Rational Approximation

If alpha is any number and m and n are integers, then there is a rational number m/n for which

 |alpha-m/n|<=1/n.
(1)

If alpha is irrational and k is any whole number, there is a fraction m/n with n<=k and for which

 |alpha-m/n|<=1/(nk).
(2)

Furthermore, there are an infinite number of fractions m/n for which

 |alpha-m/n|<=1/(n^2)
(3)

(Hilbert and Cohn-Vossen 1999, pp. 40-44).

Hurwitz has shown that for an irrational number zeta

 |zeta-h/k|<1/(ck^2),
(4)

there are infinitely rational numbers h/k if 0<c<=sqrt(5), but if c>sqrt(5), there are some zeta for which this approximation holds for only finitely many h/k.

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