Bi-Lipschitz equivalent metrics on groups, and a problem in additive number theory (Q555199)

Two metrics \(d_A\) and \(d_B\) on the same set \(X\) are called bi-Lipschitz equivalent metrics if there exists a number \(K\geq 1\) such that \[ {1\over K} d_A(x_1, x_2)\leq d_B(x_1, x_2)\leq Kd_A(x_1, x_2) \] for all \(x_1,x_2\in X\). Two metric spaces \((X, d_X)\) and \((Y, d_Y)\) are called bi-Lipschitz equivalent if there exists a function \(f\) from \(X\) onto \(Y\) such that \[ {1\over K} d_X(x_1, x_2)\leq d_Y(f(x_1), f(x_2))\leq Kd_X(x_1,x_2) \] for some number \(K\geq 1\) and all \(x_1,x_2\in X\). A version of the main result of this note is the following: Theorem 3.2: For \(1< a\), \(b\in\mathbb N\) consider the additive group \(\mathbb Z\) with generating sets \(A=\{a^i\}^\infty_{i=0}\) and \(B= \{b^j\}^\infty_{j=0}\). Let \(d_A\) and \(d_B\) be the metrics on \(\mathbb Z\) associated with the generating sets \(A\) and \(B\), respectively. If these metrics are bi-Lipschitz equivalent, then there exists \(m,n\in\mathbb N\) such that \(a^m= b^n\).