Geometry and Symmetry

Geometry and Symmetry
Author: L. Christine Kinsey
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 960
Release: 2010-04-19
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0470499494

This new book for mathematics and mathematics education majors helps students gain an appreciation of geometry and its importance in the history and development of mathematics. The material is presented in three parts. The first is devoted to a rigorous introduction of Euclidean geometry, the second covers various noneuclidean geometries, and the last part delves into symmetry and polyhedra. Historical contexts accompany each topic. Exercises and activities are interwoven with the text to enable the students to explore geometry. Some of the activities take advantage of geometric software so students - in particular, future teachers - gain a better understanding of its capabilities. Others explore the construction of simple models or use manipulatives allowing students to experience the hands-on, creative side of mathematics. While this text contains a rigorous mathematical presentation, key design features and activities allow it to be used successfully in mathematics for teachers courses as well.

Mirror Symmetry and Algebraic Geometry

Mirror Symmetry and Algebraic Geometry
Author: David A. Cox
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
Total Pages: 498
Release: 1999
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 082182127X

Mirror symmetry began when theoretical physicists made some astonishing predictions about rational curves on quintic hypersurfaces in four-dimensional projective space. Understanding the mathematics behind these predictions has been a substantial challenge. This book is the first completely comprehensive monograph on mirror symmetry, covering the original observations by the physicists through the most recent progress made to date. Subjects discussed include toric varieties, Hodge theory, Kahler geometry, moduli of stable maps, Calabi-Yau manifolds, quantum cohomology, Gromov-Witten invariants, and the mirror theorem. This title features: numerous examples worked out in detail; an appendix on mathematical physics; an exposition of the algebraic theory of Gromov-Witten invariants and quantum cohomology; and, a proof of the mirror theorem for the quintic threefold.

Symmetry and Pattern in Projective Geometry

Symmetry and Pattern in Projective Geometry
Author: Eric Lord
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2012-12-14
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 144714631X

Symmetry and Pattern in Projective Geometry is a self-contained study of projective geometry which compares and contrasts the analytic and axiomatic methods. The analytic approach is based on homogeneous coordinates, and brief introductions to Plücker coordinates and Grassmann coordinates are presented. This book looks carefully at linear, quadratic, cubic and quartic figures in two, three and higher dimensions. It deals at length with the extensions and consequences of basic theorems such as those of Pappus and Desargues. The emphasis throughout is on special configurations that have particularly interesting symmetry properties. The intricate and novel ideas of ‘Donald’ Coxeter, who is considered one of the great geometers of the twentieth century, are also discussed throughout the text. The book concludes with a useful analysis of finite geometries and a description of some of the remarkable configurations discovered by Coxeter. This book will be appreciated by mathematics students and those wishing to learn more about the subject of geometry. It makes accessible subjects and theorems which are often considered quite complicated and presents them in an easy-to-read and enjoyable manner.

Symmetry, Shape and Space

Symmetry, Shape and Space
Author: L.Christine Kinsey
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 524
Release: 2006-05-09
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9781930190092

This book will appeal to at least three groups of readers: prospective high school teachers, liberal arts students, and parents whose children are studying high school or college math. It is modern in its selection of topics, and in the learning models used by the authors. The book covers some exciting but non-traditional topics from the subject area of geometry. It is also intended for undergraduates and tries to engage their interest in mathematics. Many innovative pedagogical modes are used throughout.

Number, Shape, & Symmetry

Number, Shape, & Symmetry
Author: Diane L. Herrmann
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 446
Release: 2012-10-18
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1466554649

Through a careful treatment of number theory and geometry, Number, Shape, & Symmetry: An Introduction to Number Theory, Geometry, and Group Theory helps readers understand serious mathematical ideas and proofs. Classroom-tested, the book draws on the authors’ successful work with undergraduate students at the University of Chicago, seventh to tenth grade mathematically talented students in the University of Chicago’s Young Scholars Program, and elementary public school teachers in the Seminars for Endorsement in Science and Mathematics Education (SESAME). The first half of the book focuses on number theory, beginning with the rules of arithmetic (axioms for the integers). The authors then present all the basic ideas and applications of divisibility, primes, and modular arithmetic. They also introduce the abstract notion of a group and include numerous examples. The final topics on number theory consist of rational numbers, real numbers, and ideas about infinity. Moving on to geometry, the text covers polygons and polyhedra, including the construction of regular polygons and regular polyhedra. It studies tessellation by looking at patterns in the plane, especially those made by regular polygons or sets of regular polygons. The text also determines the symmetry groups of these figures and patterns, demonstrating how groups arise in both geometry and number theory. The book is suitable for pre-service or in-service training for elementary school teachers, general education mathematics or math for liberal arts undergraduate-level courses, and enrichment activities for high school students or math clubs.

