On periodic sequences for algebraic numbers

The paper examines the structure of the periodic continued fraction for $\sqrt{d}$ and gives formulae for the central term as well as the repeated partial quotients occurring in its period.

Reduced ideals have been defined in the context of integer rings in quadratic number fields, and they are closely tied to the continued fraction algorithm. The notion of this type of ideal extends naturally to number fields of higher degree. In the case of pure cubic fields, generated by cube roots of integers, a convenient integral basis provides a means for identifying reduced ideals in these fields. We define integer sequences whose terms are in correspondence with some of...

We study real numbers $\beta$ with the curious property that the $\beta$-expansion of all sufficiently small positive rational numbers is purely periodic. It is known that such real numbers have to be Pisot numbers which are units of the number field they generate. We complete known results due to Akiyama to characterize algebraic numbers of degree 3 that enjoy this property. This extends results previously obtained in the case of degree 2 by Schmidt, Hama and Imahashi. Let $...

Continued fractions in the field of $p$--adic numbers have been recently studied by several authors. It is known that the real continued fraction of a positive quadratic irrational is eventually periodic (Lagrange's Theorem). It is still not known if a $p$--adic continued fraction algorithm exists that shares a similar property. In this paper we modify and improve one of Browkin's algorithms. This algorithm is considered one of the best at the present time. Our new algorithm ...

Non-linear recurrences which generate integers in a surprising way have been studied by many people. Typically people study recurrences that are linear in the highest order term. In this paper I consider what happens when the recurrence is not linear in the highest order term. In this case we no longer produce a unique sequence, but we sometimes have surprising results. If the highest order term is raised to the $m^{th}$ power we expect answers to have $m^{th}$ roots, but for...

"Period collapse" refers to any situation where the period of the Ehrhart function of a polytope is less than the denominator of that polytope. We study several interesting situations where this occurs, primarily involving triangles. For example: 1) we determine exactly when the Ehrhart function of a right triangle with legs on the axes and slant edge with irrational slope is a polynomial; 2) we find triangles with periods given by any even-index k-Fibonacci number, and large...

This paper is devoted to a detailed exposition of geometry of continued fractions. We pay particular interest to the case of quadratic irrationalities and use the technique described to prove a criterion for the continued fraction of a quadratic surd to have a symmetric period.

In this paper we show how to construct several infinite families of polynomials $D(\bar{x},k)$, such that $\sqrt{D(\bar{x},k)}$ has a regular continued fraction expansion with arbitrarily long period, the length of this period being controlled by the positive integer parameter $k$. We also describe how to quickly compute the fundamental units in the corresponding real quadratic fields.

In 1848 Ch.~Hermite asked if there exists some way to write cubic irrationalities periodically. A little later in order to approach the problem C.G.J.~Jacobi and O.~Perron generalized the classical continued fraction algorithm to the three-dimensional case, this algorithm is called now the Jacobi-Perron algorithm. This algorithm is known to provide periodicity only for some cubic irrationalities. In this paper we introduce two new algorithms in the spirit of Jacobi-Perron a...

This paper aims to introduce high school students to the intriguing world of continued fractions, a mathematical concept that provides a unique representation of numbers. The study focuses on the exploration and development of the fundamental properties of both Finite and Infinite Continued Fractions. It further delves into the computation of quadratic numbers using given periodic continued fractions and the concept of conjugate quadratic numbers. A significant part of the pa...