Geometry of continued fractions (Q5919985): Difference between revisions

The main goal of this book is to develop a unified theory of continued fractions and their higher-dimensional generalizations from the geometric viewpoint. The book is hence naturally divided into two parts: the first part treats the theory of classical continued fractions, while the second part is devoted to the multidimensional extensions. In Part I, the exposition starts out with the basic notions and definitions, but then quickly moves into the geometric interpretation. To this end, the author introduces the framework of \textit{integer geometry}, i.e., geometry of lattices and polyhedra. The first classical geometric interpretation of continued fractions in terms of sails is then given. A generalization of this construction in terms of lattice trigonometry, large parts of which have been previously developed by the author, is also presented. The geometric construction of Klein's 1-dimensional continued fractions is detailed and its connection to Gauss' reduction theory of binary quadratic forms is discussed. Further topics discussed in the first part of the book include Lagrange's theorem on quadratic irrationalities, Gauss-Kuzmin statistics for the frequency of a given integer in continued fraction expansions of real numbers, geometric aspects of Diophantine approximations, continued fractions and Kepler's second law, and a more in-depth look at integer trigonometry and its various connections. Part II aims to develop the geometric theory of multidimensional continued fractions. The author goes more in-depth into some background on lattices and polyhedra in Euclidean spaces, as well as their interplay. He then introduces Klein's multidimensional continued fractions in full generality. The development of the second part of the book often parallels the first with multidimensional generalizations of the classical notions and the results discussed. For instance, there are detailed presentations of such topics as periodicity of Klein polyhedra and higher dimensional Lagrange's theorem, multidimensional Gauss-Kuzmin statistics, and some aspects of reduction theory in higher dimensions. Some further connections to Diophantine approximation and other geometric generalizations of continued fractions are also presented. The book is well written and is easy to read and navigate. In addition to the emphasized geometric viewpoint, there is also a strong focus on algorithmic aspects with many actual computational algorithms scattered throughout the text. Some of the theoretical results are also stated as constructive algorithms. The book features a number of helpful illustrations and tables, a detailed index, and a large bibliography. This text is likely to become a valuable resource for researchers and students interested in discrete geometry and Diophantine approximations, as well as their rich interplay and many connections.