The Four Pillars of Geometry (Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics)

  • 3 Want to read

My Reading Lists:

Create a new list

  • 3 Want to read


Download Options

Buy this book

Last edited by MARC Bot
February 11, 2025 | History

The Four Pillars of Geometry (Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics)

  • 3 Want to read

For two millennia the right way to teach geometry was the Euclidean approach, and in many respects, this is still the case. But in the 1950s the cry "Down with triangles!" was heard in France and new geometry books appeared, packed with linear algebra but with no diagrams. Was this the new right approach? Or was the right approach still something else, perhaps transformation groups? The Four Pillars of Geometry approaches geometry in four different ways, spending two chapters on each. This makes the subject accessible to readers of all mathematical tastes, from the visual to the algebraic. Not only does each approach offer a different view; the combination of viewpoints yields insights not available in most books at this level. For example, it is shown how algebra emerges from projective geometry, and how the hyperbolic plane emerges from the real projective line. The author begins with Euclid-style construction and axiomatics, then proceeds to linear algebra when it becomes convenient to replace tortuous arguments with simple calculations. Next, he uses projective geometry to explain why objects look the way they do, as well as to explain why geometry is entangled with algebra. And lastly, the author introduces transformation groups---not only to clarify the differences between geometries, but also to exhibit geometries that are unexpectedly the same. All readers are sure to find something new in this attractive text, which is abundantly supplemented with figures and exercises. This book will be useful for an undergraduate geometry course, a capstone course, or a course aimed at future high school teachers. John Stillwell is Professor of Mathematics at the University of San Francisco. He is the author of several highly regarded books published by Springer, including Elements of Number Theory (2003), Mathematics and Its History (Second Edition, 2002), Numbers and Geometry (1998) and Elements of Algebra (1994).

Publish Date
Publisher
Springer
Language
English
Pages
229

Buy this book

Previews available in: English

Book Details


First Sentence

"For over 2000 years, mathematics was almost synonymous with the geometry of Euclid's Elements, a book written around 300 BCE and used in school mathematics instruction until the 20th century."

Classifications

Library of Congress
QA445 .S763 2005, QA1-939, QA445 .S77 2005

Edition Identifiers

Open Library
OL7444815M
Internet Archive
fourpillarsgeome00stil_071
ISBN 10
0387255303
ISBN 13
9780387255309
LCCN
2005929630
OCLC/WorldCat
74809803, 60320110
LibraryThing
4254460
Goodreads
210611

Work Identifiers

Work ID
OL890721W

Community Reviews (0)

No community reviews have been submitted for this work.

Lists

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON