Neverending Fractions
Despite their classical nature, continued fractions are a neverending research area, with a body of results accessible enough to suit a wide audience, from researchers to students and even amateur enthusiasts. Neverending Fractions brings these results together, offering fresh perspectives on a mature subject. Beginning with a standard introduction to continued fractions, the book covers a diverse range of topics, from elementary and metric properties, to quadratic irrationals, to more exotic topics such as folded continued fractions and Somos sequences. Along the way, the authors reveal some amazing applications of the theory to seemingly unrelated problems in number theory. Previously scattered throughout the literature, these applications are brought together in this volume for the first time. A wide variety of exercises guide readers through the material, which will be especially helpful to readers using the book for self-study, and the authors also provide many pointers to the literature.
- Offers fresh perspectives on a classical subject
- Derived from the authors' many years of experience teaching the subject at different levels
- Includes unpublished work of the late Alf van der Poorten
Product details
No date availablePaperback
9780521186490
224 pages
230 × 154 × 14 mm
0.35kg
11 b/w illus. 75 exercises
Table of Contents
- Preface
- 1. Some preliminaries from number theory
- 2. Continued fractions, as they are
- 3. Metric theory of continued fractions
- 4. Quadratic irrationals through a magnifier
- 5. Hyperelliptic curves and Somos sequences
- 6. From folding to Fibonacci
- 7. The integer part of qα + β
- 8. The Erdős-Moser equation
- 9. Irregular continued fractions
- Appendix. Selected continued fractions
- Bibliography
- Index.