English

Metrical theory of signed Engel expansions

Number Theory 2026-05-28 v1 Dynamical Systems

Abstract

Motivated by the Engel and Pierce expansions, we introduce a signed Engel expansion. We expand each x(0,1)Qx\in(0,1)\setminus\mathbb{Q} uniquely as x=ϵ1(x)d1(x)+ϵ2(x)d1(x)d2(x)++ϵn(x)d1(x)d2(x)dn(x)+,x=\frac{\epsilon_{1}(x)}{d_{1}(x)}+\frac{\epsilon_{2}(x)}{d_{1}(x)d_{2}(x)}+\cdots+\frac{\epsilon_{n}(x)}{d_{1}(x)d_{2}(x)\cdots d_{n}(x)}+\cdots, where ϵ1(x)1\epsilon_{1}(x)\coloneqq1 and ϵn(x){1,1}\epsilon_{n}(x)\in\left\{1,-1\right\} for n2n\geq2. The digit sequence {dn(x)}n1\left\{d_{n}(x)\right\}_{n\geq1} satisfying dn+1(x)dn(x)+2d_{n+1}(x)\geq d_{n}(x)+2 when ϵn+1(x)=ϵn(x)\epsilon_{n+1}(x)=-\epsilon_{n}(x) forms a non-decreasing sequence of even positive integers tending to infinity. On the one hand, we obtain the law of large numbers, the central limit theorem and the law of the iterated logarithm regarding dn(x)d_{n}(x) and Δn(x)dn(x)dn1(x) (n2) (Δ1(x)d1(x))\Delta_{n}(x)\coloneqq d_{n}(x)-d_{n-1}(x)\ (n\geq2)\ (\Delta_{1}(x)\coloneqq d_{1}(x)). On the other hand, we prove a Borel--Bernstein theorem on the zero-one law on the Lebesgue measure of the set {x(0,1) ⁣:Rn(x)ϕ(n)  for infinity many n},\left\{x\in(0,1)\colon R_{n}(x)\geq\phi(n)\ \textnormal{ for infinity many } n\right\}, where Rn(x)dn(x)dn1(x) (n2) (R1(x)d1(x))R_{n}(x)\coloneqq\frac{d_{n}(x)}{d_{n-1}(x)}\ (n\geq2)\ (R_{1}(x)\coloneqq d_{1}(x)) and ϕ\phi is an arbitrary positive function defined on the set of positive integers.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.28530,
  title  = {Metrical theory of signed Engel expansions},
  author = {Can Wang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.28530},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Comments are welcome