Continued fractions as matrix products
A continued fraction of the form
with n terms can be written as the composition
where
As discussed in the previous post, a Mobius transformation can be associated with a matrix. And the composition of Mobius transformations is associated with the product of corresponding matrices. So the continued fraction at the top of the post is associated with the following product of matrices.
The previous post makes precise the terms associated with" above: Mobius transformations on the complex plane correspond to linear transformations on the projective plane P(). This allows us to include in the domain and range without resorting to hand waving.
Matrix products are easier to understand than continued fractions, and so moving to the matrix product representation makes it easier to prove theorems.
Related posts- Gauss map, Euclidean algorithm, and continued fractions
- Continued fractions of square roots
- Normal hazard continued fraction