Approximation by random fractions

Abstract

We study approximation in the unit interval by rational numbers whose numerators are selected randomly with certain probabilities. Previous work showed that an analogue of Khintchine's Theorem holds in a similar random model and raised the question of when the monotonicity assumption can be removed. Informally speaking, we show that if the probabilities in our model decay sufficiently fast as the denominator increases, then a Khintchine-like statement holds without a monotonicity assumption. Although our rate of decay of probabilities is unlikely to be optimal, it is known that such a result would not hold if the probabilities did not decay at all.