Geared toward upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, this text establishes that projective geometry and linear algebra are essentially identical. The supporting evidence consists of theorems offering an algebraic demonstration of certain geometric concepts. 1952 edition.

Linear Algebra and Projective Geometry

This book on linear algebra and geometry is based on a course given by renowned academician I.R. Shafarevich at Moscow State University. The book begins with the theory of linear algebraic equations and the basic elements of matrix theory and continues with vector spaces, linear transformations, inner product spaces, and the theory of affine and projective spaces. The book also includes some subjects that are naturally related to linear algebra but are usually not covered in such courses: exterior algebras, non-Euclidean geometry, topological properties of projective spaces, theory of quadrics (in affine and projective spaces), decomposition of finite abelian groups, and finitely generated periodic modules (similar to Jordan normal forms of linear operators). Mathematical reasoning, theorems, and concepts are illustrated with numerous examples from various fields of mathematics, including differential equations and differential geometry, as well as from mechanics and physics.

This lucid introductory text offers both an analytic and an axiomatic approach to plane projective geometry. The analytic treatment builds and expands upon students' familiarity with elementary plane analytic geometry and provides a well-motivated approach to projective geometry. Subsequent chapters explore Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry as specializations of the projective plane, revealing the existence of an infinite number of geometries, each Euclidean in nature but characterized by a different set of distance- and angle-measurement formulas. Outstanding pedagogical features include worked-through examples, introductions and summaries for each topic, and numerous theorems, proofs, and exercises that reinforce each chapter's precepts. Two helpful indexes conclude the text, along with answers to all odd-numbered exercises. In addition to its value to undergraduate students of mathematics, computer science, and secondary mathematics education, this volume provides an excellent reference for computer science professionals.

Projective geometry is one of the most fundamental and at the same time most beautiful branches of geometry. It can be considered the common foundation of many other geometric disciplines like Euclidean geometry, hyperbolic and elliptic geometry or even relativistic space-time geometry. This book offers a comprehensive introduction to this fascinating field and its applications. In particular, it explains how metric concepts may be best understood in projective terms. One of the major themes that appears throughout this book is the beauty of the interplay between geometry, algebra and combinatorics. This book can especially be used as a guide that explains how geometric objects and operations may be most elegantly expressed in algebraic terms, making it a valuable resource for mathematicians, as well as for computer scientists and physicists. The book is based on the author’s experience in implementing geometric software and includes hundreds of high-quality illustrations.

Reissued in the Oxford Classic Texts in the Physical Sciences series, this book provides a clear and systematic introduction to projective geometry, building on concepts from linear algebra.

This is essentially a book on linear algebra. But the approach is somewhat unusual in that we emphasise throughout the geometric aspect of the subject. The material is suitable for a course on linear algebra for mathe matics majors at North American Universities in their junior or senior year and at British Universities in their second or third year. However, in view of the structure of undergraduate courses in the United States, it is very possible that, at many institutions, the text may be found more suitable at the beginning graduate level. The book has two aims: to provide a basic course in linear algebra up to, and including, modules over a principal ideal domain; and to explain in rigorous language the intuitively familiar concepts of euclidean, affine, and projective geometry and the relations between them. It is increasingly recognised that linear algebra should be approached from a geometric point of VIew. This applies not only to mathematics majors but also to mathematically-oriented natural scientists and engineers.