Universal generalization of the continued fraction algorithm

1. Simple generalization. Let three homogeneous real linear forms be given in a three-dimensional real space. Their moduli give a mapping of the space into another space. In the second space, we consider the convex hull of images of all integer points of the first space except its origin. This convex hull is called the modular polyhedron. The best integer approximations to the root subspaces of these forms are given by the integer points whose images lie on the boundary of the modular polyhedron. For the concret three linear forms, any part of the boundary of the modular polyhedron can be computed by means of any standard program for computation of a convex hull. The algorithm gives the best approximations, and it is periodic for cubic irrationalities with positive discriminant. It also allows to understand why matrix algorithms proposed by Euler, Jacobi, Dirichlet, Hermite, Poincare, Hurwitz, Brun, Guting and others are not universal: proper algorithm is composed from several different matrix algorithms.
2. Universal generalization. Let $l$ linear forms and $k$ quadratic forms ($n = l + 2k$) be given in the $n$-dimensional real space $\mathbb R^n$. Absolute values of the forms define a map of the space $\mathbb R^n$ into the positive orthant $\mathbf S$ of the $m$-dimensional real space $\mathbb R^m$, where $m = l + k$. Here the integer lattice $\mathbb Z^n$ in $\mathbb R^n$ is mapped into a set $\mathbf Z$ in $\mathbf S$. The closure of the convex hull $\mathbf H$ of the set $\mathbf Z \backslash 0$ is a polyhedral set. Integer points from $\mathbb R^n$, which are mapped in the boundary $\partial\mathbf H$ of the polyhedron $\mathbf H$, give the best Diophantine approximations to root subspaces of all given forms. In the algebraic case, when the given forms are connected with roots of a polynomial of degree $n$, we prove that the polyhedron $\mathbf H$ has $m - 1$ independent periods. It is a generalization of the Lagrange Theorem, that continued fractions of a square irrationality is periodic. For the certain set of the $m$ forms, any part of the boundary $\partial\mathbf H$ of the polyhedron $\mathbf H$ can be computed by a program for computing convex hulls.
3. Main achievement. Best Diophantine approximations can be computed by a global algorithm using a standard program for computing convex hulls, instead of step-by-step computations as in the continued fraction algorithm. It gives a solution of the problem, that majority of main mathematicians of the XIX century tried to solve.
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