Timeline for Euclidean Geometry and the “Fifth Postulate”
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Ricci, Levi-Civita, and the Birth of General Relativity Reviewed by David E
BOOK REVIEW Einstein’s Italian Mathematicians: Ricci, Levi-Civita, and the Birth of General Relativity Reviewed by David E. Rowe Einstein’s Italian modern Italy. Nor does the author shy away from topics Mathematicians: like how Ricci developed his absolute differential calculus Ricci, Levi-Civita, and the as a generalization of E. B. Christoffel’s (1829–1900) work Birth of General Relativity on quadratic differential forms or why it served as a key By Judith R. Goodstein tool for Einstein in his efforts to generalize the special theory of relativity in order to incorporate gravitation. In This delightful little book re- like manner, she describes how Levi-Civita was able to sulted from the author’s long- give a clear geometric interpretation of curvature effects standing enchantment with Tul- in Einstein’s theory by appealing to his concept of parallel lio Levi-Civita (1873–1941), his displacement of vectors (see below). For these and other mentor Gregorio Ricci Curbastro topics, Goodstein draws on and cites a great deal of the (1853–1925), and the special AMS, 2018, 211 pp. 211 AMS, 2018, vast secondary literature produced in recent decades by the world that these and other Ital- “Einstein industry,” in particular the ongoing project that ian mathematicians occupied and helped to shape. The has produced the first 15 volumes of The Collected Papers importance of their work for Einstein’s general theory of of Albert Einstein [CPAE 1–15, 1987–2018]. relativity is one of the more celebrated topics in the history Her account proceeds in three parts spread out over of modern mathematical physics; this is told, for example, twelve chapters, the first seven of which cover episodes in [Pais 1982], the standard biography of Einstein. -
Squaring the Circle a Case Study in the History of Mathematics the Problem
Squaring the Circle A Case Study in the History of Mathematics The Problem Using only a compass and straightedge, construct for any given circle, a square with the same area as the circle. The general problem of constructing a square with the same area as a given figure is known as the Quadrature of that figure. So, we seek a quadrature of the circle. The Answer It has been known since 1822 that the quadrature of a circle with straightedge and compass is impossible. Notes: First of all we are not saying that a square of equal area does not exist. If the circle has area A, then a square with side √A clearly has the same area. Secondly, we are not saying that a quadrature of a circle is impossible, since it is possible, but not under the restriction of using only a straightedge and compass. Precursors It has been written, in many places, that the quadrature problem appears in one of the earliest extant mathematical sources, the Rhind Papyrus (~ 1650 B.C.). This is not really an accurate statement. If one means by the “quadrature of the circle” simply a quadrature by any means, then one is just asking for the determination of the area of a circle. This problem does appear in the Rhind Papyrus, but I consider it as just a precursor to the construction problem we are examining. The Rhind Papyrus The papyrus was found in Thebes (Luxor) in the ruins of a small building near the Ramesseum.1 It was purchased in 1858 in Egypt by the Scottish Egyptologist A. -
The Birth of Hyperbolic Geometry Carl Friederich Gauss
The Birth of Hyperbolic Geometry Carl Friederich Gauss • There is some evidence to suggest that Gauss began studying the problem of the fifth postulate as early as 1789, when he was 12. We know in letters that he had done substantial work of the course of many years: Carl Friederich Gauss • “On the supposition that Euclidean geometry is not valid, it is easy to show that similar figures do not exist; in that case, the angles of an equilateral triangle vary with the side in which I see no absurdity at all. The angle is a function of the side and the sides are functions of the angle, a function which, of course, at the same time involves a constant length. It seems somewhat of a paradox to say that a constant length could be given a priori as it were, but in this again I see nothing inconsistent. Indeed it would be desirable that Euclidean geometry were not valid, for then we should possess a general a priori standard of measure.“ – Letter to Gerling, 1816 Carl Friederich Gauss • "I am convinced more and more that the necessary truth of our geometry cannot be demonstrated, at least not by the human intellect to the human understanding. Perhaps in another world, we may gain other insights into the nature of space which at present are unattainable to us. Until then we must consider geometry as of equal rank not with arithmetic, which is purely a priori, but with mechanics.“ –Letter to Olbers, 1817 Carl Friederich Gauss • " There is no doubt that it can be rigorously established that the sum of the angles of a rectilinear triangle cannot exceed 180°. -
Squaring the Circle in Elliptic Geometry
Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal Volume 18 Issue 2 Article 1 Squaring the Circle in Elliptic Geometry Noah Davis Aquinas College Kyle Jansens Aquinas College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.rose-hulman.edu/rhumj Recommended Citation Davis, Noah and Jansens, Kyle (2017) "Squaring the Circle in Elliptic Geometry," Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal: Vol. 18 : Iss. 2 , Article 1. Available at: https://scholar.rose-hulman.edu/rhumj/vol18/iss2/1 Rose- Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal squaring the circle in elliptic geometry Noah Davis a Kyle Jansensb Volume 18, No. 2, Fall 2017 Sponsored by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Department of Mathematics Terre Haute, IN 47803 a [email protected] Aquinas College b scholar.rose-hulman.edu/rhumj Aquinas College Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal Volume 18, No. 2, Fall 2017 squaring the circle in elliptic geometry Noah Davis Kyle Jansens Abstract. Constructing a regular quadrilateral (square) and circle of equal area was proved impossible in Euclidean geometry in 1882. Hyperbolic geometry, however, allows this construction. In this article, we complete the story, providing and proving a construction for squaring the circle in elliptic geometry. We also find the same additional requirements as the hyperbolic case: only certain angle sizes work for the squares and only certain radius sizes work for the circles; and the square and circle constructions do not rely on each other. Acknowledgements: We thank the Mohler-Thompson Program for supporting our work in summer 2014. Page 2 RHIT Undergrad. Math. J., Vol. 18, No. 2 1 Introduction In the Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Math Journal, 15 1 2014, Noah Davis demonstrated the construction of a hyperbolic circle and hyperbolic square in the Poincar´edisk [1]. -
Elliptic Geometry Hawraa Abbas Almurieb Spherical Geometry Axioms of Incidence
Elliptic Geometry Hawraa Abbas Almurieb Spherical Geometry Axioms of Incidence • Ax1. For every pair of antipodal point P and P’ and for every pair of antipodal point Q and Q’ such that P≠Q and P’≠Q’, there exists a unique circle incident with both pairs of points. • Ax2. For every great circle c, there exist at least two distinct pairs of antipodal points incident with c. • Ax3. There exist three distinct pairs of antipodal points with the property that no great circle is incident with all three of them. Betweenness Axioms Betweenness fails on circles What is the relation among points? • (A,B/C,D)= points A and B separates C and D 2. Axioms of Separation • Ax4. If (A,B/C,D), then points A, B, C, and D are collinear and distinct. In other words, non-collinear points cannot separate one another. • Ax5. If (A,B/C,D), then (B,A/C,D) and (C,D/A,B) • Ax6. If (A,B/C,D), then not (A,C/B,D) • Ax7. If points A, B, C, and D are collinear and distinct then (A,B/C,D) , (A,C/B,D) or (A,D/B,C). • Ax8. If points A, B, and C are collinear and distinct then there exists a point D such that(A,B/C,D) • Ax9. For any five distinct collinear points, A, B, C, D, and E, if (A,B/E,D), then either (A,B/C,D) or (A,B/C,E) Definition • Let l and m be any two lines and let O be a point not on either of them. -
+ 2R - P = I + 2R - P + 2, Where P, I, P Are the Invariants P and Those of Zeuthen-Segre for F
232 THE FOURTH DIMENSION. [Feb., N - 4p - (m - 2) + 2r - p = I + 2r - p + 2, where p, I, p are the invariants p and those of Zeuthen-Segre for F. If I is the same invariant for F, since I — p = I — p, we have I = 2V — 4p — m = 2s — 4p — m. Hence 2s is equal to the "equivalence" in nodes of the point (a, b, c) in the evaluation of the invariant I for F by means of the pencil Cy. This property can be shown directly for the following cases: 1°. F has only ordinary nodes. 2°. In the vicinity of any of these nodes there lie other nodes, or ordinary infinitesimal multiple curves. In these cases it is easy to show that in the vicinity of the nodes all the numbers such as h are equal to 2. It would be interesting to know if such is always the case, but the preceding investigation shows that for the applications this does not matter. UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, October 17, 1914. THE FOURTH DIMENSION. Geometry of Four Dimensions. By HENRY PARKER MANNING, Ph.D. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1914. 8vo. 348 pp. EVERY professional mathematician must hold himself at all times in readiness to answer certain standard questions of perennial interest to the layman. "What is, or what are quaternions ?" "What are least squares?" but especially, "Well, have you discovered the fourth dimension yet?" This last query is the most difficult of the three, suggesting forcibly the sophists' riddle "Have you ceased beating your mother?" The fact is that there is no common locus standi for questioner and questioned. -
Riemann's Contribution to Differential Geometry
