Hausdorff dimension and Perron-Frobenius theory (Q1112872)

This paper computes the Hausdorff dimension of a subset of [0,1] defined by a particular restriction of the expansion in some integer base b. Specifically, let \(T_ b(c,r)\) be the set of \(x\in (0,1)\) such that in the base-b expansion of x, every r consecutive digits have sum at least c. The authors show \[ \dim T_ b(c,r)=[\log \rho (M)]/\log b \] where M is a 0-1 matrix they construct, and \(\rho\) (M) is its spectral radius. The authors give a direct proof. Their result is, however, a special case of a result of \textit{H. Furstenberg} [Math. Systems Theory 1, 1-49 (1967; Zbl 0146.285)] which shows that for any compact set \(K\subset [0,1]\) which is invariant under \(\tau_ b(x)=bx mod 1\), the Hausdorff dimension of K is \(h(\tau_ b,K)/\log b\) where h is the topological entropy. Sets defined by digit restrictions correspond to ``subshifts of finite type'', and it is well known that their entropies are log \(\rho\) (M). (See, for instance, \textit{R. Bowen} and \textit{O.E. Lanford} III [Global Analysis, Proc. Symp. Pure Math. 14, 43-49 (1970; Zbl 0211.565)].)