  We show that the Lyapunov exponent (LE) of periodic orbits with Lebesgue
measure zero from the Gauss map can be used to determine the main qualitative
behavior of the LE of a Hamiltonian system. The Hamiltonian system is a
one-dimensional box with two particles interacting via a Yukawa potential and
does not possess Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser (KAM) curves. In our case the Gauss
map is applied to the mass ratio $\gamma = m_2/m_1$ between particles. Besides
the main qualitative behavior, some unexpected peaks in the $\gamma$ dependence
of the mean LE and the appearance of 'stickness' in phase space can also be
understand via LE from the Gauss map. This shows a nice example of the relation
between the "instability" of the continued fraction representation of a number
with the stability of non-periodic curves (no KAM curves) from the physical
model. Our results also confirm the intuition that pseudo-integrable systems
with more complicated invariant surfaces of the flow (higher genus) should be
more unstable under perturbation.
