Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for the Central Norm to Equal $2^h$ in the Simple Continued Fraction Expansion of $\sqrt{2^hc}$ for Any Odd $c>1$

http://dx.doi.org/10.4153/CMB-2005-011-0
Canad. Math. Bull. 48(2005), 121-132

  Published:2005-03-01
 Printed: Mar 2005

We look at the simple continued fraction expansion of $\sqrt{D}$ for any $D=2^hc $ where $c>1$ is odd with a goal of determining necessary and sufficient conditions for the central norm (as determined by the infrastructure of the underlying real quadratic order therein) to be $2^h$. At the end of the paper, we also address the case where $D=c$ is odd and the central norm of $\sqrt{D}$ is equal to $2$.