Symmetric continued fractions related to certain series (Q810558)

Let \(f\in {\mathbb{Z}}[X]\) with positive leading coefficient and degree \(\geq 2\). Recursively, define \(f_ 0(X)=X\), \(f_{m+1}(X)=f(f_ m(X))\), and consider the Cantor series \[ \theta_ n(x,f)=\sum^{n}_{m=0}(f_ 0(x)f_ 1(x)...f_ m(x))^{-1},\quad \theta (x,f)=\lim_{n\to \infty}\theta_ n(x,f) \] for sufficiently large integers x. The author computes the simple continued fraction expansions of \(\theta_ n(x,f)\) for a certain class of polynomials f, exhibits their symmetry, and characterizes the set of all f for which the simple continued fractions of \(\theta_ n(x,f)\) are symmetric. He proves that \(\theta\) (x,f) is transcendental for all those f except \(f(X)=X^ 2-2\), when \(\theta\) (x,f) is a quadratic irrational. Similar Cantor series whose simple continued fractions are ``close to symmetric'', but not symmetric, have been considered by \textit{J. Shallit} [J. Number Theory 11, 209-217 (1979; Zbl 0404.10003)], the reviewer [Monatsh. Math. 89, 95-100 (1980; Zbl 0419.10010)], and others.