One of the first college-level texts for elementary courses in non-Euclidean geometry, this volumeis geared toward students familiar with calculus. Topics include the fifth postulate, hyperbolicplane geometry and trigonometry, and elliptic plane geometry and trigonometry. Extensiveappendixes offer background information on Euclidean geometry, and numerous exercisesappear throughout the text.Reprint of the Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc., New York, 1945 edition
This fine and versatile introduction begins with the theorems common to Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry, and then it addresses the specific differences that constitute elliptic and hyperbolic geometry. 1901 edition.
This classic text provides overview of both classic and hyperbolic geometries, placing the work of key mathematicians/ philosophers in historical context. Coverage includes geometric transformations, models of the hyperbolic planes, and pseudospheres.
This is the English translation of a volume originally published only in Russian and now out of print. The book was written by Jacques Hadamard on the work of Poincare. Poincare's creation of a theory of automorphic functions in the early 1880s was one of the most significant mathematical achievements of the nineteenth century. It directly inspired the uniformization theorem, led to a class of functions adequate to solve all linear ordinary differential equations, and focused attention on a large new class of discrete groups. It was the first significant application of non-Euclidean geometry. This unique exposition by Hadamard offers a fascinating and intuitive introduction to the subject of automorphic functions and illuminates its connection to differential equations, a connection not often found in other texts.
There are many technical and popular accounts, both in Russian and in other languages, of the non-Euclidean geometry of Lobachevsky and Bolyai, a few of which are listed in the Bibliography. This geometry, also called hyperbolic geometry, is part of the required subject matter of many mathematics departments in universities and teachers' colleges-a reflec tion of the view that familiarity with the elements of hyperbolic geometry is a useful part of the background of future high school teachers. Much attention is paid to hyperbolic geometry by school mathematics clubs. Some mathematicians and educators concerned with reform of the high school curriculum believe that the required part of the curriculum should include elements of hyperbolic geometry, and that the optional part of the curriculum should include a topic related to hyperbolic geometry. I The broad interest in hyperbolic geometry is not surprising. This interest has little to do with mathematical and scientific applications of hyperbolic geometry, since the applications (for instance, in the theory of automorphic functions) are rather specialized, and are likely to be encountered by very few of the many students who conscientiously study (and then present to examiners) the definition of parallels in hyperbolic geometry and the special features of configurations of lines in the hyperbolic plane. The principal reason for the interest in hyperbolic geometry is the important fact of "non-uniqueness" of geometry; of the existence of many geometric systems.
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.
This book is an introduction to hyperbolic and differential geometry that provides material in the early chapters that can serve as a textbook for a standard upper division course on hyperbolic geometry. For that material, the students need to be familiar with calculus and linear algebra and willing to accept one advanced theorem from analysis without proof. The book goes well beyond the standard course in later chapters, and there is enough material for an honors course, or for supplementary reading. Indeed, parts of the book have been used for both kinds of courses. Even some of what is in the early chapters would surely not be nec essary for a standard course. For example, detailed proofs are given of the Jordan Curve Theorem for Polygons and of the decomposability of poly gons into triangles, These proofs are included for the sake of completeness, but the results themselves are so believable that most students should skip the proofs on a first reading. The axioms used are modern in character and more "user friendly" than the traditional ones. The familiar real number system is used as an in gredient rather than appearing as a result of the axioms. However, it should not be thought that the geometric treatment is in terms of models: this is an axiomatic approach that is just more convenient than the traditional ones.
A fascinating tour through parts of geometry students are unlikely to see in the rest of their studies while, at the same time, anchoring their excursions to the well known parallel postulate of Euclid. The author shows how alternatives to Euclids fifth postulate lead to interesting and different patterns and symmetries, and, in the process of examining geometric objects, the author incorporates the algebra of complex and hypercomplex numbers, some graph theory, and some topology. Interesting problems are scattered throughout the text. Nevertheless, the book merely assumes a course in Euclidean geometry at high school level. While many concepts introduced are advanced, the mathematical techniques are not. Singers lively exposition and off-beat approach will greatly appeal both to students and mathematicians, and the contents of the book can be covered in a one-semester course, perhaps as a sequel to a Euclidean geometry course.
This book is unique in that it looks at geometry from 4 different viewpoints - Euclid-style axioms, linear algebra, projective geometry, and groups and their invariants Approach makes the subject accessible to readers of all mathematical tastes, from the visual to the algebraic Abundantly supplemented with figures and exercises
