The Minkowski chain and Diophantine approximation (Q2211029)

It is well known that every irrational \(\alpha\in \mathbb{R} \) has a unique expansion as an infinite regular continued fraction \[ \alpha=a_0+\frac{1}{a_1+}\;\frac{1}{a_2+}\; \frac{1}{a_3+}\dots , \] where \(a_j\) are integers called the partial quotients with \(a_j >0 \) for \(j \geq 1 \). The authors recall the definitions of Hurwitz and Minkowski chains, their relationships to each other are formulated, the regular continued fraction and Minkowski's criterion. The authors of the article consider applications of the Minkowski chain to Diophantine approximation by badly approximable and singular real linear forms in two or more variables. The criteria for a real linear form to be either badly approximable or singular are given in the paper.