One of the most effective ways to stimulate students to enjoy intellectual efforts is the scientific competition. In 1894 the Hungarian Mathematical and Physical Society introduced a mathematical competition for high school students. The success of high school competitions led the Mathematical Society to found a college level contest, named after Miklos Schweitzer. The problems of the Schweitzer Contests are proposed and selected by the most prominent Hungarian mathematicians. This book collects the problems posed in the contests between 1962 and 1991 which range from algebra, combinatorics, theory of functions, geometry, measure theory, number theory, operator theory, probability theory, topology, to set theory. The second part contains the solutions. The Schweitzer competition is one of the most unique in the world. The experience shows that this competition helps to identify research talents. This collection of problems and solutions in several fields in mathematics can serve as a guide for many undergraduates and young mathematicians. The large variety of research level problems might be of interest for more mature mathematicians and historians of mathematics as well.

Along with many small improvements, this revised edition contains van Yzeren's new proof of Pascal's theorem (1.7) and, in Chapter 2, an improved treatment of order and sense. The Sylvester-Gallai theorem, instead of being introduced as a curiosity, is now used as an essential step in the theory of harmonic separation (3.34). This makes the logi cal development self-contained: the footnotes involving the References (pp. 214-216) are for comparison with earlier treatments, and to give credit where it is due, not to fill gaps in the argument. H.S.M.C. November 1992 v Preface to the Second Edition Why should one study the real plane? To this question, put by those who advocate the complex plane, or geometry over a general field, I would reply that the real plane is an easy first step. Most of the prop erties are closely analogous, and the real field has the advantage of intuitive accessibility. Moreover, real geometry is exactly what is needed for the projective approach to non-Euclidean geometry. Instead of introducing the affine and Euclidean metrics as in Chapters 8 and 9, we could just as well take the locus of 'points at infinity' to be a conic, or replace the absolute involution by an absolute polarity.

This book focuses on the elementary but essential problems in Riemann-Finsler Geometry, which include a repertoire of rigidity and comparison theorems, and an array of explicit examples, illustrating many phenomena which admit only Finslerian interpretations. "This book offers the most modern treatment of the topic ..." EMS Newsletter.

From the reviews: "This book offers a coherent treatment, at the graduate textbook level, of the field that has come to be known in the last decade or so as computational geometry. ... ... The book is well organized and lucidly written; a timely contribution by two founders of the field. It clearly demonstrates that computational geometry in the plane is now a fairly well-understood branch of computer science and mathematics. It also points the way to the solution of the more challenging problems in dimensions higher than two." #Mathematical Reviews#1 "... This remarkable book is a comprehensive and systematic study on research results obtained especially in the last ten years. The very clear presentation concentrates on basic ideas, fundamental combinatorial structures, and crucial algorithmic techniques. The plenty of results is clever organized following these guidelines and within the framework of some detailed case studies. A large number of figures and examples also aid the understanding of the material. Therefore, it can be highly recommended as an early graduate text but it should prove also to be essential to researchers and professionals in applied fields of computer-aided design, computer graphics, and robotics." #Biometrical Journal#2

It is impossible to trisect angles with straightedge and compass alone, but many people try and think they have succeeded. This book is about angle trisections and the people who attempt them. Its purposes are to collect many trisections in one place, inform about trisectors, to amuse the reader, and, perhaps most importantly, to reduce the number of trisectors. This book includes detailed information about the personalities of trisectors and their constructions. It can be read by anyone who has taken a high school geometry course.

This book is an introduction to the fundamental concepts and tools needed for solving problems of a geometric nature using a computer. It attempts to fill the gap between standard geometry books, which are primarily theoretical, and applied books on computer graphics, computer vision, robotics, or machine learning. This book covers the following topics: affine geometry, projective geometry, Euclidean geometry, convex sets, SVD and principal component analysis, manifolds and Lie groups, quadratic optimization, basics of differential geometry, and a glimpse of computational geometry (Voronoi diagrams and Delaunay triangulations). Some practical applications of the concepts presented in this book include computer vision, more specifically contour grouping, motion interpolation, and robot kinematics. In this extensively updated second edition, more material on convex sets, Farkas's lemma, quadratic optimization and the Schur complement have been added. The chapter on SVD has been greatly expanded and now includes a presentation of PCA. The book is well illustrated and has chapter summaries and a large number of exercises throughout. It will be of interest to a wide audience including computer scientists, mathematicians, and engineers. Reviews of first edition: "Gallier's book will be a useful source for anyone interested in applications of geometrical methods to solve problems that arise in various branches of engineering. It may help to develop the sophisticated concepts from the more advanced parts of geometry into useful tools for applications." (Mathematical Reviews, 2001) "...it will be useful as a reference book for postgraduates wishing to find the connection between their current problem and the underlying geometry." (The Australian Mathematical Society, 2001)

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Thailand-Japan Joint Conference on Computational Geometry and Graphs, TJJCCGG 2012, held in Bangkok, Thailand, in December 2012.
The 15 original research papers presented were selected from among six plenary talks, one special public talk and 41 talks by participants from about 20 countries around the world. TJJCCGG 2012 provided a forum for researchers working in computational geometry, graph theory/algorithms and their applications.

This easy-to-read 2010 book demonstrates how a simple geometric idea reveals fascinating connections and results in number theory, the mathematics of polyhedra, combinatorial geometry, and group theory. Using a systematic paper-folding procedure it is possible to construct a regular polygon with any number of sides. This remarkable algorithm has led to interesting proofs of certain results in number theory, has been used to answer combinatorial questions involving partitions of space, and has enabled the authors to obtain the formula for the volume of a regular tetrahedron in around three steps, using nothing more complicated than basic arithmetic and the most elementary plane geometry. All of these ideas, and more, reveal the beauty of mathematics and the interconnectedness of its various branches. Detailed instructions, including clear illustrations, enable the reader to gain hands-on experience constructing these models and to discover for themselves the patterns and relationships they unearth.

