English

Midy's Theorem in non-integer bases and divisibility of Fibonacci numbers

Number Theory 2026-05-27 v2 Combinatorics

Abstract

Fractions pq[0,1)\frac{p}{q} \in [0,1) with prime denominator qq written in decimal have a curious property described by Midy's Theorem, namely that two halves of their period (if it is of even length 2n2n) sum up to 10n110^n-1. A number of results generalise Midy's theorem to expansions of pq\frac{p}{q} in different integer bases, considering non-prime denominators, or dividing the period into more than two parts. We show that a similar phenomena can be studied even in the context of numeration systems with non-integer bases, as introduced by R\'enyi. First we define the Midy property for a general real base β>1\beta >1 and derive a necessary condition for validity of the Midy property. For β=12(1+5)\beta =\frac12(1+\sqrt5) we characterize prime denominators qq, which satisfy the property.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2401.03874,
  title  = {Midy's Theorem in non-integer bases and divisibility of Fibonacci numbers},
  author = {Zuzana Masáková and Edita Pelantová},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.03874},
  year   = {2026}
}