Quality approximation of real numbers by rationals

Mary Flahive
Department of Mathematics, Oregon State University

Abstract: The Lagrange value of a real number measures how well it can be approximated by rationals where the approximation is measured in terms of denominator. Considered as a subset of the real line, the set of all Lagrange values has a very interesting structure. This talk will develop the approximation problem from basic principles and progress to a natural generalization.