Itineraries of rigid rotations and diffeomorphisms of the circle (Q1041244)

Given an irrational number \(\alpha\) the itinerary of \(0\in S^1= \mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}\) of the rotation of order \(\alpha\) is examined. It is proved that the itineraries do determine \(\alpha\) and \(I\subset S^1\), a finite union of closed intervals, where the itinerary of \(0\) runs, up to the certain equivalences. This establishes an elementary method for finding \(\alpha\) and \(I\). Moreover, if \(g: S^1\to S^1\) is a \(C^2\), orientation preserving diffeomorphism with an irrational rotation number, then the orbit itinerary can be used to recover the rotation number up to certain equivalences.