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Problem #517: Let $f(z)=\sum_{k=1}^\infty a_kz^{n_k}$ be an entire...

Let $f(z)=\sum_{k=1}^\infty a_kz^{n_k}$ be an entire function (with $a_k\neq 0$ for all $k\geq 1$). Is it true that if $n_k/k\to \infty$ then $f(z)$...

Problem Statement

Let $f(z)=\sum_{k=1}^\infty a_kz^{n_k}$ be an entire function (with $a_k\neq 0$ for all $k\geq 1$). Is it true that if $n_k/k\to \infty$ then $f(z)$ assumes every value infinitely often?
Categories: Analysis

Progress

A conjecture of Fejér and Pólya.

Fejér [Fe08] proved that if $\sum\frac{1}{n_k}<\infty$ then $f(z)$ assumes every value at least once, and Biernacki [Bi28] proved that if $\sum\frac{1}{n_k}<\infty$ then $f(z)$ assumes every value infinitely often.

Pólya [Po29] proved that if $f$ has finite order then $f(z)$ assumes every value infinitely often under the assumption that $\limsup (n_{k+1}-n_k)=\infty$.

Source: erdosproblems.com/517 | Last verified: January 15, 2026

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