A general geometric construction for affine surface area

Abstract

Let $K$ be a convex body in ${\bf R}^n$ and $B$ be the Euclidean unit ball in ${\bf R}^n$. We show that $$\mbox{lim}_{t\rightarrow 0} \frac{|K| -|K_t|}{|B| - |B_t|}= \frac{as(K)}{as(B)},$$ where $as(K)$ respectively $as(B)$ is the affine surface area of $K$ respectively $B$ and $\{K_t\}_{t\geq 0}$, $\{B_t\}_{t\geq 0}$ are general families of convex bodies constructed from $K$, $B$ satifying certain conditions. As a corollary we get results obtained in [M-W], [Schm],[S-W] and[W].