On changes of signs in infinite series (Q1251249)

The main theorem of this paper is the following: Theorem2: Let \(\{a_n\}\) be a sequence of positive real numbers monotonically decreasing to 0 such that \(\Sigma a_n=\infty\). Let \(s_{nj}\), \(n=1,2,\dots, j=0,\dots,n! -1\) be real numbers such that \[ \sum_{j=0,\;J\equiv d(\mod(n-1)!)}^{n!-1}s_{nj} = s_{n-1,d'}\quad n=2,3,\dots,\quad 0\leq d\leq(n-1)!-1. \] Then there exists signs \(\varepsilon(n) = \pm 1\), \(n = 1,2,\dots\) such that \[ \sum_{k=1,\;k\equiv j(\mod n!)}^{\infty}\varepsilon(k)a_k = s_{nj} \] for \(n=1,2,\dots\) and \(0\leq j\leq n!-1\). Under the same assumptions on \(\{a_n\}\), a consequence (Theorem 1) of the above theorem is that there exist signs \(\varepsilon(n) = \pm 1, n = 1,2,\dots\) such that for every integer \(m\geq 1\) and every integer \(0\leq v\leq m-1\), \[ \sum_{n\equiv b(\mod m)}\varepsilon(n)a_n=0. \] This deduction shows that the result: \[ \sum_{n=1}^{\infty}|a_n|< \infty,\quad A_m\equiv\sum_{n\equiv 0(\mod m)}a_n=0 \] for all \(m=1,2,\dots \Rightarrow a_1=a_2=\dots=0\), is sharp when \(\{|a_n|\}\) is monotonic. An interesting consequence of the main theorem its that there is a non-trivial power series \(\Sigma a_nz^n\) which vanishes for every \(z=e^{2\pi i\theta}\), \(\theta\) rational. Five interesting problems are also posed by the authors.