We improve W. Schmidt's lower bound for the slice (intersection of two halfspheres) discrepancy of point distributions on spheres and show that this estimate is up to a logarithmic factor best possible. It is shown that the slice and spherical cap discrepancies are equivalent for the definition of uniformly distributed sequences on spheres.

We consider two unique products for a given p—adic integer x with leading coefficient 1, where anbn ∈ {0, 1,… p − 1}. It is shown that, for almost all such x relative to Haar measure on the p—adic integers, the sequences (an), (bn) are normal to base p, and have standard normal distribution functions.

We exhibit a sequence (un) which is not uniformly distributed modulo one even though for each fixed integer k ≥ 2 the sequence (kun) is u.d. (mod 1). Within the set of all such sequences, we characterize those with a well-behaved asymptotic distribution function. We exhibit a sequence (un) which is u.d. (mod 1) even though no subsequence of the form (ukn + j) is u.d. (mod 1) for any k ≥ 2. We prove that, if the subsequences (ukn) are u.d. (mod 1) for all squarefree k which are products of primes in a fixed set P, then (un) is u.d. (mod I) if the sum of the reciprocals of the primes in P diverges. We show that this result is the best possible of its type.

Let S be the surface of the unit sphere in three-dimensional euclidean space, and let WN=(x1x2, xN)be an N-tuple of points on S. We consider the product of mutual distances and, for the variable point x on S, the product of distance from x to the points of ωN. We obtain essentially best possible bounds for maxωN p(ΩN) and for minωN maxx∈sp(x, ωN).

Let R, S be a partition of 2, 3,… so that rational powers fall in the same class. Let (λn) be any real sequence; we show that there exists a set N, of dimension 1, so that (x + λn) (n = 1,2, …) are normal to every base from R and to no base from S, for every x ∈ N.

Let $g\geqslant 2$. A real number is said to be $g$-normal if its base $g$ expansion contains every finite sequence of digits with the expected limiting frequency. Let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}$ denote Euler’s totient function, let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70E}$ be the sum-of-divisors function, and let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}$ be Carmichael’s lambda-function. We show that if $f$ is any function formed by composing $\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70E}$, or $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}$, then the number

$$\begin{eqnarray}0.f(1)f(2)f(3)\cdots\end{eqnarray}$$

$g$

$f$

$g$

$1,2,3,\ldots$

$2,3,5,\ldots$

$0.235711131719\cdots \,$