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For the unit-modulus prime values in this question, the Granville-Soundararajan distance isThe second identity uses $|f(p)|=|g(p)|=1$. Thus it is the Euclidean distance between the finite weighted vectors $(f(p)/\sqrt{2p}{)}_{p\le X}$ and $(g(p)/\sqrt{2p}{)}_{p\le X}$. Nonnegativity, symmetry and the triangle inequality follow from that norm representation, and it vanishes exactly when the two prime-value vectors agree. This proves the prime-restriction metric for pretentious distance.

On whole arithmetic functions at fixed $X$ it is a pseudometric. For example $f=1$ and $g={\mu }^2$ have identical values at every prime and zero distance for every $X$, but different values at four. Thus the literal identity-of-indiscernibles assertion needs the prime-restriction quotient.

Since $\mu (p)=-1$,For completeness, partial summation and the prime-counting form of the Prime number theorem giveTo verify the constant and the error, replace $\pi$ by $\mathrm{Li}+E$ in the first expression. Differentiating $\mathrm{Li}(u)/u$ shows its two contributions combine to $\log \log X$ plus a constant. The error integral converges absolutely because $|E(u)|/u^2\ll e^{-c\sqrt{\log u}}/u$, and $E(X)/X\to 0$. This proves the Mertens second theorem in the form needed here. In particular the pretentious distance between one and the Möbius function satisfies

For the last request, retain the earlier prime normalization $|f(p)|=1$; the proof also works with the weaker assumption $|f(p)|\le 1$. Without a bound on prime values, the original definition and the absolute convergence of the displayed measure need not apply to an unrestricted multiplicative arithmetic function. For example $f(n)=\mu (n{)}^{2}n$ is multiplicative and squarefree-supported, but for $X>e$ the displayed measure has infinite positive mass: its prime terms alone are ${\sum }_p{p}^{-1/\log X}$, which diverges by the Prime number theorem.

Put $L=\log X$, $\sigma =1+1/L$, and use the Fourier transform convention $\hat{\nu }(t)=\int e^{-itu}d\nu (u)$. Since $f$ is supported on squarefree integers, the defining property of a multiplicative arithmetic function gives the absolutely convergent Euler productThe bound on prime values gives $|f(n)|\le 1$ for squarefree $n$, so the total variation norm of a measure is bounded by $\zeta (\sigma )$; thus $\nu$ is a finite measure. Expanding the logarithm of the modulus, with an absolute $O(1)$ remainder since ${\sum }_p{p}^{-2\sigma }\ll 1$, givesAll constants here are uniform in $t$. Moreoverusing the pole of the Riemann zeta function. The nonnegative deficits $1-\mathrm{Re}(f(p)p^{-it})$ giveIndeed, the replacement of $p^{-\sigma }$ by $1/p$ for $p\le X$ costs at mostby the Mertens first theorem, while discarding the $p>X$ terms costs nothing in this lower bound. Thus the large Fourier coefficient criterion for pretentiousness isIn particular,The comparison function is the Archimedean character $n^{it}$ with this sign because our Fourier transform uses $e^{-itu}$.

Use the Chebyshev estimate from central binomial coefficients. DefineThe first is the Chebyshev theta function; the second counts prime powers with the same logarithmic prime weight. For a positive integer $m$, every prime $m<p\le 2m$ divides $\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{2m}{m}\right)$, henceSumming over dyadic intervals yields $\vartheta (2^j)\le 2^{j+1}\log 2$. By monotonicity and rounding $x$ upward to a power of two,

For the lower bound, the central binomial coefficient is the largest of the $2m+1$ coefficients whose sum is $4^m$, soThe exponent of a prime in the central coefficient isEach summand is zero or one. Therefore $\log \left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{2m}{m}\right)\le \psi (2m)$. Higher prime powers contribute onlyCombining the lower bound with $2m$ just below $x$ shows $\vartheta (x)\ge cx$ for sufficiently large $x$, with, for example, $c=(\log 2)/2$.