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector Historia Mathematics 9 (1982) l-18 RIEMANN'S CONTRIBUTION TO DIFFERENTIAL GEOMETRY BY ESTHER PORTNOY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, URBANA, IL 61801 SUMMARIES In order to make a reasonable assessment of the significance of Riemann's role in the history of dif- ferential geometry, not unduly influenced by his rep- utation as a great mathematician, we must examine the contents of his geometric writings and consider the response of other mathematicians in the years immedi- ately following their publication. Pour juger adkquatement le role de Riemann dans le developpement de la geometric differentielle sans etre influence outre mesure par sa reputation de trks grand mathematicien, nous devons &udier le contenu de ses travaux en geometric et prendre en consideration les reactions des autres mathematiciens au tours de trois an&es qui suivirent leur publication. Urn Riemann's Einfluss auf die Entwicklung der Differentialgeometrie richtig einzuschZtzen, ohne sich von seinem Ruf als bedeutender Mathematiker iiberm;issig beeindrucken zu lassen, ist es notwendig den Inhalt seiner geometrischen Schriften und die Haltung zeitgen&sischer Mathematiker unmittelbar nach ihrer Verijffentlichung zu untersuchen. On June 10, 1854, Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann read his probationary lecture, "iber die Hypothesen welche der Geometrie zu Grunde liegen," before the Philosophical Faculty at Gdttingen ill. His biographer, Dedekind [1892, 5491, reported that Riemann had worked hard to make the lecture understandable to nonmathematicians in the audience, and that the result was a masterpiece of presentation, in which the ideas were set forth clearly without the aid of analytic techniques. -
08. Non-Euclidean Geometry 1
Topics: 08. Non-Euclidean Geometry 1. Euclidean Geometry 2. Non-Euclidean Geometry 1. Euclidean Geometry • The Elements. ~300 B.C. ~100 A.D. Earliest existing copy 1570 A.D. 1956 First English translation Dover Edition • 13 books of propositions, based on 5 postulates. 1 Euclid's 5 Postulates 1. A straight line can be drawn from any point to any point. • • A B 2. A finite straight line can be produced continuously in a straight line. • • A B 3. A circle may be described with any center and distance. • 4. All right angles are equal to one another. 2 5. If a straight line falling on two straight lines makes the interior angles on the same side together less than two right angles, then the two straight lines, if produced indefinitely, meet on that side on which the angles are together less than two right angles. � � • � + � < 180∘ • Euclid's Accomplishment: showed that all geometric claims then known follow from these 5 postulates. • Is 5th Postulate necessary? (1st cent.-19th cent.) • Basic strategy: Attempt to show that replacing 5th Postulate with alternative leads to contradiction. 3 • Equivalent to 5th Postulate (Playfair 1795): 5'. Through a given point, exactly one line can be drawn parallel to a given John Playfair (1748-1819) line (that does not contain the point). • Parallel straight lines are straight lines which, being in the same plane and being • Only two logically possible alternatives: produced indefinitely in either direction, do not meet one 5none. Through a given point, no lines can another in either direction. (The Elements: Book I, Def. -
A CONCISE MINI HISTORY of GEOMETRY 1. Origin And
Kragujevac Journal of Mathematics Volume 38(1) (2014), Pages 5{21. A CONCISE MINI HISTORY OF GEOMETRY LEOPOLD VERSTRAELEN 1. Origin and development in Old Greece Mathematics was the crowning and lasting achievement of the ancient Greek cul- ture. To more or less extent, arithmetical and geometrical problems had been ex- plored already before, in several previous civilisations at various parts of the world, within a kind of practical mathematical scientific context. The knowledge which in particular as such first had been acquired in Mesopotamia and later on in Egypt, and the philosophical reflections on its meaning and its nature by \the Old Greeks", resulted in the sublime creation of mathematics as a characteristically abstract and deductive science. The name for this science, \mathematics", stems from the Greek language, and basically means \knowledge and understanding", and became of use in most other languages as well; realising however that, as a matter of fact, it is really an art to reach new knowledge and better understanding, the Dutch term for mathematics, \wiskunde", in translation: \the art to achieve wisdom", might be even more appropriate. For specimens of the human kind, \nature" essentially stands for their organised thoughts about sensations and perceptions of \their worlds outside and inside" and \doing mathematics" basically stands for their thoughtful living in \the universe" of their idealisations and abstractions of these sensations and perceptions. Or, as Stewart stated in the revised book \What is Mathematics?" of Courant and Robbins: \Mathematics links the abstract world of mental concepts to the real world of physical things without being located completely in either". -
Science and Fascism
