# Closed form formula for the following sum

Does anyone know of a closed-form formula for the sum $\sum_{n = 1}^\infty x^{2^n-1}$? We can assume that $0<x<1$.

Thanks!

• possible duplicate of Evaluating the sum of geometric series – Amr Jun 12 '13 at 20:02
• @Amr, no, this is not a duplicate of that. This has $x^{2^n}$, not $x^n$ like a geometric series. – George V. Williams Jun 12 '13 at 20:03
• I think I saw a question extremely similar to this on this site (the exponent was $2^n$ instead of $2^n - 1$). The general consensus was that it is unlikely there is a closed form. – George V. Williams Jun 12 '13 at 20:04
• This question is very similar to: Power Series Formula. However, this question should NOT be closed because it asks for an infinite sum, whereas the other one requests a partial sum. – George V. Williams Jun 12 '13 at 20:10
• This is known as a lacunary function. I do not know much about them, but I understand they can exhibit very complicated behavior, so I would not expect a simple formula to be possible. – Jair Taylor Jun 13 '13 at 16:47

$$-\frac{\mathrm{Ei}\left(\log (x)\right)}{x\log (2)} \le \sum_{i=0}^\infty x^{2^i - 1} \le -\frac{\mathrm{Ei}\left(\frac{\log (x)}{2}\right)}{x\log (2)}$$
Where $\mathrm{Ei}(x)$ is the Exponential Integral.