Let $\pi (x)$ denote the number of primes at most $x$. Since every prime weight is at most $\log x$,For the upper bound, separate the primes at $\sqrt{x}$. The small ones number at most $\sqrt{x}$, and every larger one has weight at least $(\log x)/2$, givingSince $\sqrt{x}=o(x/\log x)$, this provesfor all sufficiently large $n$, for instance with $A=(\log 2)/2$ and $B=8\log 2+1$. This elementary Chebyshev estimate does not assume the Prime number theorem.

Finite rearrangement and the Von Mangoldt divisor identity giveFor $m=\lfloor x\rfloor$, integral comparison of the increasing logarithm gives $\log (m!)=m\log m-m+O(\log (m+1))$. Moving $m$ to real $x$ changes the main term by $O(\log (x+1))$. Thus the integrated Chebyshev sum hasFor $x\ge 2$, chooseThese are logarithmic Möbius function weights; they need not be upper-bound sieve weights. For $n\le x$, the Möbius inversion identities $\mu \ast 1=ϵ$ and $\mu \ast \log =\Lambda$ giveHence the expression suggested in the question isWe will use the elementary Möbius harmonic logarithmic moments, $A_j(x)={\sum }_{d\le x}\mu (d){\log }^j(x/d)/d$, for whichHere is a proof of the needed estimates. From ${\sum }_d\mu (d)\lfloor x/d\rfloor =1$, replacing floors by $x/d+O(1)$ gives $A_0=O(1)$. Also ${\sum }_d\mu (d)H_{\lfloor x/d\rfloor }/d=1$, because $\mu \ast 1=ϵ$. Substituting the permitted harmonic number estimate $H_{\lfloor t\rfloor }=\log t+\gamma +O(1/t)$ gives $A_1+\gamma A_0=1+O(1)$, so $A_1=O(1)$.

For $A_2$, the weighted Dirichlet hyperbola method gives the harmonic divisor sum expansionExplicitly, for $r=\lfloor \sqrt{t}\rfloor$, $B(t)=2{\sum }_{a\le r}{H}_{\lfloor t/a\rfloor }/a-H_r^2$. Substitute the harmonic estimate and ${\sum }_{a\le r}(\log a)/a=\frac{1}{2}{\log }^{2}r+c\prime +O(\log (2r)/r)$, obtained by unit-interval integral comparison. This proves the expansion without a prime-distribution theorem. Since $\tau =1\ast 1$, we have $\mu \ast \tau =1$, and thereforeThe summed error is bounded by $x^{-1/2}{\sum }_{d\le x}{d}^{-1/2}\log (2x/d)=O(1)$, by integral comparison. Thus $A_2=2\log x+O(1)$.

Finally substitute the asymptotic for $T$ into $F$. The main term isThe error sum is $O(x)$: partition the integers $d$ into $x/2^{j+1}<d\le x/2^j$; each interval contributes $O(x(j+1{)}^2/2^j)$, and the resulting series converges. Using the moment estimates proves the Selberg symmetry formula:In particular, the factor two comes from the quadratic logarithmic moment, rather than from an assumption of the Prime number theorem.

Use the convention that a z-sieved number is a positive integer with no prime factor strictly below $z$; $1$ is included. Such integers are also called rough numbers. Using instead exclusion of primes at most $z$ changes an endpoint convention, not the following fixed-$u$ asymptotic.

The Buchstab function is the continuous function $w:[1,\infty )\to \mathbb{R}$ determined bySuccessive integration over intervals of length one determines the Buchstab function uniquely from its initial values.

A standard fixed-$u$ form of Buchstab theorem states that, for each fixed $u>1$, as $z\to \infty$,For $1<u\le 2$, this agrees with the Prime number theorem, since apart from an immaterial endpoint the z-sieved numbers in this range are $1$ and the primes from $z$ to $z^u$. The restriction $u>1$ matters: at $u=1$ the count is bounded, so the displayed asymptotic does not hold there.