Science and Fascism Scientific Research Under a Totalitarian Regime Michele Benzi Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Emory University Outline 1. Timeline 2. The ascent of Italian mathematics (1860-1920) 3. The Italian Jewish community 4. The other sciences (mostly Physics) 5. Enter Mussolini 6. The Oath 7. The Godfathers of Italian science in the Thirties 8. Day of infamy 9. Fascist rethoric in science: some samples 10. The effect of Nazism on German science 11. The aftermath: amnesty or amnesia? 12. Concluding remarks Timeline • 1861 Italy achieves independence and is unified under the Savoy monarchy. Venice joins the new Kingdom in 1866, Rome in 1870. • 1863 The Politecnico di Milano is founded by a mathe- matician, Francesco Brioschi. • 1871 The capital is moved from Florence to Rome. • 1880s Colonial period begins (Somalia, Eritrea, Lybia and Dodecanese). • 1908 IV International Congress of Mathematicians held in Rome, presided by Vito Volterra. Timeline (cont.) • 1913 Emigration reaches highest point (more than 872,000 leave Italy). About 75% of the Italian popu- lation is illiterate and employed in agriculture. • 1914 Benito Mussolini is expelled from Socialist Party. • 1915 May: Italy enters WWI on the side of the Entente against the Central Powers. More than 650,000 Italian soldiers are killed (1915-1918). Economy is devastated, peace treaty disappointing. • 1921 January: Italian Communist Party founded in Livorno by Antonio Gramsci and other former Socialists. November: National Fascist Party founded in Rome by Mussolini. Strikes and social unrest lead to political in- stability. Timeline (cont.) • 1922 October: March on Rome. Mussolini named Prime Minister by the King. -
A Survey of the Development of Geometry up to 1870
A Survey of the Development of Geometry up to 1870∗ Eldar Straume Department of mathematical sciences Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) N-9471 Trondheim, Norway September 4, 2014 Abstract This is an expository treatise on the development of the classical ge- ometries, starting from the origins of Euclidean geometry a few centuries BC up to around 1870. At this time classical differential geometry came to an end, and the Riemannian geometric approach started to be developed. Moreover, the discovery of non-Euclidean geometry, about 40 years earlier, had just been demonstrated to be a ”true” geometry on the same footing as Euclidean geometry. These were radically new ideas, but henceforth the importance of the topic became gradually realized. As a consequence, the conventional attitude to the basic geometric questions, including the possible geometric structure of the physical space, was challenged, and foundational problems became an important issue during the following decades. Such a basic understanding of the status of geometry around 1870 enables one to study the geometric works of Sophus Lie and Felix Klein at the beginning of their career in the appropriate historical perspective. arXiv:1409.1140v1 [math.HO] 3 Sep 2014 Contents 1 Euclideangeometry,thesourceofallgeometries 3 1.1 Earlygeometryandtheroleoftherealnumbers . 4 1.1.1 Geometric algebra, constructivism, and the real numbers 7 1.1.2 Thedownfalloftheancientgeometry . 8 ∗This monograph was written up in 2008-2009, as a preparation to the further study of the early geometrical works of Sophus Lie and Felix Klein at the beginning of their career around 1870. The author apologizes for possible historiographic shortcomings, errors, and perhaps lack of updated information on certain topics from the history of mathematics. -
Arxiv:1210.8144V1 [Physics.Pop-Ph] 29 Oct 2012 Rcs Nw Nti a Ehv Lme Oad H Brillia the Enlightenment
Possible Bubbles of Spacetime Curvature in the South Pacific Benjamin K. Tippett∗ Department of Mathematics and Statistics University of New Brunswick Fredericton, NB, E3B 5A3 Canada In 1928, the late Francis Wayland Thurston published a scandalous manuscript in purport of warning the world of a global conspiracy of occultists. Among the documents he gathered to support his thesis was the personal account of a sailor by the name of Gustaf Johansen, describing an encounter with an extraordinary island. Johansen’s descriptions of his adventures upon the island are fantastic, and are often considered the most enigmatic (and therefore the highlight) of Thurston’s collection of documents. We contend that all of the credible phenomena which Johansen described may be explained as being the observable consequences of a localized bubble of spacetime curvature. Many of his most incomprehensible statements (involving the geometry of the architecture, and variability of the location of the horizon) can therefore be said to have a unified underlying cause. We propose a simplified example of such a geometry, and show using numerical computation that Johansen’s descriptions were, for the most part, not simply the ravings of a lunatic. Rather, they are the nontechnical observations of an intelligent man who did not understand how to describe what he was seeing. Conversely, it seems to us improbable that Johansen should have unwittingly given such a precise description of the consequences of spacetime curvature, if the details of this story were merely the dregs of some half remembered fever dream. We calculate the type of matter which would be required to generate such exotic spacetime curvature.