Rational functions over finite fields having continued fraction expansions with linear partial quotients (Q2466029)

Let \(F\) be a finite field with \(q\) elements and let \(g\) be a polynomial in \(F[X]\) with positive degree less than or equal to \(q/2\). The author proves that there exists a polynomial \(f\in F[x]\), coprime to \(g\) of degree less than \(q\), such that all of the partial quotients in the continued fraction of \(f/g\) have degree 1. If we further require \(g\) to be irreducible then we can loosen the degree restriction on \(g\) to \(\deg (g) \leq q\). This statement is known to be a version of Zaremba's conjecture for the case of rational functions over finite fields. (We remind that Zaremba's conjecture states that, for all positive integers \(m\geq 2\) there exists an integer \(a\), \(1\leq a<m\) such that all of the partial quotients in the continued fraction \(a/m\) are less than or equal to 5.) This has been investigated by \textit{H. Niederreiter} [Monatsh. Math. 103, 269--288 (1987; Zbl 0624.12011)], \textit{J. P. Mesirov} and \textit{M. M. Sweet} [J. Number Theory 27, 144--148 (1987; Zbl 0626.10029)] (in the characteristic 2 case) and more recently by \textit{S. R. Blackburn} [J. Number Theory 68, No.~1, 99--111 (1998; Zbl 0916.12001)]. The author improves Blackburn's result for all positive characteristics. The proof is based on the calculation of the number of polynomials with given subsequences in the continued fractions.