Sum of digits and change of base (Q2333210)

For integers \(q \ge 2\), \(n \ge 1\), let \(s_q(n)\) denote the sum of digits in the base \(q\) expansion of \(n\), and let \(a, b\) be multiplicatively independent bases. The authors show that the set \(\{s_a(n)/s_b(n): n \ge 1\}\) is dense in \(\mathbb{R}^+\), answering and generalising a question of [\textit{J.-M. Deshouillers} et al., in: Number theory -- Diophantine problems, uniform distribution and applications. Festschrift in honour of Robert F. Tichy's 60th birthday. Cham: Springer, 211--217 (2017; Zbl 1431.11094)]. Moreover, for each \(\tau > 0\), they provide upper and lower bounds for the number of positive integers \(n \le x\) such that \(s_a(n)/s_b(n)\) is close to \(\tau\).