Geometry and Symmetry

Geometry and Symmetry
Author: Paul B. Yale
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2014-05-05
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0486169324

DIVIntroduction to the geometry of euclidean, affine and projective spaces with special emphasis on the important groups of symmetries of these spaces. Many exercises, extensive bibliography. Advanced undergraduate level. /div

Symmetry: A Very Short Introduction

Symmetry: A Very Short Introduction
Author: Ian Stewart
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2013-05-30
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0191652741

In the 1800s mathematicians introduced a formal theory of symmetry: group theory. Now a branch of abstract algebra, this subject first arose in the theory of equations. Symmetry is an immensely important concept in mathematics and throughout the sciences, and its applications range across the entire subject. Symmetry governs the structure of crystals, innumerable types of pattern formation, how systems change their state as parameters vary; and fundamental physics is governed by symmetries in the laws of nature. It is highly visual, with applications that include animal markings, locomotion, evolutionary biology, elastic buckling, waves, the shape of the Earth, and the form of galaxies. In this Very Short Introduction, Ian Stewart demonstrates its deep implications, and shows how it plays a major role in the current search to unify relativity and quantum theory. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Transformation Geometry

Transformation Geometry
Author: George E. Martin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1461256801

Transformation Geometry: An Introduction to Symmetry offers a modern approach to Euclidean Geometry. This study of the automorphism groups of the plane and space gives the classical concrete examples that serve as a meaningful preparation for the standard undergraduate course in abstract algebra. The detailed development of the isometries of the plane is based on only the most elementary geometry and is appropriate for graduate courses for secondary teachers.

Introduction to Geometry of Manifolds with Symmetry

Introduction to Geometry of Manifolds with Symmetry
Author: V.V. Trofimov
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2013-04-17
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9401719616

One ofthe most important features of the development of physical and mathematical sciences in the beginning of the 20th century was the demolition of prevailing views of the three-dimensional Euclidean space as the only possible mathematical description of real physical space. Apriorization of geometrical notions and identification of physical 3 space with its mathematical modellR were characteristic for these views. The discovery of non-Euclidean geometries led mathematicians to the understanding that Euclidean geometry is nothing more than one of many logically admissible geometrical systems. Relativity theory amended our understanding of the problem of space by amalgamating space and time into an integral four-dimensional manifold. One of the most important problems, lying at the crossroad of natural sciences and philosophy is the problem of the structure of the world as a whole. There are a lot of possibilities for the topology offour dimensional space-time, and at first sight a lot of possibilities arise in cosmology. In principle, not only can the global topology of the universe be complicated, but also smaller scale topological structures can be very nontrivial. One can imagine two "usual" spaces connected with a "throat", making the topology of the union complicated.

Symplectic Geometry and Mirror Symmetry

Symplectic Geometry and Mirror Symmetry
Author: Kodŭng Kwahagwŏn (Korea). International Conference
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 940
Release: 2001
Genre: Mirror symmetry
ISBN: 9789812799821

In 1993, M. Kontsevich proposed a conceptual framework for explaining the phenomenon of mirror symmetry. Mirror symmetry had been discovered by physicists in string theory as a duality between families of three-dimensional Calabi–Yau manifolds. Kontsevich's proposal uses Fukaya's construction of the A∞-category of Lagrangian submanifolds on the symplectic side and the derived category of coherent sheaves on the complex side. The theory of mirror symmetry was further enhanced by physicists in the language of D-branes and also by Strominger–Yau–Zaslow in the geometric set-up of (special) Lagrangian torus fibrations. It rapidly expanded its scope across from geometry, topology, algebra to physics. In this volume, leading experts in the field explore recent developments in relation to homological mirror symmetry, Floer theory, D-branes and Gromov–Witten invariants. Kontsevich-Soibelman describe their solution to the mirror conjecture on the abelian variety based on the deformation theory of A∞-categories, and Ohta describes recent work on the Lagrangian intersection Floer theory by Fukaya–Oh–Ohta–Ono which takes an important step towards a rigorous construction of the A∞-category. There follow a number of contributions on the homological mirror symmetry, D-branes and the Gromov–Witten invariants, e.g. Getzler shows how the Toda conjecture follows from recent work of Givental, Okounkov and Pandharipande. This volume provides a timely presentation of the important developments of recent years in this rapidly growing field.