Metrical theory for Farey continued fractions (Q1355283): Difference between revisions

Let \(x\) be a real number \(x\in (0,1)\), \(x= [0;a_1, a_2, \dots]\) its continued fraction expansion. It is known that the transformation \((0,1) \to(0,1)\) defined by (*) \(Gx= \{1/x\}\), where \(\{\dots\}\) denotes the fractional part, produces the regular continued fraction expansion of \(x\). \(x\) can be written as \(x= (p_n \zeta_{n+1} +p_{n-1})/(q_n \zeta_{n+1} +q_{n-1})\); here \(\zeta_{n+1} =1/G^{n+1} x\) and for the \(p\)'s and \(q\)'s we have the recursion formula (**) \(p_0=0\), \(p_{-1} =1\), \(p_{n+1} =a_{n+1} p_n+ p_{n-1}\) and \(q_0 =1\), \(q_{-1} =0\), \(q_{n+ 1} =a_{n+1} q_n+ q_{n-1}\). The paper deals, instead of with (*), with the transformation \[ Tx= x/(1 -x) \text{ if } x\leq 1/2, \quad Tx= (1-x)/x \text{ if } x>1/2. \] The transformation \(Tx\) is called the Farey shift map. It yields the convergents (**) and in addition also the mediants defined by replacing in (**) \(a_{n+1}\) by all natural numbers not exceeding \(a_{n+1}\). Using ergodic theory, generalizations of the distribution of the \(G^nx\) to the distribution of the \(T^nx\) are given. Since the sequence \(Gx\), \(G^2x,\dots\) is contained in the sequence \(Tx\), \(T^2x, \dots\), the classical theorems of the metric theory of continued fractions are contained as special cases in the results of the paper; however, these special cases are the most important ones from the point of view of the applications.