This paper is devoted primarily to the study of properties of the Grassmannian of oriented 2-planes in [double-struck capital]R[superscript]n and to applications of these properties to understanding minimal surfaces in [double-struck capital]R[superscript]n via the generalized Gauss map. The extrinsic geometry of the Grassmannian, when considered as a submanifold of [double-struck capital]CP[superscript]n-2, is investigated, with special emphasis on the nature of the intersection of the Grassmannian with linear subspaces of [double-struck capital]CP[superscript]n-1. These results are the basis for a discussion of minimal surfaces that are degenerate in various ways; understanding the different types of degeneracy and their interrelations is a critical step toward obtaining a clear picture of the basic geometric properties of minimal surfaces in [double-struck capital]R[superscript]n.

The book explores the possibility of extending the notions of "Grassmannian" and "Gauss map" to the PL category. They are distinguished from "classifying space" and "classifying map" which are essentially homotopy-theoretic notions. The analogs of Grassmannian and Gauss map defined incorporate geometric and combinatorial information. Principal applications involve characteristic class theory, smoothing theory, and the existence of immersion satifying certain geometric criteria, e.g. curvature conditions. The book assumes knowledge of basic differential topology and bundle theory, including Hirsch-Gromov-Phillips theory, as well as the analogous theories for the PL category. The work should be of interest to mathematicians concerned with geometric topology, PL and PD aspects of differential geometry and the geometry of polyhedra.

This is a comprehensive presentation of the geometry of submanifolds that expands on classical results in the theory of curves and surfaces. The geometry of submanifolds starts from the idea of the extrinsic geometry of a surface, and the theory studies the position and properties of a submanifold in ambient space in both local and global aspects. Discussions include submanifolds in Euclidean states and Riemannian space, minimal submanifolds, Grassman mappings, multi-dimensional regular polyhedra, and isometric immersions of Lobachevski space into Euclidean spaces. This volume also highlights the contributions made by great geometers to the geometry of submanifolds and its areas of application.

This volume presents the cutting-edge contributions to the Seventh International Workshop on Complex Structures and Vector Fields, which was organized as a continuation of the high successful preceding workshops on similar research.The volume includes works treating ambitious topics in differential geometry, mathematical physics and technology such as Bézier curves in space forms, potential and catastrophy of a soap film, computer-assisted studies of logistic maps, and robotics.

Few people outside of mathematics are aware of the varieties of mathemat ical experience - the degree to which different mathematical subjects have different and distinctive flavors, often attractive to some mathematicians and repellant to others. The particular flavor of the subject of minimal surfaces seems to lie in a combination of the concreteness of the objects being studied, their origin and relation to the physical world, and the way they lie at the intersection of so many different parts of mathematics. In the past fifteen years a new component has been added: the availability of computer graphics to provide illustrations that are both mathematically instructive and esthetically pleas ing. During the course of the twentieth century, two major thrusts have played a seminal role in the evolution of minimal surface theory. The first is the work on the Plateau Problem, whose initial phase culminated in the solution for which Jesse Douglas was awarded one of the first two Fields Medals in 1936. (The other Fields Medal that year went to Lars V. Ahlfors for his contributions to complex analysis, including his important new insights in Nevanlinna Theory.) The second was the innovative approach to partial differential equations by Serge Bernstein, which led to the celebrated Bernstein's Theorem, stating that the only solution to the minimal surface equation over the whole plane is the trivial solution: a linear function.

This volume is the outgrowth of a Special Session on Geometry, held at the November 1987 meeting of the AMS at the University of California at Los Angeles. The unusually well-attended session attracted more than sixty participants and featured over forty addresses by some of the day's outstanding geometers. By common consent, it was decided that the papers to be collected in the present volume should be surveys of relatively broad areas of geometry, rather than detailed presentations of new research results. A comprehensive survey of the field is beyond the scope of a volume such as this. Nonetheless, the editors have sought to provide all geometers, whatever their specialties, with some insight into recent developments in a variety of topics in this active area of research.