Write $L=\log D$. By the Prime number theorem and partial summation, the sum is at most a constant timesMake the substitution $v=L/\log t$. Since $dt/t=-L{v}^{-2}dv$, this becomesFor $u>0$, the final integral is $O(e^{-cu})$ after decreasing the absolute constant $c>0$; any polynomial factor in $u$ is absorbed by the exponential, and bounded $u$ causes no problem. Taking $u=L/\log z$ provesthe exponentially damped reciprocal-prime sum estimate.

Suppose $A>0$ and every sufficiently high Nontrivial zero of the Riemann zeta function satisfies the displayed gap, with bounded heights also separated from one. The truncated explicit formula for the second Chebyshev function and the local zero count for the Riemann zeta function give errors $x{\log }^{2}x\exp (-c\log x/(\log T{)}^A)$ and $x{\log }^{2}x/T$. Balance them by $\log T\asymp (\log x{)}^{1/(A+1)}$. This explains how the width of a zero-free region of the Riemann zeta function determines the exponential scale in the Prime number theorem error.

For fixed coprime integers $a,q$, the Prime number theorem in the arithmetic progression gives $\pi (x;q,a)\sim x/(\phi (q)\log x)$. Partial summation expresses the reciprocal-prime sum as $\pi (x;q,a)/x+{\int }_2^x\pi (t;q,a)t^{-2}dt$. The integral of the relative error is $o(\log \log x)$: fix a threshold beyond which that error is at most $\epsilon$, bound its remaining integral by $\epsilon \log \log x$, and then let $\epsilon$ decrease to zero. The modulus is fixed in this statement.

The Second Chebyshev function is the partial sum of the Von Mangoldt function up to a real cutoff $x\ge 0$:For example, $\psi (3)=\log 6$, $\psi (4)=\log 12$, and $\psi (4.5)=\log 12$. At $4=2^2$ the jump has size $\log 2$; between $4$ and $5$ no new prime power greater than one enters the sum. In contrast, the Chebyshev theta function stays at $\vartheta (4)=\log 6$.

There is also an exact connection with the least common multiple. For $N=\lfloor x\rfloor \ge 1$, each prime number $p\le N$ occurs to the highest exponent $k$ for which $p^k\le N$, both in that least common multiple and in the accumulated Von Mangoldt function weights. ThusThis explains the $\log 2520$ value at $x=10$: the least common multiple is $2^3\cdot 3^2\cdot 5\cdot 7$. The Chebyshev theta function instead gives the natural logarithm of the primorial $2\cdot 3\cdot 5\cdot 7=210$. The additional prime powers retain the highest required multiplicities.

Why is this useful for the distribution of prime numbers? The Prime number theorem has the equivalent formswhere $\pi$ is the prime-counting function and $\sim$ denotes asymptotic equivalence. Thus an arithmetic function defined using prime factorization has average weight tending to one over long initial intervals of the positive integers. These are substantive asymptotic equivalences, not consequences of the definitions or the Von Mangoldt divisor identity alone. ^[ref]

The elementary reason the two Chebyshev functions have the same leading behavior is that their difference is small compared with $x$. Every additional prime power has base $p\le \sqrt{x}$, and for each such prime number its total extra weight is at most $\log x$. There are at most $\lfloor \sqrt{x}\rfloor$ such bases, soThis transfers $\psi (x)\sim x$ to $\vartheta (x)\sim x$, or conversely, once either is established. Partial summation then relates the Chebyshev theta function to the prime-counting function. The estimate controls the extra prime powers; proving the leading value itself is the harder Prime number theorem problem.

Put $A(t)={\sum }_{p\le t}(\log p)/p$. The Mertens first theorem gives $A(t)=\log t+O(1)$. Partial summation yieldsThe main terms sum to $2\sqrt{\log x}$ up to a constant. The error integral is bounded because ${\int }_2^{\infty }dt/(t(\log t{)}^{3/2})$ converges. Thus a prime sum with a fractional logarithmic weight follows from an elementary bounded-error estimate, without the Prime number theorem.