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Some Normal Numbers Generated by Arithmetic Functions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Paul Pollack  and
Joseph Vandehey
Paul Pollack
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Boyd Graduate Studies Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA. e-mail: pollack@uga.edu e-mail: vandehey@uga.edu
Joseph Vandehey
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Boyd Graduate Studies Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA. e-mail: pollack@uga.edu e-mail: vandehey@uga.edu
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Abstract

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Let $g\,\ge \,2$ . 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 $\varphi$ denote Euler’s totient function, let $\sigma$ be the sum-of-divisors function, and let $\lambda$ be Carmichael’s lambda-function. We show that if $f$ is any function formed by composing $\varphi$ , $\sigma$ , or $\lambda$ , then the number

$$0.f\left( 1 \right)f\left( 2 \right)f\left( 3 \right)\,.\,.\,.$$

obtained by concatenating the base $g$ digits of successive $f$ -values is $g$ -normal. We also prove the same result if the inputs 1,2,3....are replaced with the primes 2, 3, 5.... The proof is an adaptation of a method introduced by Copeland and Erdõs in 1946 to prove the 10-normality of 0:235711131719...

Keywords

11K1611A6311N2511N37normal numberEuler functionsum-of-divisors functionCarmichael lambda-functionChampernowne’s number

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Mathematical Bulletin , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , 01 March 2015 , pp. 160 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Mathematical Society 2015

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