"Lobachevsky believed that another form of geometry existed, a non-Euclidean geometry, and this 1840 treatise is his argument on its behalf. Line by line in this classic work he carefully presents a new and revolutionary theory of parallels, one that allows for all of Euclids axioms, except for the last. This 1891 translation includes a bibliography and translator George B. Halsteds essay on elliptic geometry. Russian mathematician NICHOLAS LOBACHEVSKY (17921856) is best remembered as the founder (along with Janos Bolyai) of non-Euclidean geometry. He is also the author of New Foundations of Geometry (18351838) and Pangeometry (1855)."
LOBACHEVSKY was the first man ever to publish a non-Euclidean geometry. Of the immortal essay now first appearing in English Gauss said, "The author has treated the matter with a master-hand and in the true geometer's spirit. I think I ought to call your attention to this book, whose perusal cannot fail to give you the most vivid pleasure." Clifford says, "It is quite simple, merely Euclid without the vicious assumption, but the way things come out of one another is quite lovely." * * * "What Vesalius was to Galen, what Copernicus was to Ptolemy, that was Lobachevsky to Euclid." Says Sylvester, "In Quaternions the example has been given of Algebra released from the yoke of the commutative principle of multiplication - an emancipation somewhat akin to Lobachevsky's of Geometry from Euclid's noted empirical axiom." Cayley says, "It is well known that Euclid's twelfth axiom, even in Playfair's form of it, has been considered as needing demonstration; and that Lobachevsky constructed a perfectly consistent theory, where- in this axiom was assumed not to hold good, or say a system of non- Euclidean plane geometry. There is a like system of non-Euclidean solid geometry." GEORGE BRUCE HALSTED. 2407 San Marcos Street, Austin, Texas. * * * *From the TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION. "Prove all things, hold fast that which is good," does not mean demonstrate everything. From nothing assumed, nothing can be proved. "Geometry without axioms," was a book which went through several editions, and still has historical value. But now a volume with such a title would, without opening it, be set down as simply the work of a paradoxer. The set of axioms far the most influential in the intellectual history of the world was put together in Egypt; but really it owed nothing to the Egyptian race, drew nothing from the boasted lore of Egypt's priests. The Papyrus of the Rhind, belonging to the British Museum, but given to the world by the erudition of a German Egyptologist, Eisenlohr, and a German historian of mathematics, Cantor, gives us more knowledge of the state of mathematics in ancient Egypt than all else previously accessible to the modern world. Its whole testimony con- firms with overwhelming force the position that Geometry as a science, strict and self-conscious deductive reasoning, was created by the subtle intellect of the same race whose bloom in art still overawes us in the Venus of Milo, the Apollo Belvidere, the Laocoon. In a geometry occur the most noted set of axioms, the geometry of Euclid, a pure Greek, professor at the University of Alexandria. Not only at its very birth did this typical product of the Greek genius assume sway as ruler in the pure sciences, not only does its first efflorescence carry us through the splendid days of Theon and Hypatia, but unlike the latter, fanatics cannot murder it; that dismal flood, the dark ages, cannot drown it. Like the phoenix of its native Egypt, it rises with the new birth of culture. An Anglo-Saxon, Adelard of Bath, finds it clothed in Arabic vestments in the land of the Alhambra. Then clothed in Latin, it and the new-born printing press confer honor on each other. Finally back again in its original Greek, it is published first in queenly Basel, then in stately Oxford. The latest edition in Greek is from Leipsic's learned presses.
Geometry: A Metric Approach with Models, imparts a real feeling for Euclidean and non-Euclidean (in particular, hyperbolic) geometry. Intended as a rigorous first course, the book introduces and develops the various axioms slowly, and then, in a departure from other texts, continually illustrates the major definitions and axioms with two or three models, enabling the reader to picture the idea more clearly. The second edition has been expanded to include a selection of expository exercises. Additionally, the authors have designed software with computational problems to accompany the text. This software may be obtained from George Parker.
