Explicit continued fractions and quantum gravity (Q1340204)

This paper is a review of the theory of explicit continued fractions and its applications to completely integrable systems, particularly Painlevé equations, monodromy and Stokes parameters, complex analysis, approximation theory, computational mathematics, and number theory. The authors give an account from the actual beginning of the theory (Euler, Abel, etc.) up to the current state of the art, passing through the fundamental contributions of Painlevé, Nevalinna, Backlund, etc. \dots Particular attention is placed on the previous works by the authors and the physical and computational applications of the theory. Some open problems are stated.