Logo
All Random Solved Random Open
OPEN - $500
Let $A\subset (1,\infty)$ be a countably infinite set such that for all $x\neq y\in A$ and integers $k\geq 1$ we have \[ \lvert kx -y\rvert \geq 1.\] Does this imply that \[\liminf \frac{\lvert A\cap [1,x]\rvert}{x}=0?\] Or \[\sum_{x\in A}\frac{1}{x\log x}<\infty,\] or \[\sum_{\substack{x <n\\ x\in A}}\frac{1}{x}=o(\log n)?\] Perhaps even \[\sum_{\substack{x <n\\ x\in A}}\frac{1}{x}\ll \frac{\log x}{\sqrt{\log\log x}}?\]
Note that if $A$ is a set of integers then the condition implies that $A$ is a primitive set (that is, no element of $A$ is divisible by any other), for which the convergence of $\sum_{n\in A}\frac{1}{n\log n}$ was proved by Erdős [Er35], and the upper bound \[\sum_{n<x}\frac{1}{n}\ll \frac{\log x}{\sqrt{\log\log x}}\] was proved by Behrend [Be35]. This $O(\cdot)$ bound was improved to a $o(\cdot)$ bound by Erdős, Sárkőzy, and Szemerédi [ESS67].

In [Er73] mentions an unpublished proof of Haight that \[\lim \frac{\lvert A\cap [1,x]\rvert}{x}=0\] holds if the elements of $A$ are independent over $\mathbb{Q}$.

See also [858].

Additional thanks to: Zachary Chase and Desmond Weisenberg