Arch. Math.

112 (2019), 377–385

c 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
0003-889X/19/040377-9
published online December 13, 2018
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00013-018-1271-0 Archiv der Mathematik

Linear independence of certain numbers

Veekesh Kumar

 Let k ≥ 2, b ≥ 2 and 1 ≤ a1 < a2 < · · · < am be integers such

Abstract.
that k ai /aj ∈
/ Q for any i = j. In this article, we prove that the real
numbers
∞
1 ∞
1 ∞
1
1, k , k ,..., am nk
n=1
b a1 n
n=1
b a2 n
n=1
b
are Q-linearly independent.

Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 11J71; Secondary 11J72.

Keywords. b-Ary expansion, Uniform distribution of sequence, Linear

independence, Theta functions.

1. Introduction. For a complex number τ with Im(τ ) > 0, the theta function
(see for instance [8]) is defined as follows;
∞
 2
θ3 (τ ) = 1 + 2 qn ,
n=1

where q = eiπτ .
Bertrand [1] proved that for any algebraic number q with 0 < |q| < 1, the
following numbers, namely, θ3 (τ ), θ3 (τ ), and θ3 (τ ) are algebraically indepen-
dent (see also [3,10]). In particular, it follows that for any algebraic number q
with 0 < |q| < 1, the following numbers, namely,
∞ ∞
 ∞
2 2 2
qn , n2 q n , and n4 q n
n=1 n=1 n=1

are algebraically independent over Q. If we put τ = i log b

π , for some integer
b ≥ 2, then q = 1/b, which is algebraic, and 0 < |q| < 1. Therefore, we get
∞ ∞ ∞
1 n2 n4
2 , 2 , and
n=1
b n
n=1
b n
n=1
bn2
378 V. Kumar Arch. Math.

are algebraically independent Q over.

Kaneko [5] proved that for any integer b ≥ 2 and for any real number α > 4,
the following numbers, namely,
∞
∞ 2 ∞ 3
 1  1  1
1, , , and
n=1
b[nα ] n=1
b[nα ] n=1
b[nα ]

are Q-linearly independent, where [nα ] is the integral part of nα .

Luca and Tachiya [9] proved the following: If b is an integer with |b| ≥ 2,
then for any integer  ≥ 1, the real numbers
∞
 ∞
 ∞
1 1 1
1, n
, ,...,
n=1
b −1 n=1
n2
b −1 n=1
n
b −1

are Q-linearly independent.

Recently Elsner and Tachiya [4] proved the following: Let τ be any complex
number with Im(τ ) > 0 and let , m, and n be positive integers. Then, the
following numbers θ3 (τ ), θ3 (mτ ), and θ3 (nτ ) are algebraically dependent over
Q.
One may ask the following natural question: Are the numbers θ3 (τ ),
θ3 (mτ ), θ3 (nτ ) are Q-linearly independent for distinct integers , m, and n ?
Recently the author of [7] partially answered the above question and he
proved the following: Let a1 and a2 be distinct positive integers such that
a1 a2 is not perfect square. Then, the following numbers
∞
 ∞

1 1
1, n2
, and
n=1
ba1 n=1
ba2 n2

are Q-linearly independent. In this article, we consider the above question, and
we prove the following theorem:

 1. Let k ≥ 2, b ≥ 2 and 1 ≤ a1 < a2 < · · · < am be integers such

Theorem
that k ai /aj ∈
/ Q for any i = j. Then the real numbers
∞
 ∞
 ∞

1 1 1
1, nk
, nk
,...,
n=1
ba1 n=1
ba2 n=1
bam nk

are Q-linearly independent.

As an immediate consequence by putting k = 2, we have the following

corollary.

1. Let b ≥ 2 be an integer and 1 ≤ a1 < a2 < · · · < am be integers

Corollary 
/ Q for any i = j. Set τ = i log
such that k ai /aj ∈ b
π . Then the real numbers

1, θ3 (a1 τ ), θ3 (a2 τ ), . . . , θ3 (am τ )

are Q-linearly independent.

Vol. 112 (2019) Linear independence of certain numbers 379

2. Preliminaries. Definition. Let s ≥ 1 be an integer. We say that the sequence

(xn ), n = 1, 2, 3, . . . , in Rs is uniformly distributed mod 1 if for any subset
E = [a1 , b1 ] × [a2 , b2 ] × · · · × [as , bs ] of [0, 1)s , we have that
s
card{n|1 ≤ n ≤ N, {xn } ∈ E} 
lim = (bi − ai ), (2.1)
N →∞ N i=1

where {xn } denote the fractional parts of each coordinate of xn .

