A new light on Minkowski's \(?(x)\) function (Q1277181)

The function \(?(x)\) was introduced by H. Minkowski via Farey fractions. Later R. Salem proved, that if \(x=[0;a_1,a_2,\dots]\) is the expansion of \(x\) as a regular continued fraction, then \[ ?(x)= 2^{1-a_1}- 2^{1-a_1-a_2}+ 2^{1-a_1- a_2-a_3} -\dots. \] The authors of the present paper introduce the number-theoretic function \[ q(n)=[0;k+1], \quad\text{if}\quad n=2^k \] and \[ q(n)= [0;a_1+1,\;a_2-a_1,\;a_3-a_2,\dots, a_k-a_{k-1}+1], \quad\text{if}\quad n=2^{a_1} +2^{a_2} +\cdots +2^{a_k} \] with \(0\leq a_1\leq a_2\leq \cdots\leq a_k\). Then they prove that \[ \lim_{N\to\infty} \#\bigl\{i\in \mathbb Z:1\leq i\leq N,\;q(i) \leq x\bigr\}/N =?(x), \] i.e. the asymptotic distribution function of \(q(n)\) is equal to \(?(x)\). Theorems about some links between \(?(x)\) and the so-called Gauss-Kuzmin numbers and also between \(?(x)\) and the normal numbers are proved.