Irrationality and Transcendence of Alternating Series Via Continued Fractions

DOI10.1007/978-3-030-84304-5_22MaRDI QIDQ6350233arXivFDO

Authors Jonathan Sondow

Publication date 30 September 2020

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Continued fractions and generalizations (11J70) Measures of irrationality and of transcendence (11J82) Transcendence (general theory) (11J81) Irrationality; linear independence over a field (11J72)

Abstract: Euler gave recipes for converting alternating series of two types, I and II, into equivalent continued fractions, i.e., ones whose convergents equal the partial sums. A condition we prove for irrationality of a continued fraction then allows easy proofs that $e,sin1$, and the primorial constant are irrational. Our main result is that, if a series of type II is equivalent to a simple continued fraction, then the sum is transcendental and its irrationality measure exceeds $2$. We construct all $alep{h}_0^{alep{h}_0}=mathfrakc$ such series and recover the transcendence of the Davison--Shallit and Cahen constants. Along the way, we mention $pi$, the golden ratio, Fermat, Fibonacci, and Liouville numbers, Sylvester's sequence, Pierce expansions, Mahler's method, Engel series, and theorems of Lambert, Sierpi'{n}ski, and Thue-Siegel-Roth. We also make three conjectures. (This manuscript was submitted posthumously. The author passed away on January 16, 2020.)

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