We need the following lemma which can be found in [6, p. 48],
Lemma 1. Let α1 , α2 , . . . , αr be real numbers such that 1, α1 , . . . , αr are Q-
linearly independent. Then the sequence of points
({nα1 }, {nα2 }, . . . {nαr }), n = 1, 2, 3, . . . ,
is uniformly distributed mod 1 in Rs .
As an application of the above lemma, we have the following proposition.
  k1
Proposition 1. Let a1 , a2 , . . . , am be positive integers such that 1, aa12 ,...,
  k1
a1
am are Q-linearly independent. Then there exist infinitely many positive
integers N such that

 1 
1 a1 k 1
√ < N < √ ,
k
10am + 1 ai k
10am
holds, for all i ∈ {2, 3, . . . , m}.
  k1   k1
Proof. Since 1, aa12 , . . . , aam1 are Q-linearly independent, by Lemma 1,
the sequence

 1 
 1 
a1 k a1 k
n ,..., n , n = 1, 2, 3, . . . ,
a2 am
is uniformly distributed mod 1. Take a subset
s
1 1
E= √ ,√ of [0, 1)s .
k
10am + 1 k 10am
Since the quantity

s
1 1
√ − √ > 0,
k
10am k
10am + 1
by (2.1), there exist infinitely many natural numbers N such that

 1 
1 a1 k 1
√ < N < √ .
k a
10 + 1
m ai k
10am

We also need the following proposition.
380 V. Kumar Arch. Math.

Proposition 2. For any integer m ≥ 2, let 1 ≤ a1 < a2 < · · · < am be integers.

Then

am 
10 + 1
ai+1 ≥ ai , for all i = 1, 2, . . . , m − 1.
10am
Proof. By noticing that ai ≤ am ≤ 10am and using the fact that ai < ai+1 , we
get that
ai
ai + am ≤ ai + 1 ≤ ai+1 .
10
This proves the assertation. 

We have the following lemma due to Besicovitch [2].

Lemma 2. Let a1 , a2 , . . . , am be positive integers, and k ≥ 2. Then the following
statements are equivalent:
1 √1
k a ,..., k a
(1) The real numbers √ are Q-linearly independent.
 1 m

(2) The number ai /aj is irrational for any i = j.

k

3. Proof of Theorem 1. Suppose that these numbers are Q-linearly dependent.

Then there exist integers c0 , c1 , . . . , cm not all zero such that
∞
 ∞
 ∞

1 1 1
c0 + c1 + c2 + · · · + cm = 0. (3.1)
n=1
ba1 nk n=1
ba2 nk n=1
b am nk

   k1   k1
/ Q for any i = j, by Lemma 2, we get 1, aa12
Since k ai /aj ∈ , . . . , aam1
are also Q-linearly independent. Thus, by Proposition 1, there exist infinitely
many positive integers N1 such that

 1 
1 a1 k 1
√ < N1 < √ , (3.2)
k a
10 + 1
m ai k
10am
for i = 2, 3, . . . , m. 
  k1
a1
If Ni = ai N 1 for i = 2, 3, . . . m, then


a1
a1 N1k − ai Nik > a1 N1k − ai N1k = 0.
ai
These inequalities imply that the quantity in the left-hand side of the equality
 N1 Nm

k  c1
 cm
ba1 N1 c0 + + ··· +
n=1
ba1 nk n=1
bam nk
 ∞ ∞

 c1  cm
a1 N1k
= −b + ··· + (3.3)
n=N +1
ba1 nk n=N +1
bam nk
1 m

is an integer.
Vol. 112 (2019) Linear independence of certain numbers 381

  k1 
1 a1 1
By (3.2), we have √
k
10am +1
< ai N1 < √
k
10am
and

 k1
 k1
a1 1 a1 1
N1 − √ < Ni < N1 − √ , i = 2, . . . , m.
ai k
10am ai k
10am + 1
Note that for all i = 2, 3, . . . , m

k
 k1
1 a1
ai (Ni + 1)k − a1 N1k > ai N1 − √ +1 − a1 N1k
k
10amai

 a  k1 k
√ √ i
= k a1 N1 + k ai − − a1 N1k
10am

 a  k1 k
√ i
> k
a1 N1 + − a1 N1k > cN1 , (3.4)
10am
for some fixed positive real number c > 0. We note that the left-hand side of
(3.3) is an integer. Now, we claim the following.
Claim. The quantity
⎛ ⎞
∞
 ∞
 ∞

a1 N1k ⎝ c1 c2 cm ⎠
−b + + ··· + → 0 as N1 → ∞.
n=N1 +1
ba1 nk n=N2 +1
ba2 nk n=Nm +1
bam nk

