From Christoffel Words to Markoff Numbers

By Christophe Reutenauer

In 1875, Elwin Bruno Christoffel introduced a special class of words on a binary alphabet linked to continued fractions which would go on to be known as Christoffel words. Some years later, Andrey Markoff published his famous theory, now called the Markoff theory. Markoff's theory characterized certain quadratic forms and real numbers by extremal inequalities. Both classes are constructed using certain natural numbers, known as Markoff numbers, and they form part of a solution to the Markoff Diophantine equation. More basically, they are constructed using certain words, essentially Christoffel words.

The link between Christoffel words and Markoff's theory was noted by Ferdinand Frobenius in 1913, but has been neglected in recent times. Motivated by this overlooked connection, this book looks to expand on the relationship between these two areas. The first part of the book focuses on the classical theory of Markoff, while Part II explores the more advanced and recent results of the theory of Christoffel words.

This new edition includes many additional exercises and solutions, as well as expanded sections on quadratic forms and quadratic numbers, two new chapters on standard words and the commutator subgroup, and revised results in combinatorics on words.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0197907555
• ISBN13: 9780197907559
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 272 Pages