Open-problem statements, with their sources attached.

Problem 10.2. To prove that $\lVert e^n \rVert$ does not tend to 0 as n tends to infinity.

Problem 10.3. To prove that there exists a positive real number~$c$ such that $\lVert e^n \rVert > e^{−cn}$, for every~$n \ge 1$. Posed by Mahler [Mah53].

Waldschmidt [Wal03] conjectured that a stronger result holds, namely that there exists a positive real number~$c$ such that $\lVert e^n \rVert > n^{-c}$ for every~$n \ge 2$. This is supported by metrical results [Kok45].

Note: the bound $n^{-c}$ equals $1$ when $n = 1$ for all $c$, while the distance to the nearest integer is always at most $1/2$, so the conjecture must start at $n \ge 2$.

Problem 10.4. Let $\xi$ be a non-zero real number and $\alpha > 1$ be a real number. The spectrum of the sequence $(\xi \alpha^n)_{n \ge 1}$ is at most countable. Posed by Mendès France [Men73].

Problem 10.5 (first part). Let $\mathbb{K}$ be a real number field. Then, for any $\varepsilon > 0$, there exists a lacunary sequence $(t_n)_{n \ge 1}$ of positive numbers in $\mathbb{K}$ such that $\limsup_{n \to \infty} \{\xi t_n\} \ge 1 - \varepsilon,$ for any real number $\xi$ not in $\mathbb{K}$.

Problem 10.5 ("moreover" clause). With the same hypotheses as problem_10_5, the sequence $(t_n)$ can be chosen so that, for any real $\xi$ not in $\mathbb{K}$, each subinterval of $[0, 1]$ of length $\varepsilon$ contains a limit point of the sequence $(\{\xi t_n\})_{n \ge 1}$. This is strictly stronger than problem_10_5: the limsup bound is the special case at the subinterval $[1 - \varepsilon, 1]$.

Problem 10.6. Find a very rapidly increasing sequence $(m_n)_{n \ge 1}$ of positive integers such that $(\{\xi m_n\})_{n \ge 1}$ is dense modulo one for every irrational number $\xi$. Note: Furstenberg's $2^m3^n$ is sublacunary but requires two parameters.

Problem 10.6, intermediate-growth variant.

Problem 10.7. Let $\varepsilon$ be a positive real number. Are there arbitrarily large real numbers $\alpha$ such that $\alpha$ is not a Pisot number and all the fractional parts $\{\alpha^n\}$, $n \ge 1$, are lying in an interval of length $\varepsilon / \alpha$? [Bug12b]

Problem 10.8 ($p$-adic Littlewood conjecture). For every real number $\xi$ and every prime number $p$, $\inf_{q \ge 1} q \cdot \lVert q \xi \rVert \cdot |q|_p = 0,$ where $\lVert \cdot \rVert$ denotes the distance to the nearest integer and $|\cdot|_p$ denotes the $p$-adic absolute value. Posed by de Mathan and Teulié [dMT04].

The sequence (3/2)^n is equidistributed modulo 1.

For any transcendental number x, the sequence x * (3 / 2) ^ n is equidistributed modulo 1.

Find an accumulation point of the sequence (3/2)^n modulo 1.

For any $0<\alpha<1$, let $f(\alpha,n)=\frac{1}{\log n}\sum_{1\leq k\leq n}(\tfrac{1}{2}- \{ \alpha k\})$. Does $f(\alpha,n)$ have an asymptotic distribution function?

In other words, is there a non-decreasing function $g$ such that $g(-\infty)=0$, $g(\infty)=1$, and $\lim_{n\to \infty}\lvert \{ \alpha\in (0,1): f(\alpha,n)\leq c\}\rvert=g(c)$?

Are there infinitely many solutions to $\phi(n) = \phi(n+1)$, where $\phi$ is the Euler totient function?

Erdős [Er85e] says that, presumably, for every $k \geq 1$ the equation $\phi(n) = \phi(n+1) = \cdots = \phi (n+k)$ has infinitely many solutions.

[Er85e] Erdős, P., Some problems and results in number theory. Number theory and combinatorics. Japan 1984 (Tokyo, Okayama and Kyoto, 1984) (1985), 65-87.

For any fixed c > 0, if x is sufficiently large then there exists n ≤ x such that the values of φ(n+k) are all distinct for 1 ≤ k ≤ (log x)^c. This is an open problem.

Let $t>1$ be a rational number. Is $\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{1}{t^n-1}=\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{\tau(n)}{t^n}$ irrational, where $\tau(n)$ counts the divisors of $n$?

A conjecture of Chowla.

Are there only finitely many unitary perfect numbers?

Let $f(n)$ be the minimal integer $m$ such that $n$ is the sum of the $k$ smallest divisors of $m$ for some $k\geq 1$. Is it true that $f(n)=o(n)$?