In order to prove the claim, we estimate the above quantity as follows. Con-
sider
  ∞ 

  ci 
 a1 N1k  1 1
−b  ≤ |ci | + + · · · .
 bai nk  k k
bai (Ni +1) −a1 N1
k k
bai (Ni +2) −a1 N1
n=N +1 i

By (3.4), we have
  ∞ 

  ci  |ci | 1
 a1 N1k  1
−b  ≤ + + · · ·
 bai nk  bcN1 b b2
n=Ni +1

for i = 2, 3, . . . , m. Hence,
 ∞

 ci
a1 N1k
−b → 0 as N1 → ∞ (3.5)
n=Ni +1
bai nk

for all i ≥ 2. Since a1 (N1 + 1)k − a1 N1k > 2N1 , we get

 ∞ 
k  c1
− ba1 N1 → 0 as N1 → ∞. (3.6)
n=N +1
ba1 nk
1

Thus, by (3.5) and (3.6), we get the Claim. Thus for all large enough N1 , we
conclude that
N1
 N2
 Nm

c1 c2 cm
c0 + k + k + · · · + = 0. (3.7)
n=1
a
b 1 n
n=1
a
b 2 n
n=1
b m nk
a
382 V. Kumar Arch. Math.

Choose N1 large enough integer such that (3.7) holds true. Set r1 = [ N1
10 ] and
N1
r2 = [ 10p2 ], where p2 is positive real number satisfying

 k1  
ar+1 ar  k1
p2 < min − .
2≤r≤m−1 10am + 1 10am
k
Note that by Proposition 2, we see that p2 exists. Multiply by ba1 N1 −r1 both
sides of (3.7) to get
N1
 N2
c1 ba1 N1 −r1 
k k
k c2 ba1 N1 −r1
c0 ba1 N1 −r1 + +
n=1
ba1 nk n=1
ba2 nk
Nm
 k
cm ba1 N1 −r1
+··· + = 0.
n=1
bam nk
This implies that
N1 −1 N2
c1 ba1 N1 −r1 
k k
c1 a1 N1k −r1 c2 ba1 N1 −r1
= −c0 b − −
br 1 n=1
ba1 nk n=1
ba2 nk
Nm
 k
cm ba1 N1 −r1
−··· − . (3.8)
n=1
bam nk
Since
N1
a1 N1k − r1 − a1 (N1 − 1)k > 2a1 N1 − 1 − >0 and by the choice of Ni ,
10
a1 N1k − r1 − ai Nik > 0,
we see that the left-hand side of (3.8) tends to 0 as N1 → ∞ but the right-hand
side is always an integer for all N1 . Therefore, we conclude that c1 = 0 and
(3.7) becomes
N2
 Nm

c2 cm
c0 + a2 nk
+ ··· + am nk
= 0.
n=1
b n=1
b
Again, this equality can be written in the form
N2 −1 k Nm
 k
c2 a2 N2k −r2 c2 ba2 N2 −r2 cm ba2 N2 −r2
= −c0 b − − · · · − . (3.9)
br 2 n=1
ba2 nk n=1
bam nk
Notice that

 k1
a1 N1
a2 N2k − a2 (N2 − 1)k − r2 = 2a2 N2 − r2 − a2 > 2a2 N1 − > 0,
a2 10p2
and for i ≥ 3,

 a  k1 k
√ 2
a2 N2k − r2 − ai Nik > k
a1 N1 − a
10 m

 k1 k
√ ai
− k
a1 N1 − − r2
10am + 1
Vol. 112 (2019) Linear independence of certain numbers 383


 k1 
a1 ai  a a  k1
1 2
>2 − N1
10am + 1 10am
N1 a2 ai
− p
+ am − am
10 2 10 10 + 1

 k1  
√ a a  k1
i 2
= 2 k a1 − N1
10am + 1 10am
N1 a2 ai
− p
+ am − am
10 2 10 10 + 1

