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The Division Algorithm in Complex Bases

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

William J. Gilbert
William J. Gilbert*
Affiliation:
Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, e-mail:wgilbert@uwaterloo.ca
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Abstract

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Complex numbers can be represented in positional notation using certain Gaussian integers as bases and digit sets. We describe a long division algorithm to divide one Gaussian integer by another, so that the quotient is a periodic expansion in such a complex base. To divide by the Gaussian integer w in the complex base b, using a digit set D, the remainder must be in the set wT(b,D) ∩ ℤ[i], where T(b,D) is the set of complex numbers with zero integer part in the base. The set T(b,D) tiles the plane, and can be described geometrically as the attractor of an iterated function system of linear maps. It usually has a fractal boundary. The remainder set can be determined algebraically from the cycles in a certain directed graph.

Keywords

11A6358F08
Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Mathematical Bulletin , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , 01 March 1996 , pp. 47 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Mathematical Society 1995

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