Dirichlet approximation theorem Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
For every irrational number and positive integer , there are integers with such that
The proof applies the pigeonhole principle to the fractional parts of .
Write . Since is not a spherical point set, there are real coefficients , not all zero, such that
Indeed, take a minimal nonspherical subset; its points are affinely dependent, and centering the proper spherical subset shows that the corresponding quadratic sum is nonzero. The three relations are invariant under isometries, and rescaling the lets us assume .
Choose and color every by the intervals of length containing the fractional parts of . This uses finitely many colors. If were a monochromatic isometric copy of , then each
would lie within of an integer. Their sum is within of an integer, but because it equals
a contradiction. Hence is not a Euclidean Ramsey set.
Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.
Consider the fractional parts
in . Divide that interval into intervals of length . By the pigeonhole principle, two fractional parts, say those indexed by , lie in the same interval. Thus, for some integer ,
Set . Then , and division by gives the Dirichlet approximation theorem
Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.