 k1  
√ a a  k1
3 2
≥ 2 k a1 − N1
10am + 1 10am
N1 a2 ai
− p
+ am − am .
10 2 10 10 + 1
By the choice of p2 , we get
√ N1 a2 ai
a2 N2k − r2 − ai Nik > 2p2 k a1 N1 − p2 + am − am >0
10 10 10 + 1
for all sufficiently large values of N1 . By these inequalities we easily see that
the right-hand side of (3.9) is an integer. But the left-hand side tends to zero
as N1 → ∞. Consequently, c2 = 0 and we get
N3
 Nm

c3 cm
c0 + k + · · · + = 0.
n=1
b a3 n
n=1
b m nk
a

By continuing this process we get cr = 0 for all r = 1, 2, . . . , i and we get

Ni+1 Nm
 ci+1  cm
c0 + + ··· + = 0.
n=1
bai+1 nk n=1
b am nk

This equality can be written in the form

Ni+1 −1
ci+1 k  ci+1 bai+1 Ni+1
k
−r2
ai+1 Ni+1 −r2
= −c0 b −
br 2 n=1
bai+1 nk

Nm
 k
cm bai+1 Ni+1 −r2
−··· − . (3.10)
n=1
bam nk

Since
k
ai+1 Ni+1 − ai+1 (Ni+1 − 1)k − r2
≥ 2ai+1 Ni+1 − r2 − ai+1

1
a1 k N1
> 2ai+1 N1 − p2 > 0,
ai+1 10
and
384 V. Kumar Arch. Math.

a  k1 k
k k √ i+1
ai+1 Ni+1 − r2 − ai+j Ni+j > k
a1 N1 −
10am

 k1 k
√ ai+j
− a1 N1 −
k
− r2
10am + 1

√ k a a
√
k a a

1 i+j 1 i+1
≥2 − N1
10am +1 10am
N1 ai+1 ai+j
− p2 + am − am
10 10 10 + 1

 k1  
√ a a  k1
i+2 i+1
≥ 2 k a1 − N1
10am + 1 10am
N1 ai+1 ai+j
− + am − am
10p2 10 10 + 1
holds for all integer j = 2, . . . , m − i. By the choice of p2 , we obtained

 k1  
√ a a  k1
k k i+2 i+1
ai+1 Ni+1 − r2 − ai+j Ni+j > 2 k a1 − N1
10am + 1 10am
N1 ai+1 ai+j
− p
+ am − am
10 2 10 10 + 1
√ N1 ai+1 ai+j
> 2 a1 p2 N1 − p2 + am − am
k
> 0,
10 10 10 + 1
for all sufficiently large values of N1 . Hence, by (3.10) we arrive at ci = 0, for
all i = 1, 2, . . . , m and from (3.1) we derive c0 = 0, which is a contradiction.
This proves the theorem.
4. Concluding remarks. Let f1 , f2 , . . . , fm : N → Z be functions with poly-
 For any integer m ≥ 2, let 1 ≤ a1 < a2 · · · < am be integers
nomial growth.
such that k ai /aj ∈/ Q for any i = j. Then, by applying the same method
that applied in the proof of Theorem 1, one can prove the following general
statement; the real numbers
∞ ∞ ∞
f1 (n) f2 (n) fm (n)
1, k , k , . . . ,
n=1
b a1 n
n=1
b a2 n
n=1
bam nk
are Q-linearly independent. We omit the proof here.
In [7], for k = 2 and for any integers 1 < a1 < a2 such that a1 a2 is not a
perfect square, it has been proved the same conclusion as in Theorem 1. It is
reasonable to expect that the same conclusion of Theorem 1 can be achieved
by weakening the assumptions. For example, one may assume that a1 < a2 <
· · ·
< am are any positive integers, or possibly with mild assumptions instead
of k ai /aj ∈ / Q for any i = j.
Acknowledgements. I would like to thank my Ph.D advisor R. Thangadurai
for the fruitful discussion and for carefully going through the paper. I am also
very grateful to Professor Yu.V. Nesterenko for his guidance. I would like to
acknowledge the Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India for providing
Vol. 112 (2019) Linear independence of certain numbers 385

the research grant. I am greatful to the referee for going through the manuscript
meticulously and making some important remarks.
Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdic-
tional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Veekesh Kumar
Harish-Chandra Research Institute, HBNI
Chhatnag Road, Jhunsi
Allahabad 211019
India
e-mail: veekeshkumar@hri.res.in

Received: 1 July 2018