Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T08:18:30.235Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On the minimum of zero indefinite binary quadratic forms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2010

Mary E. Gbur
Affiliation:
Texas A & M University, Department of Mathematics, College Station, Texas 77843, U.S.A.
Get access

Abstract

We consider a Markoff spectrum for the set of indefinite binary quadratic forms with real coefficients which represent zero non-trivially. As was done for the classical Markoff spectrum, we show that 1/3 is the largest accumulation point of the set and explicitly determine the countably infinite number of elements greater than 1/3. Unlike the situation for the classical Markoff spectrum, there is a countably infinite number of limit points greater than 1/3.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University College London 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Dickson, L. E.. Studies in the theory of numbers (The University of Chicago Press, 1930), Chapter VII.Google Scholar
2.Gurwood, C.. Diophantine approximation and the Markov Chain, Ph.D. dissertation (New York University, 1976).Google Scholar
3.Jackson, T. H.. “On the minima of zero binary quadratic forms”, J. London Math. Soc. (2), 14 (1976), 178182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Markoff, A.. “Sur les formes quadratiques binaires indefinies”, Math. Ann., 15 (1879), 381409; 17 (1880), 379–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Perron, O.. “Über die Approximation irrationaler Zahlen durch rationale, I-II”, S.-B. Heidelberger Akad. Wiss. Abh. 4 (1921), 317; Abh. 8 (1921), 1–21.Google Scholar
6.Perron, O.. Die Lehre von den Kettenbrüche, Band 1 (B. G. Teubner, Stuttgart, 1954).Google Scholar