linked here as the formalization of this claim; the formal-conjectures statement file credits Erdős and Komornik and leaves its theorem at sorry, and is not a formalization. This corpus has not built or audited the development, so no formalized evidence is listed. The same answer follows independently on Feng's page.

Acceptance. Refereed: P. Erdős and V. Komornik, Developments in non-integer bases, Acta Math. Hungar. 79 (1998), no. 1--2, 57--83, received 30 September 1996; the publisher's record dates the issue to April 1998 without a day, and the page is named by the first of that month. Reviewed: the site's curator, Thomas F. Bloom, labels the problem proved and credits this paper, in the problem's commentary and in the thread of 16 April 2026, with the first resolution, for 1<q<q11<q<\sqrt{q_1}; the curator neither wrote nor submitted the result. Feng's 2016 paper cites it as its reference [9]. The site's range 1<q<q11<q<\sqrt{q_1} is the printed range's part below the excluded point. Nothing here is independently reviewed by this project.

Depends on. Nothing on the wiki; the theorem is proved in the refereed paper linked above.