Odd behavior in the coefficients of reciprocals of binary power series (Q2800147)

For a polynomial \(f(x)\) over the finite field \(\mathbb{F}_2\) with \(f(0) \neq 0\), let \(D = \text{ord}(f(x))\) be the order of \(f\), i.e., the least integer for which \(f(x)\) divides \(1+x^D\), and let \(f^*(x)\) be the polynomial that satisfies \(f(x)f^*(x) = 1+x^D\). Let \(\ell_1(f^*(x))\) be the number of nonzero coefficients of \(f^*(x)\), and finally set NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\gamma(f(x)) = \frac{\ell_1(f^*(x))}{D}.NEWLINE\]NEWLINE Cooper, Eichhorn and O'Bryant [\textit{J. N. Cooper} et al., Int. J. Number Theory 2, No. 4, 499--522 (2006; Zbl 1172.11003)] raised the question of studying the set NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\{\gamma(f(x))\,:\,f \in \mathbb{F}_2[x]\}.NEWLINE\]NEWLINE In the paper under review, it is shown that the supremum of this set is \(1\). This is done by constructing explicit families of polynomials for which \(\gamma(f(x))\) tends to \(1\). The results can also be interpreted in terms of nonstandard binary representations.