English

Alternating geometric progressions modulo one and Sturmian words

Number Theory 2026-04-03 v2 Combinatorics

Abstract

Let b2b\ge 2 be an integer. Using Sturmian words we describe all irrational real numbers ξ\xi such that the image in R/Z\mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z} of the sequence (ξ(b)n)n0(\xi (-b)^n)_{n\ge 0} is contained in an interval of length b1+b2b3b^{-1}+b^{-2}-b^{-3}. In previous work (arXiv:2603.16794) we showed that the image cannot be contained in a shorter interval.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.22045,
  title  = {Alternating geometric progressions modulo one and Sturmian words},
  author = {Qing Lu and Weizhe Zheng},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.22045},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

13 pages. v2: fixed typos

R2 v1 2026-07-01T11:33:26.506Z