Preview

Proceedings of the Institute of Mathematics of the NAS of Belarus

Advanced search

Benford’s law and approximation of logarithms of natural numbers by rational numbers

Abstract

The paper is devoted to studying the frequencies at which first digits occur in series formed by powers of integer numbers. A number of generalizations of this problem are considered, and the relation between the distribution of first digits and Diophantine properties of logarithms is discussed. In conclusion of the article, several interesting problems in modern theory of Diophantine approximation are proposed.

About the Authors

V. I. Bernik
Institute of Mathematics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus
Belarus

Minsk



N. I. Kalosha
Institute of Mathematics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus
Belarus

Minsk



D. V. Vasilyev
Institute of Mathematics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus
Russian Federation

Minsk



References

1. Newcomb S. On the frequency of use of the different digits in natural numbers. American Journal of Mathematics, 1881, vol. 4, pp. 39–40.

2. Benford F. The law of anomalous numbers. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1938, vol. 78, pp. 551–572.

3. Hurlimann W. Generalizing Benford’s Law Using Power Laws: Application to Integer ¨ Sequences. International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences, 2009, art. 970284, 10 pp. https://doi.org/10.1155/2009/970284.

4. Kuipers L., Niederreiter H. Uniform Distribution of Sequences. New York, Wiley, 1974, 390 p. (Pure and Applied Mathematics).

5. Vinogradov I. M. Selected Papers. Berlin, Springer-Verlag, 1985, 401 p.

6. Roth K. Rational approximations to algebraic numbers. Mathematica, 1955, vol. 2, pp. 1–20.

7. Khinchine A. Zur metrischen Theorie der diophantischen Approximationen. Mathematische Annalen, 1924, vol. 92, pp. 115–125.

8. Baker A., Wustholtz G. Linear forms in logarithms of algebraic numbers. ¨ Journal fur die reine ¨ und angewandte Mathematik, 1993, vol. 442, pp. 19–62. 14 V. I. Bernik, N. I. Kalosha, D. V. Vasilyev

9. Hata M. Legendre type polynomials and irrationality measures. Journal fur die reine und ¨ angewandte Mathematik, 1990, vol. 407, pp. 99–125.

10. Rukhadze E. A. A problem on the distribution of first digits. Moscow University Mathematics Bulletin, 1987, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 25–29 (in Russian).

11. Baker A. Transcendental Number Theory. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990, 155 p.

12. Bernik V., Kleinbock D., Margulis G. A. Khinchine-type theorems on manifolds: convergence case for standard and multiplicative versions. International Mathematics Research Notices, 2001, vol. 9, pp. 453–486.


Review

For citations:


Bernik V.I., Kalosha N.I., Vasilyev D.V. Benford’s law and approximation of logarithms of natural numbers by rational numbers. Proceedings of the Institute of Mathematics of the NAS of Belarus. 2025;33(1):7-14.

Views: 14


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.


ISSN 1812-5093 (Print)