  By a classical result of Weyl, for any increasing sequence $(n_k)_{k \geq 1}$
of integers the sequence of fractional parts $(\{n_k x\})_{k \geq 1}$ is
uniformly distributed modulo 1 for almost all $x \in [0,1]$. Except for a few
special cases, e.g. when $n_k=k, k \geq 1$, the exceptional set cannot be
described explicitly. The exact asymptotic order of the discrepancy of $(\{n_k
x\})_{k \geq 1}$ is only known in a few special cases, for example when
$(n_k)_{k \geq 1}$ is a (Hadamard) lacunary sequence, that is when $n_{k+1}/n_k
\geq q > 1, k \geq 1$. In this case of quickly increasing $(n_k)_{k \geq 1}$
the system $(\{n_k x\})_{k \geq 1}$ (or, more general, $(f(n_k x))_{k \geq 1}$
for a 1-periodic function $f$) shows many asymptotic properties which are
typical for the behavior of systems of \emph{independent} random variables.
Precise results depend on a fascinating interplay between analytic,
probabilistic and number-theoretic phenomena.
  Without any growth conditions on $(n_k)_{k \geq 1}$ the situation becomes
much more complicated, and the system $(f(n_k x))_{k \geq 1}$ will typically
fail to satisfy probabilistic limit theorems. An important problem which
remains is to study the almost everywhere convergence of series
$\sum_{k=1}^\infty c_k f(k x)$, which is closely related to finding upper
bounds for maximal $L^2$-norms of the form $$ \int_0^1 (\max_{1 \leq M \leq N}|
\sum_{k=1}^M c_k f(kx)|^2 dx. $$ The most striking example of this connection
is the equivalence of the Carleson convergence theorem and the Carleson--Hunt
inequality for maximal partial sums of Fourier series. For general functions
$f$ this is a very difficult problem, which is related to finding upper bounds
for certain sums involving greatest common divisors.
