This book shows how geometry can be learned by starting with real world problems which are solved by intuition, common sense reasoning and experiments. Gradually the more formal demands of mathematical proofs get their proper place and make it possible to explore new applications. This process helps students to feel the need for precise definitions and procedures, to contribute to the construction of an axiomatic system, and to experience the power of systematic reasoning. The course is designed for students in a Nature & Technology strand which prepares for studying the sciences or technology at university level. Its goal was basically to reintroduce ‘proof’ in a meaningful way in the late 1990s Dutch secondary education curriculum. Following the educational view of the Freudenthal Institute this is not done by stating Euclid’s axioms on page one, but rather a starting point is chosen in students’ intuitions and tentative solutions of problems that are experienced as real and relevant. The photograph on the cover shows students exploring one of the problems from the midpart of the course in the computerlab.

This book returns geometry to its natural habitats: the arts, nature and technology. Throughout the book, geometry comes alive as a tool to unlock the understanding of our world. Assuming only familiarity with high school mathematics, the book invites the reader to discover geometry through examples from biology, astronomy, architecture, design, photography, drawing, engineering and more. Lavishly illustrated with over 1200 figures, all of the geometric results are carefully derived from scratch, with topics from differential, projective and non-Euclidean geometry, as well as kinematics, introduced as the need arises. The mathematical results contained in the book range from very basic facts to recent results, and mathematical proofs are included although not necessary for comprehension. With its wide range of geometric applications, this self-contained volume demonstrates the ubiquity of geometry in our world, and may serve as a source of inspiration for architects, artists, designers, engineers, and natural scientists. This new edition has been completely revised and updated, with new topics and many new illustrations.

This introduction to modern geometry differs from other books in the field due to its emphasis on applications and its discussion of special relativity as a major example of a non-Euclidean geometry. Additionally, it covers the two important areas of non-Euclidean geometry, spherical geometry and projective geometry, as well as emphasising transformations, and conics and planetary orbits. Much emphasis is placed on applications throughout the book, which motivate the topics, and many additional applications are given in the exercises. It makes an excellent introduction for those who need to know how geometry is used in addition to its formal theory.

A selection of student texts of the 1995-1999 Profi-project for New matematics for senior Highschool

"Of chief interest to mathematicians, but physicists and others will be fascinated ... and intrigued by the fruitful use of non-Cartesian methods. Students ... should find the book stimulating." — British Journal of Applied Physics This study of many important curves, their geometrical properties, and their applications features material not customarily treated in texts on synthetic or analytic Euclidean geometry. Its wide coverage, which includes both algebraic and transcendental curves, extends to unusual properties of familiar curves along with the nature of lesser known curves. Informative discussions of the line, circle, parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola presuppose only the most elementary facts. The less common curves — cissoid, strophoid, spirals, the leminscate, cycloid, epicycloid, cardioid, and many others — receive introductions that explain both their basic and advanced properties. Derived curves-the involute, evolute, pedal curve, envelope, and orthogonal trajectories-are also examined, with definitions of their important applications. These range through the fields of optics, electric circuit design, hydraulics, hydrodynamics, classical mechanics, electromagnetism, crystallography, gear design, road engineering, orbits of subatomic particles, and similar areas in physics and engineering. The author represents the points of the curves by complex numbers, rather than the real Cartesian coordinates, an approach that permits simple, direct, and elegant proofs.

This book studies the differential geometry of surfaces and its relevance to engineering and the sciences.

Tensors are ubiquitous in the sciences. The geometry of tensors is both a powerful tool for extracting information from data sets, and a beautiful subject in its own right. This book has three intended uses: a classroom textbook, a reference work for researchers in the sciences, and an account of classical and modern results in (aspects of) the theory that will be of interest to researchers in geometry. For classroom use, there is a modern introduction to multilinear algebra and to the geometry and representation theory needed to study tensors, including a large number of exercises. For researchers in the sciences, there is information on tensors in table format for easy reference and a summary of the state of the art in elementary language. This is the first book containing many classical results regarding tensors. Particular applications treated in the book include the complexity of matrix multiplication, P versus NP, signal processing, phylogenetics, and algebraic statistics. For geometers, there is material on secant varieties, G-varieties, spaces with finitely many orbits and how these objects arise in applications, discussions of numerous open questions in geometry arising in applications, and expositions of advanced topics such as the proof of the Alexander-Hirschowitz theorem and of the Weyman-Kempf method for computing syzygies.