New examples of complete sets, with connections to a Diophantine theorem of Furstenberg

Abstract

A set $A\subseteq\mathbb N$ is called $complete$ if every sufficiently large integer can be written as the sum of distinct elements of $A$. In this paper we present a new method for proving the completeness of a set, improving results of Cassels ('60), Zannier ('92), Burr, Erd\H{o}s, Graham, and Li ('96), and Hegyv\'ari ('00). We also introduce the somewhat philosophically related notion of a $dispersing$ set and refine a theorem of Furstenberg ('67).