Affine-inscribed and affine-circumscribed polygons and polytopes

Five theorems on polygons and polytopes inscribed in (or circumscribed about) a convex compact set in the plane or space are proved by topological methods. In particular, it is proved that for every interior point O of a convex compact set in ℝ³, there exists a two-dimensional section through O circumscribed about an affine image of a regular octagon. It is also proved that every compact convex set in ℝ³ (except the cases listed below) is circumscribed about an affine image of a cube-octahedron (the convex hull of the midpoints of the edges of a cube). Possible exceptions are provided by the bodies containing a parallelogram P and contained in a cylinder with directrix P. Bibliography: 29 titles. Translated fromZapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 231, 1995, pp. 286–298. Translated by B. M. Bekker.