A structure formula for a sequence of residues \(ax\pmod m\) and its applications to a continued fraction associated with a quadratic nonresidue modulo a prime (Q2857809)

Let \(a\), \(m\), \(n\) be integers, \(1\leq a < m\), \((a,m)=1\). The author observes modified Euclidean algorithm and the continued fraction expansion in the form NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\frac{a}{m}= \frac{1}{a_{1}-\frac{1}{a_{2}-\frac{1}{\frac{...}{a_{n}-\frac{1}{a_{n+1}}}}}},\qquad a_{i}\geq 2,\quad i=1,2,\ldots ,n+1.NEWLINE\]NEWLINE He proves five theorems and the last reads: If \(a=\delta\) is the least quadratic nonresidue modulo a prime number \(m=p>2\), then \(a_{i} \leq \delta\), \(i=2,\ldots,n+1\). The author notes that other similar results can be found in the monograph of \textit{A. O. Gel'fond} and \textit{Yu. V. Linnik} [Elementary methods in analytic number theory. (Russian). Moskva: Gosudarstv. Izdat. Fiz.-Mat. Lit. (1962; Zbl 0111.04803), p. 214--220; French translation (1965; Zbl 0125.29604)].