Integers with an average sum of digits (Q2566187)

Let \(s(n)\) denote the sum of digits in base \(g\). The authors prove a local limit law for this function in the following strange form. Write \(g_1=(g-1)/2\) and let \(b\) be a function such that \(b(n)=O(n^{1/4})\) and \(g_1n + b(n)\) is always integer. Then the number of integers \(n\leq x\) such that \[ s(n) = g_1 [ \log _g n] + b([ \log _g n]) \eqno{(*)} \] is \( c x ( \log _g x )^{-1/2} + O(x/ \log x )\) with a constant \(c\). They also show that for every irrational \(\alpha \) the sequence \(\alpha n\), where \(n\) runs over the integers satisfying \((*)\), is uniformly distributed modulo 1. The reviewer does not see any reason why the range of \(b\) is so restricted; one would expect a central limiting law for \(b(n) \sim t \sqrt { \log n}\) with perhaps a weaker remainder term.