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Let $a_1<a_2<\cdots$ be an increasing sequence such that $a_n/n\to \infty$. Is the sum\[\sum_n \frac{a_n}{2^{a_n}}\]irrational?
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Erdős [Er81l] proved this is true under either of the stronger assumptions that

  • $a_{n+1}-a_n\to \infty$ or

  • $a_n \gg n\sqrt{\log n\log\log n}$.


Erdős and Graham speculate that the condition $\limsup a_{n+1}-a_n=\infty$ is not sufficient, but know of no example.

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This page was last edited 19 October 2025.

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When referring to this problem, please use the original sources of Erdős. If you wish to acknowledge this website, the recommended citation format is:

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  • If $a \in \mathbb{N}$, $b \in \mathbb{Z}_{\geq 0}$, and $A$ is the set of all numbers of the form $am + b$ (with $m$ a positive integer), then
    \begin{equation*}
    \sum_{n \in A} \frac{n}{2^n} = \sum_m \frac{am + b}{2^{am + b}} = \left(\frac{1}{2^b}\right)\left(\frac{a2^a}{(2^a - 1)^2}\right) + \left(\frac{b}{2^b}\right)\left(\frac{1}{2^a - 1}\right).
    \end{equation*}
    In particular, this number is rational. To see this, first observe that
    \begin{equation*}
    \sum_m \frac{am + b}{2^{am + b}} = \frac{1}{2^b}\sum_m \frac{am + b}{2^{am}}
    \end{equation*}
    \begin{equation*}
    = \frac{1}{2^b}\sum_m \frac{am}{2^{am}} + \frac{1}{2^b}\sum_m \frac{b}{2^{am}}
    \end{equation*}
    \begin{equation*}
    = \left(\frac{1}{2^b}\right)\sum_m \frac{am}{2^{am}} + \left(\frac{b}{2^b}\right)\left(\frac{1}{2^a - 1}\right).
    \end{equation*}
    Now all that remains is to prove that
    \begin{equation*}
    \sum_m \frac{am}{2^{am}} = \frac{a2^a}{(2^a - 1)^2}.
    \end{equation*}
    To see this, recall that
    \begin{equation*}
    \frac{1}{1 - x^a} = \sum_m x^{am}
    \end{equation*}
    for all $x \in (-1, 1)$. The desired result is obtained by differentiating with respect to $x$, multiplying by $x$, and then setting $x = \frac{1}{2}$.


    (Note that this argument for $A = \mathbb{N}$ is already well-known; see, for example, this StackExchange post.)

  • For people interested in this problem and other irrationality problems about the subseries $\sum_{n\in A}\frac{n}{2^n}$, an old reference is a paper by Borwein and Loring from 1990, who called these $\ast$-binary representations. However, the actual problem is still open (both questions), as far as I know.

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