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Problem #1049: Let $t>1$ be a rational number

Let $t>1$ be a rational number. Is\[\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{1}{t^n-1}=\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{\tau(n)}{t^n}\]irrational, where $\tau(n)$ counts the...

Problem Statement

Let $t>1$ be a rational number. Is\[\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{1}{t^n-1}=\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{\tau(n)}{t^n}\]irrational, where $\tau(n)$ counts the divisors of $n$?
Categories: Irrationality

Progress

A conjecture of Chowla. Erdős [Er48] proved that this is true if $t\geq 2$ is an integer.

Source: erdosproblems.com/1049 | Last verified: January 19, 2026

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