show/hide this revision's text 5 explicitly allow for negative $r_i$ so that the induction hypothesis works

$\mathbb P$ is countable. Moreover, any $f\in\mathbb P$ is analytic, hence it has only countably many zeros. Thus $\mathbb A_E$ is countable, and in particular, extra-transcendental reals exist, and $\mathbb R^+\smallsetminus\mathbb A_E$ has the power of continuum.

For a concrete example, the Lindemann–Weierstrass theorem implies that $e$ is extra-transcendental.

EDIT: To tie up a loose end, every nonzero $f\in\mathbb P$ has only finitely many positive real roots. Since $f(x)$ is eventually dominated by its nonzero term with the highest exponent, the roots are bounded. Similarly, $f(x)$ is dominated by the term with the smallest exponent when $x\to0+$, hence the roots are bounded away from $0$, i.e., they are contained in a compact subset of $(0,+\infty)$. However, choosing a branch of logarithm makes $f$ holomorphic in $U=\mathbb C\smallsetminus(-\infty,0]$, therefore it can have only finitely many roots in any compact subset of $U$.

In fact, if $f(x)=a_0x^{r_0}+a_1x^{r_1}+\cdots+a_nx^{r_n}$ (with $a_i$ nonzero)r_i\in\mathbb R$ pairwise distinct, $a_i\in\mathbb R\smallsetminus\{0\}$), then $f$ has at most $n$ positive real roots.

We can prove this by induction on $n$. If $n=0$, then $f(x)=a_0x^{r_0}$ has no positive real root. Assume the statement holds for $n-1$, and without loss of generality let $r_0< r_1,\dots,r_n$. n-1$. Put $g(x)=a_0+a_1x^{r_1-r_0}+a_2x^{r_2-r_0}+\cdots+a_nx^{r_n-r_0}=f(x)/x^{r_0}$. Then every positive root of $f$ is also a root of $g$. Moreover, between each two consecutive roots of $g$, there is a root of its derivative $g'$. Since $g'\in\mathbb P$ g'$ has at most $n$ nonzero terms (the derivative of the constant $a_0$ vanishes), it has at most $n-1$ positive real roots by the induction hypothesis, thus $f$ has at most $n$ such roots.

I guess that one could also prove a variant of Decartes' rule of signs for these generalized polynomials along similar lines.

show/hide this revision's text 4 number of zeros

EDIT: To tie up a loose end, every nonzero $f\in\mathbb P$ has only finitely many positive real roots. Since $f(x)$ is eventually dominated by its nonzero term with the highest exponent, the roots are bounded. Similarly, $f(x)$ is dominated by the term with the smallest exponent when $x\to0+$, hence the roots are bounded away from $0$, i.e., they are contained in a compact subset of $(0,+\infty)$. However, choosing a branch of logarithm makes $f$ holomorphic in $U=\mathbb C\smallsetminus(-\infty,0]$, therefore it can have only finitely many roots in any compact subset of $U$.

In fact, if $f(x)=a_0x^{r_0}+a_1x^{r_1}+\cdots+a_nx^{r_n}$ (with $a_i$ nonzero), then $f$ has at most $n$ positive real roots.

We can prove this by induction on $n$. If $n=0$, then $f(x)=a_0x^{r_0}$ has no positive real root. Assume the statement holds for $n-1$, and without loss of generality let $r_0< r_1,\dots,r_n$. Put $g(x)=a_0+a_1x^{r_1-r_0}+a_2x^{r_2-r_0}+\cdots+a_nx^{r_n-r_0}=f(x)/x^{r_0}$. Then every positive root of $f$ is also a root of $g$. Moreover, between each two consecutive roots of $g$, there is a root of its derivative $g'$. Since $g'\in\mathbb P$ has at most $n$ nonzero terms (the derivative of the constant $a_0$ vanishes), it has at most $n-1$ positive real roots by the induction hypothesis, thus $f$ has at most $n$ such roots.

I guess that one could also prove a variant of Decartes' rule of signs for these generalized polynomials along similar lines.

show/hide this revision's text 3 Lindemann–Weierstrass

$\mathbb P$ is countable. Moreover, any $f\in\mathbb P$ is analytic, hence it has only countably many zeros. Thus $\mathbb A_E$ is countable, and in particular, extra-transcendental reals exist, and $\mathbb R^+\smallsetminus\mathbb A_E$ has the power of continuum.

For a concrete example, the Lindemann–Weierstrass theorem implies that $e$ is extra-transcendental.

show/hide this revision's text 2 update
show/hide this revision's text 1