English

Diophantine approximation by almost equilateral triangles

Number Theory 2017-05-10 v1

Abstract

A {\it two-dimensional continued fraction expansion} is a map μ\mu assigning to every xR2Q2x \in\mathbb R^2\setminus\mathbb Q^2 a sequence μ(x)=T0,T1,\mu(x)=T_0,T_1,\dots of triangles TnT_n with vertices xni=(pni/dni,qni/dni)Q2,dni>0,pni,qni,dniZ,x_{ni}=(p_{ni}/d_{ni},q_{ni}/d_{ni})\in\mathbb Q^2, d_{ni}>0, p_{ni}, q_{ni}, d_{ni}\in \mathbb Z, i=1,2,3i=1,2,3, such that \begin{eqnarray*} \det \left(\begin{matrix} p_{n1}& q_{n1} &d_{n1}\\ p_{n2}& q_{n2} &d_{n2}\\ p_{n3}& q_{n3} &d_{n3} \end{matrix} \right) = \pm 1\,\,\, \,\,\,\mbox{and}\,\,\,\,\,\, \bigcap_n T_n = \{x\}. \end{eqnarray*} We construct a two-dimensional continued fraction expansion μ\mu^* such that for densely many (Turing computable) points xx the vertices of the triangles of μ(x)\mu(x) strongly converge to xx. Strong convergence depends on the value of limni=13\dist(x,xni)(2dn1dn2dn3)1/2,\lim_{n\to \infty}\frac{\sum_{i=1}^3\dist(x,x_{ni})}{(2d_{n1}d_{n2}d_{n3})^{-1/2}}, ("dist" denoting euclidean distance) which in turn depends on the smallest angle of TnT_n. Our proofs combine a classical theorem of Davenport Mahler in diophantine approximation, with the algorithmic resolution of toric singularities in the equivalent framework of regular fans and their stellar operations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1705.03344,
  title  = {Diophantine approximation by almost equilateral triangles},
  author = {Daniele Mundici},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.03344},
  year   = {2017}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T19:41:45.563Z