ON THE LONGEST BLOCK FUNCTION IN CONTINUED FRACTIONS

For an irrational number $x\in [0,1)$, let $x=[a_{1}(x),a_{2}(x),\ldots ]$ be its continued fraction expansion with partial quotients $\{a_{n}(x):n\geq 1\}$. Given $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E9}\in \mathbb{N}$, for $n\geq 1$, the $n$th longest block function of $x$ with respect to $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E9}$ is defined by $L_{n}(x,\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E9})=\max \{k\geq 1:a_{j+1}(x)=\cdots =a_{j+k}(x)=\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E9}~\text{for some}~j~\text{with}~0\leq j\leq n-k\}$, which represents the length of the longest consecutive sequence whose elements are all $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E9}$ from the first $n$ partial quotients of $x$. We consider the growth rate of $L_{n}(x,\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E9})$ as $n\rightarrow \infty$ and calculate the Hausdorff dimensions of the level sets and exceptional sets arising from the longest block function.