A set of complex numbers $S$ is called invariant if it is closed under addition and multiplication, namely, for any $x, y \in S$ we have $x+y \in S$ and $xy \in S$. For each $s \in {\mathbb {C}}$ the smallest invariant set ${\mathbb {N}}[s]$ containing $s$ consists of all possible sums $\sum _{i \in I} a_i s^i$, where $I$ runs over all finite nonempty subsets of the set of positive integers ${\mathbb {N}}$ and $a_i \in {\mathbb {N}}$ for each $i \in I$. In this paper, we prove that for $s \in {\mathbb {C}}$ the set ${\mathbb {N}}[s]$ is everywhere dense in ${\mathbb {C}}$ if and only if $s \notin {\mathbb {R}}$ and $s$ is not a quadratic algebraic integer. More precisely, we show that if $s \in {\mathbb {C}} \setminus {\mathbb {R}}$ is a transcendental number, then there is a positive integer $n$ such that the sumset ${\mathbb {N}} t^n+{\mathbb {N}} t^{2n} +{\mathbb {N}} t^{3n}$ is everywhere dense in ${\mathbb {C}}$ for either $t=s$ or $t=s+s^2$. Similarly, if $s \in {\mathbb {C}} \setminus {\mathbb {R}}$ is an algebraic number of degree $d \ne 2, 4$, then there are positive integers $n, m$ such that the sumset ${\mathbb {N}} t^n+{\mathbb {N}} t^{2n} +{\mathbb {N}} t^{3n}$ is everywhere dense in ${\mathbb {C}}$ for $t=ms+s^2$. For quadratic and some special quartic algebraic numbers $s$ it is shown that a similar sumset of three sets cannot be dense. In each of these two cases the density of ${\mathbb {N}}[s]$ in ${\mathbb {C}}$ is established by a different method: for those special quartic numbers, it is possible to take a sumset of four sets.

Erdős proved that every real number is the sum of two Liouville numbers. A set W of complex numbers is said to have the Erdős property if every real number is the sum of two members of W. Mahler divided the set of all transcendental numbers into three disjoint classes S, T and U such that, in particular, any two complex numbers which are algebraically dependent lie in the same class. The set of Liouville numbers is a proper subset of the set U and has Lebesgue measure zero. It is proved here, using a theorem of Weil on locally compact groups, that if $m\in [0,\infty )$, then there exist $2^{\mathfrak {c}}$ dense subsets W of S each of Lebesgue measure m such that W has the Erdős property and no two of these W are homeomorphic. It is also proved that there are $2^{\mathfrak {c}}$ dense subsets W of S each of full Lebesgue measure, which have the Erdős property. Finally, it is proved that there are $2^{\mathfrak {c}}$ dense subsets W of S such that every complex number is the sum of two members of W and such that no two of these W are homeomorphic.

For any Liouville number $\alpha $, all of the following are transcendental numbers: ${e}^\alpha $, $\log _{e}\alpha $, $\sin \alpha $, $\cos \alpha $, $\tan \alpha $, $\sinh \alpha $, $\cosh \alpha $, $\tanh \alpha $, $\arcsin \alpha $ and the inverse functions evaluated at $\alpha $ of the listed trigonometric and hyperbolic functions, noting that wherever multiple values are involved, every such value is transcendental. This remains true if ‘Liouville number’ is replaced by ‘U-number’, where U is one of Mahler’s classes of transcendental numbers.

In 1844, Joseph Liouville proved the existence of transcendental numbers. He introduced the set $\mathcal L$ of numbers, now known as Liouville numbers, and showed that they are all transcendental. It is known that $\mathcal L$ has cardinality $\mathfrak {c}$, the cardinality of the continuum, and is a dense $G_{\delta }$ subset of the set $\mathbb {R}$ of all real numbers. In 1962, Erdős proved that every real number is the sum of two Liouville numbers. In this paper, a set W of complex numbers is said to have the Erdős property if every real number is the sum of two numbers in W. The set W is said to be an Erdős–Liouville set if it is a dense subset of $\mathcal {L}$ and has the Erdős property. Each subset of $\mathbb {R}$ is assigned its subspace topology, where $\mathbb {R}$ has the euclidean topology. It is proved here that: (i) there exist $2^{\mathfrak {c}}$ Erdős–Liouville sets no two of which are homeomorphic; (ii) there exist $\mathfrak {c}$ Erdős–Liouville sets each of which is homeomorphic to $\mathcal {L}$ with its subspace topology and homeomorphic to the space of all irrational numbers; (iii) each Erdős–Liouville set L homeomorphic to $\mathcal {L}$ contains another Erdős–Liouville set $L'$ homeomorphic to $\mathcal {L}$. Therefore, there is no minimal Erdős–Liouville set homeomorphic to $\mathcal {L}$.