Lobachevsky wrote Pangeometry in 1855, the year before his death. This memoir is a resume of his work on non-Euclidean geometry and its applications and can be considered his clearest account on the subject. It is also the conclusion of his life's work and the last attempt he made to acquire recognition. The treatise contains basic ideas of hyperbolic geometry, including the trigonometric formulae, the techniques of computation of arc length, of area and of volume, with concrete examples. It also deals with the applications of hyperbolic geometry to the computation of new definite integrals. The techniques are different from those found in most modern books on hyperbolic geometry since they do not use models. Besides its historical importance, Lobachevsky's Pangeometry is a beautiful work, written in a simple and condensed style. The material that it contains is still very alive, and reading this book will be most useful for researchers and for students in geometry and in the history of science. It can be used as a textbook, as a sourcebook, and as a repository of inspiration. The present edition provides the first complete English translation of Pangeometry available in print. It contains facsimiles of both the Russian and the French original versions. The translation is accompanied by notes, followed by a biography of Lobachevky and an extensive commentary.
This book offers a general introduction to the geometrical studies of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) and his mathematical epistemology. In particular, it focuses on his theory of parallel lines and his attempts to prove the famous Parallel Postulate. Furthermore it explains the role that Leibniz’s work played in the development of non-Euclidean geometry. The first part is an overview of his epistemology of geometry and a few of his geometrical findings, which puts them in the context of the seventeenth-century studies on the foundations of geometry. It also provides a detailed mathematical and philosophical commentary on his writings on the theory of parallels, and discusses how they were received in the eighteenth century as well as their relevance for the non-Euclidean revolution in mathematics. The second part offers a collection of Leibniz’s essays on the theory of parallels and an English translation of them. While a few of these papers have already been published (in Latin) in the standard Leibniz editions, most of them are transcribed from Leibniz’s manuscripts written in Hannover, and published here for the first time. The book provides new material on the history of non-Euclidean geometry, stressing the previously neglected role of Leibniz in these developments. This volume will be of interest to historians in mathematics, philosophy or logic, as well as mathematicians interested in non-Euclidean geometry.
The Russian edition of this book appeared in 1976 on the hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the historic day of February 23, 1826, when LobaeevskiI delivered his famous lecture on his discovery of non-Euclidean geometry. The importance of the discovery of non-Euclidean geometry goes far beyond the limits of geometry itself. It is safe to say that it was a turning point in the history of all mathematics. The scientific revolution of the seventeenth century marked the transition from "mathematics of constant magnitudes" to "mathematics of variable magnitudes. " During the seventies of the last century there occurred another scientific revolution. By that time mathematicians had become familiar with the ideas of non-Euclidean geometry and the algebraic ideas of group and field (all of which appeared at about the same time), and the (later) ideas of set theory. This gave rise to many geometries in addition to the Euclidean geometry previously regarded as the only conceivable possibility, to the arithmetics and algebras of many groups and fields in addition to the arith metic and algebra of real and complex numbers, and, finally, to new mathe matical systems, i. e. , sets furnished with various structures having no classical analogues. Thus in the 1870's there began a new mathematical era usually called, until the middle of the twentieth century, the era of modern mathe matics.
Philosophers have studied geometry since ancient times. Geometrical knowledge has often played the role of a laboratory for the philosopher's conceptual experiments dedicated to the ideation of powerful theories of knowledge. Lorenzo Magnani's new book Philosophy and Geometry illustrates the rich intrigue of this fascinating story of human knowledge, providing a new analysis of the ideas of many scholars (including Plato, Proclus, Kant, and Poincaré), and discussing conventionalist and neopositivist perspectives and the problem of the origins of geometry. The book also ties together the concerns of philosophers of science and cognitive scientists, showing, for example, the connections between geometrical reasoning and cognition as well as the results of recent logical and computational models of geometrical reasoning. All the topics are dealt with using a novel combination of both historical and contemporary perspectives. Philosophy and Geometry is a valuable contribution to the renaissance of research in the field.
This early work by David Hilbert was originally published in the early 20th century and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. David Hilbert was born on the 23rd January 1862, in a Province of Prussia. Hilbert is recognised as one of the most influential and universal mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental ideas in many areas, including invariant theory and the axiomatization of geometry. He also formulated the theory of Hilbert spaces, one of the foundations of functional analysis.
