Some normal numbers generated by arithmetic functions

Paul Pollack, Joseph Vandehey

Published 2013-09-27Version 1

Let $g \geq 2$. A real number is said to be g-normal if its base g expansion contains every finite sequence of digits with the expected limiting frequency. Let \phi denote Euler's totient function, let \sigma be the sum-of-divisors function, and let \lambda be Carmichael's lambda-function. We show that if f is any function formed by composing \phi, \sigma, or \lambda, then the number \[ 0. f(1) f(2) f(3) \dots \] obtained by concatenating the base g digits of successive f-values is g-normal. We also prove the same result if the inputs 1, 2, 3, \dots are replaced with the primes 2, 3, 5, \dots. The proof is an adaptation of a method introduced by Copeland and Erdos in 1946 to prove the 10-normality of 0.235711131719\ldots.