The Stern-Brocot tree and Minkowki's question mark function $?(x)$ (or Conway's box function) are related to the continued fraction expansion of numbers from Q with unary encoding of the partial denominators. We first define binary encodings $C_I, C_{II}$ of the natural numbers, adapted to the Gauß-Kuz'min measure for the distribution of partial denominators. We then define the V$_1$ tree as analogue to the Stern-Brocot tree, using the binary encondings $C_I, C_{II}$. We shall see that all numbers with denominator $q$ are present in the first $3.44\log_2(q)$ levels, instead of $1/q$ appearing in level $q$ in the Stern-Brocot tree. The extension of the V$_1$ tree, the V tree, covers all numbers from Q exactly once. We also define the binary version of Minkowski's question mark function, $?_V$, and conjecture that it has no derivative at rational points (for the original, $?'(x)=0, x\in Q$).
We present the classical Stern-Brocot tree and provide a new proof of the fact that every rational number between 0 and 1 appears in the tree. We then generalize theStern-Brocot tree to allow for arbitrary choice of starting terms, and prove that in all cases the tree maintains the property that every rational number between the two starting terms appears exactly once.
Diophantine quadruples are sets of four distinct positive integers such that the product of any two is one less than a square. All known examples belong to an infinite set which can be constructed recursively. Some observations on these regular solutions are presented. In particular we see how factors of the four numbers satisfy relations which generalise the Stern-Brocot Tree. There is also an update on the search for rational Diophantine sextuples with five new examples.
In this paper we discuss a natural generalization of the Stern Brocot tree which comes from the introduction of weighted mediants. We focus our attention on the case $k = 3$, in which $(2a + c)/(2b + d)$ and $(a + 2c)/(b + 2d)$ are the two mediants inserted between $a/b$ and $c/d$. Our main result is a determination of which rational numbers between the starting terms appear in the tree. We extend this result to arbitrary reduction schemes as well.
We find a duality between two well-known trees, the Calkin-Wilf tree and the Stern-Brocot tree, derived from cluster algebra theory. The vertex sets of these trees are the set of rational numbers, and they have cluster structures induced by one-punctured torus. In particular, the Calkin-Wilf tree is an example of the structure given by initial-seed mutations.
Farey's sequence is a well-known procedure used to generate proper fractions from 0 to 1. Farey sequence is commonly used in rational approximations of irrational numbers, ford circles and in Riemann hypothesis. Thus, in this paper, we aim to use properties of the Farey's sequence to prove the popular gcd theorem.
We employ infinite ergodic theory to show that the even Stern-Brocot sequence and the Farey sequence are uniformly distributed mod 1 with respect to certain canonical weightings. As a corollary we derive the precise asymptotic for the Lebesgue measure of continued fraction sum-level sets as well as connections to asymptotic behaviours of geometrically and arithmetically restricted Poincaré series. Moreover, we give relations of our main results to elementary observations for the Stern-Brocot tree.
In this paper we obtain multifractal generalizations of classical results by Lévy and Khintchin in metrical Diophantine approximations and measure theory of continued fractions. We give a complete multifractal analysis for Stern--Brocot intervals, for continued fractions and for certain Diophantine growth rates. In particular, we give detailed discussions of two multifractal spectra closely related to the Farey map and the Gauss map.
In this paper we study a natural generalization of the Stern-Brocot sequences which comes from the introduction of weighted mediants. We focus our attention on the case $k = 3$, in which $(2a + c)/(2b + d)$ and $(a + 2c)/(b + 2d)$ are the two mediants inserted between $a/b$ and $c/d$. We state and prove several properties about the cross-differences of Stern-Brocot sequences with $k = 3$, and give a proof of the fractal-like rule that describes the cross-differences of the unit $k = 3$ Stern-Brocot sequences, i.e. the one with usual starting terms $0/1, 1/1$ and with reduction of fractions.
Let $F(X) = \sum_{n \geq 0} (-1)^{\varepsilon_n} X^{-λ_n}$ be a real lacunary formal power series, where $\varepsilon_n = 0, 1$ and $λ_{n+1}/λ_n > 2$. It is known that the denominators $Q_n(X)$ of the convergents of its continued fraction expansion are polynomials with coefficients $0, \pm 1$, and that the number of nonzero terms in $Q_n(X)$ is the $n$th term of the Stern-Brocot sequence. We show that replacing the index $n$ by any 2-adic integer $ω$ makes sense. We prove that $Q_ω(X)$ is a polynomial if and only if $ω\in {\mathbb Z}$. In all the other cases $Q_ω(X)$ is an infinite formal powe…
We generalize the Farey-Brocot partition to a twodimensional continued fraction algorithm and generalized Farey-Brocot nets. We give an asymptotic formula for the moments of order β.
