Optimal number representations in negative base (Q2448975)

The authors consider positional numeration systems given by a base \(\gamma\in\mathbb{R}\) with \(| \gamma| >1\), and a finite set \(\mathcal{A}\subset \mathbb{R}\) called alphabet. An expansion of an \(x\in\mathbb{R}\) of the shape \(\sum_{i=1}^\infty b_i\gamma^{-i}\) with all digits \(b_i\in\mathcal{A}\) is called a \((\gamma,\mathcal{A})\)-representation of \(x\). Let \(J_{\gamma,\mathcal{A}}\) denote the set of all \(x\in\mathbb{R}\) having such a representation. \textit{K. Dajani} et al. [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 140, No. 2, 437--447 (2012; Zbl 1254.11009)] introduced the notion of optimal representations as follows. A \((\beta,\mathcal{A})\)-representation \(\sum_{i=1}^\infty c_i\beta^{-i}\) (with \(\beta>1\)) of \(x\) is called optimal, if, for every \((\beta,\mathcal{A})\)-representation \(\sum_{i=1}^\infty b_i\beta^{-i}\) of \(x\), one has \(| x-\sum_{i=1}^nc_i\beta^{-i}| \leq| x-\sum_{i=1}^nb_i\beta^{-i}| \) for \(n=1,2,\ldots\). In the present paper, the authors focus on systems with base \(\gamma=-\beta\), where \(\beta>1\) is not an integer, and the alphabet \(\mathcal{A}=\{0,1,\ldots,\lfloor\beta\rfloor\}\). In their main result (Theorem 7) they show that almost every \(x\in J_{-\beta,\mathcal{A}}\) has no optimal representation. Moreover, for non-integer base \(\beta>1\) and \(\mathcal{A}=\{0,\ldots,\lfloor\beta\rfloor\}\), they give an alternative simpler proof of Theorem 1.3 in \textit{K. Dajani} et al. [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 140, No. 2, 437--447 (2012; Zbl 1254.11009)].