Constructing minimal periods of quadratic irrationalities in Zagier's reduction theory (Q1747209)

In [Zetafunktionen und quadratische Körper. Eine Einführung in die höhere Zahlentheorie. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag (1981; Zbl 0459.10001)], \textit{D. B. Zagier} presented a version of reduction theory for indefinite binary integral quadratic forms that provides an alternative to the classical notion of reduction of such forms introduced by Gauss. Dirichlet's treatment of Gauss's reduction theory includes a map from Gauss-reduced forms to strings of natural numbers, given by attaching to a form the minimal period of the continued fraction expansion of a quadratic irrationality associated with the form. In the present paper, an analogue of this map for Zagier-reduced forms is developed. The author also produces a mapping from the set of Gauss-reduced forms into the set of Zagier-reduced forms that gives a near-embedding of the structure of Gauss's reduction theory into that of Zagier's. From this perspective, Zagier reduction can be viewed as a refinement of Gaussian reduction. The present article uses and extends results developed by the author in a previous paper [J. Integer Seq. 17, No. 11, Article 14.11.8, 16 p. (2014; Zbl 1353.11070)].