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Gruber P. Convex and Discrete Geometry

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216 <strong>Convex</strong> Bodies<br />

Prove analogous results, given the number of edges, 2-faces, etc. of the approximating<br />

polytopes instead of the number of vertices or facets.<br />

Prove results of this type for other measures of distance, for example for the<br />

deviation with respect to the surface area or other quermassintegrals.<br />

<strong>Gruber</strong> [439] showed that for d = 3 best approximating polytopes have asymptotically<br />

affine regular hexagonal facets. For some information on the form of the<br />

best approximating polytopes for general d, see [443]. More precise results in<br />

higher dimensions would be desirable.<br />

An Isoperimetric Problem for <strong>Convex</strong> Polytopes<br />

Let P(n), n = d + 1,...,denote the set of all proper convex polytopes in E d with at<br />

most n facets. Then the problems arise to determine<br />

�<br />

S(P) d<br />

�<br />

inf<br />

: P ∈ P(n)<br />

V (P) d−1<br />

<strong>and</strong> to describe the polytopes Pn ∈ P(n) with minimum isoperimetric quotient. As a<br />

consequence of the above approximation theorem, we have the following result.<br />

Theorem 11.5. Let Pn ∈ P(n), n = d + 1,..., be polytopes with minimum<br />

isoperimetric quotient amongst all polytopes in P(n). Then there is a constant<br />

δ = δ2,d−1 > 0, depending only on d, such that<br />

S(Pn) d<br />

V (Pn) d−1 ∼ dd V (B d ) + dd δ<br />

2 S(Bd ) d+1<br />

d−1<br />

1<br />

n 2<br />

d−1<br />

as n →∞.<br />

Proof. By the corollary of Lindelöf’s theorem 18.4, each of the polytopes Pn is circumscribed<br />

to a ball. Since homotheties do not change the isoperimetric quotient,<br />

we may assume that each Pn is circumscribed to B d . For such a polytope the volume<br />

equals 1/d times its surface area. Hence<br />

(24)<br />

S(Pn) d<br />

V (Pn) d−1 = dd V (Pn) = dd V (B d ) + dd�V (Pn) − V (B d ) �<br />

= d d V (B d ) + d d δ V (C, Pn).<br />

Pn minimizes the isoperimetric quotient among all polytopes in P(n), <strong>and</strong> is circumscribed<br />

to B d . Thus, in particular, it minimizes the isoperimetric quotient among all<br />

polytopes in P(n) circumscribed to B d . Taking into account (24), we see that Pn minimizes<br />

the symmetric difference δ V (C, Pn) among all polytopes in P(n) which are<br />

circumscribed to B d . Thus Pn is best approximating of B d among all polytopes in<br />

P c (n) (Bd ). Now apply Theorem 11.4 to the equality (24). ⊓⊔

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