Farey sequences, Stern-Brocot sequences, the Calkin-Wilf sequences are shown to be generated via almost identical second order recurrence relations. These sequences have combinatorial, computational, and geometric applications, and are useful for enumerating the rational numbers.
The Stern diatomic sequence is closely linked to continued fractions via the Gauss map on the unit interval, which in turn can be understood via systematic subdivisions of the unit interval. Higher dimensional analogues of continued fractions, called multidimensional continued fractions, can be produced through various subdivisions of a triangle. We define triangle partition-Stern sequences (TRIP-Stern sequences for short), higher-dimensional generalizations of the Stern diatomic sequence, from the method of subdividing a triangle via various triangle partition algorithms. We then explore seve…
We introduce several classes of pseudorandom sequences which represent a natural extension of classical methods in random number generation. The sequences are obtained from constructions on labeled binary trees, generalizing the well-known Stern-Brocot tree.
In this paper we study various fractal geometric aspects of the Minkowski question mark function $Q.$ We show that the unit interval can be written as the union of the three sets $Λ_{0}:=\{x:Q'(x)=0\}$, $Λ_{\infty}:=\{x:Q'(x)=\infty\}$, and $Λ_{\sim}:=\{x:Q'(x)$ does not exist and $Q'(x)\not=\infty\}.$ The main result is that the Hausdorff dimensions of these sets are related in the following way. $\dim_{H}(ν_{F})<\dim_{H}(Λ_{\sim})= \dim_{H} (Λ_{\infty}) = \dim_{H} (\mathcal{L}(h_{\mathrm{top}}))<\dim_{H}(Λ_{0})=1.$ Here, $\mathcal{L}(h_{\mathrm{top}})$ refers to the level set of the Stern-Br…
Continued fractions are linked to Stern's diatomic sequence 0,1,1,2,1,3,2,3,1,4,... (given by the recursion relation a_2n=a_n and a_{2n+1} = a_n + a_{n+1}, where a_0=0 and a_1=1), which has long been known. Using a particular multidimensional continued fraction algorithm (the Farey algorithm), we will generalize the diatomic sequence to a collection of numbers that quite naturally should be called the triatomic sequence (or a two-dimensional Pascal with memory sequence). As continued fractions and the diatomic sequence can be thought of as coming from systematic subdivisions of the unit interv…
For integers $m \geq 2$, we study divergent continued fractions whose numerators and denominators in each of the $m$ arithmetic progressions modulo $m$ converge. Special cases give, among other things, an infinite sequence of divergence theorems, the first of which is the classical Stern-Stolz theorem. We give a theorem on a general class of Poincar{é} type recurrences which shows that they tend to limits when the limits are taken in residue classes and the roots of their characteristic polynomials are distinct roots of unity. We also generalize a curious $q$-continued fraction of Ramanujan's …
The Minkowski question mark function ?(x) arises as a real distribution of rationals in the Farey tree. We examine the generating function of moments of ?(x). It appears that the generating function is a direct dyadic analogue of period functions for Maass wave forms and it is defined in the cut plane C(0,infinity). The exponential generating function satisfies the integral equation with kernel being the Bessel function. The solution of this integral equation leads to the definition of dyadic eigenfunctions, arising from a certain Hilbert-Schmidt operator. Finally, we describe p-adic distribut…
This paper is devoted to a systematic study of a class of binary trees encoding the structure of rational numbers both from arithmetic and dynamical point of view. The paper is divided into two parts. The first one is a critical review of rather standard topics such as Stern-Brocot and Farey trees and their connections with continued fraction expansion and the question mark function. In the second part we introduce a class of one-dimensional maps which can be used to generate the binary trees in different ways and study their ergodic properties. This also leads us to study some random processe…
The Markov numbers are the positive integer solutions of the Diophantine equation $x^2 + y^2 + z^2 = 3xyz$. Already in 1880, Markov showed that all these solutions could be generated along a binary tree. So it became quite usual (and useful) to index the Markov numbers by the rationals between 0 and 1 which stand at the same place in the Stern-Brocot binary tree. The Frobenius conjecture claims that each Markov number appears at most once in the tree. In particular, if the conjecture is true, the order of Markov numbers would establish a new strict order on the rationals. Aigner suggested thre…