Erdős Problem a Daythe open tracker

Erdős Problem #178

PROVED LEANdatabase updated 2026-04-21

The statement as posed is true, and a proof exists. A solution has also been checked by machine, in Lean.

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Let \(A_1,A_2,\ldots\) be an infinite collection of infinite sets of integers, say \(A_i=\{a_{i1}<a_{i2}<\cdots\}\). Does there exist some \(f:\mathbb{N}\to\{-1,1\}\) such that \[\max_{m, 1\leq i\leq d} \left\lvert \sum_{1\leq j\leq m} f(a_{ij})\right\rvert \ll_d 1\] for all \(d\geq 1\)? Erdős remarks 'it seems certain that the answer is affirmative'. This was solved by Beck [Be81]. Recently Beck [Be17] proved that one can replace \(\ll_d 1\) with \(\ll d^{4+\epsilon}\) for any \(\epsilon>0\).
Statement as formalized in Formal Conjectures (Google DeepMind, Apache-2.0) · their label: research solved. The authoritative wording is on erdosproblems.com/178.
Prizenone
Topicsdiscrepancy
Statement in LeanFormal Conjectures
Solution in Leanyes
Original pageerdosproblems.com/178
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