Overview
Both classical geometry and modern differential geometry have been active subjects of research throughout the 20th century and lie at the heart of many recent advances in mathematics and physics. The underlying motivating concept for the present book is that it offers readers the elements of a modern geometric culture by means of a whole series of visually appealing unsolved (or recently solved) problems that require the creation of concepts and tools of varying abstraction. Starting with such natural, classical objects as lines, planes, circles, spheres, polygons, polyhedra, curves, surfaces, convex sets, etc., crucial ideas and above all abstract concepts needed for attaining the results are elucidated. These are conceptual notions, each built ""above"" the preceding and permitting an increase in abstraction, represented metaphorically by Jacob's ladder with its rungs: the 'ladder' in the Old Testament, that angels ascended and descended... In all this, the aim of the book isto demonstrate to readers the unceasingly renewed spirit of geometry and that even so-called ""elementary"" geometry is very much alive and at the very heart of the work of numerous contemporary mathematicians. It is also shown that there are innumerable paths yet to be explored and concepts to be created. The book is visually rich and inviting, so that readers may open it at random places and find much pleasure throughout according their own intuitions and inclinations. Marcel Berger is t he author of numerous successful books on geometry, this book once again is addressed to all students and teachers of mathematics with an affinity for geometry.
Full Product Details
Author: Marcel Berger ,
Lester J. Senechal
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. KG
Imprint: Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K
Dimensions:
Width: 15.50cm
, Height: 4.40cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 1.430kg
ISBN: 9783540709961
ISBN 10: 3540709967
Pages: 831
Publication Date: 02 August 2010
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Awaiting stock
The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you.
Reviews
From the reviews: The book is a very readable account of several branches of geometry, classical and modern, elementary and advanced. ! Every chapter is extremely interesting and alive. ! The book is rich in ideas, written in an informal style, with no formulae and no unnecessary technical details. ! Every part of this book is interesting and should be accessible to a wide audience of mathematicians. ! Every mathematician will experience great pleasure in reading this book. (Athanase Papadopoulos, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2011 m)
Author Information
Marcel Berger is Ancien Professeur of the University of Paris and emeritus director of research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), from 1979 to 1981 he was president of the French Mathematical Society and from 1985 to 1994 director of the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHÉS) in Bures-sur-Yvette.