Systems with sub-processes evolving on many different time scales are ubiquitous in applications: chemical reactions, electro-optical and neuro-biological systems, to name just a few. This volume contains papers that expose the state of the art in mathematical techniques for analyzing such systems. Recently developed geometric ideas are highlighted in this work that includes a theory of relaxation-oscillation phenomena in higher dimensional phase spaces. Subtle exponentially small effects result from singular perturbations implicit in certain multiple time scale systems. Their role in the slow motion of fronts, bifurcations, and jumping between invariant tori are all explored here. Neurobiology has played a particularly stimulating role in the development of these techniques and one paper is directed specifically at applying geometric singular perturbation theory to reveal the synchrony in networks of neural oscillators.

Mikhail Gromov introduced pseudo-holomorphic curves into symplectic geometry in 1985. Since then, pseudo-holomorphic curves have taken on great importance in many fields. The aim of this book is to present the original proof of Gromov's compactness theorem for pseudo-holomorphic curves in detail. Local properties of pseudo-holomorphic curves are investigated and proved from a geometric viewpoint. Properties of particular interest are isoperimetric inequalities, a monotonicity formula, gradient bounds and the removal of singularities. A special chapter is devoted to relevant features of hyperbolic surfaces, where pairs of pants decomposition and thickthin decomposition are described. The book is essentially self-contained and should also be accessible to students with a basic knowledge of differentiable manifolds and covering spaces.

In his "Geometrie" of 1637 Descartes achieved a monumental innovation of mathematical techniques by introducing what is now called analytic geometry. Yet the key question of the book was foundational rather than technical: When are geometrical objects known with such clarity and distinctness as befits the exact science of geometry? Classically, the answer was sought in procedures of geometrical construction, in particular by ruler and compass, but the introduction of new algebraic techniques made these procedures insufficient. In this detailed study, spanning essentially the period from the first printed edition of Pappus' "Collection" (1588, in Latin translation) and Descartes' death in 1650, Bos explores the current ideas about construction and geometrical exactness, noting that by the time Descartes entered the field the incursion of algebraic techniques, combined with an increasing uncertainty about the proper means of geometrical problem solving, had produced a certain impasse. He then analyses how Descartes transformed geometry by a redefinition of exactness and by a demarcation of geometry's proper subject and procedures in such a way as to incorporate the use of algebraic methods without destroying the true nature of geometry. Although mathematicians later essentially discarded Descartes' methodological convictions, his influence was profound and pervasive. Bos' insistence on the foundational aspects of the "Geometrie" provides new insights both in the genesis of Descartes' masterpiece and in its significance for the development of the conceptions of mathematical exactness.

The Russian edition of this book appeared in 1976 on the hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the historic day of February 23, 1826, when LobaeevskiI delivered his famous lecture on his discovery of non-Euclidean geometry. The importance of the discovery of non-Euclidean geometry goes far beyond the limits of geometry itself. It is safe to say that it was a turning point in the history of all mathematics. The scientific revolution of the seventeenth century marked the transition from "mathematics of constant magnitudes" to "mathematics of variable magnitudes. " During the seventies of the last century there occurred another scientific revolution. By that time mathematicians had become familiar with the ideas of non-Euclidean geometry and the algebraic ideas of group and field (all of which appeared at about the same time), and the (later) ideas of set theory. This gave rise to many geometries in addition to the Euclidean geometry previously regarded as the only conceivable possibility, to the arithmetics and algebras of many groups and fields in addition to the arith metic and algebra of real and complex numbers, and, finally, to new mathe matical systems, i. e. , sets furnished with various structures having no classical analogues. Thus in the 1870's there began a new mathematical era usually called, until the middle of the twentieth century, the era of modern mathe matics.

Geometric constructions have been a popular part of mathematics throughout history. The ancient Greeks made the subject an art, which was enriched by the medieval Arabs but which required the algebra of the Renaissance for a thorough understanding. Through coordinate geometry, various geometric construction tools can be associated with various fields of real numbers. This book is about these associations. As specified by Plato, the game is played with a ruler and compass. The first chapter is informal and starts from scratch, introducing all the geometric constructions from high school that have been forgotten or were never seen. The second chapter formalizes Plato's game and examines problems from antiquity such as the impossibility of trisecting an arbitrary angle. After that, variations on Plato's theme are explored: using only a ruler, using only a compass, using toothpicks, using a ruler and dividers, using a marked rule, using a tomahawk, and ending with a chapter on geometric constructions by paperfolding. The author writes in a charming style and nicely intersperses history and philosophy within the mathematics. He hopes that readers will learn a little geometry and a little algebra while enjoying the effort. This is as much an algebra book as it is a geometry book. Since all the algebra and all the geometry that are needed is developed within the text, very little mathematical background is required to read this book. This text has been class tested for several semesters with a master's level class for secondary teachers.

Inequalities continue to play an essential role in mathematics. The subject is per haps the last field that is comprehended and used by mathematicians working in all the areas of the discipline of mathematics. Since the seminal work Inequalities (1934) of Hardy, Littlewood and P6lya mathematicians have laboured to extend and sharpen the earlier classical inequalities. New inequalities are discovered ev ery year, some for their intrinsic interest whilst others flow from results obtained in various branches of mathematics. So extensive are these developments that a new mathematical periodical devoted exclusively to inequalities will soon appear; this is the Journal of Inequalities and Applications, to be edited by R. P. Agar wal. Nowadays it is difficult to follow all these developments and because of lack of communication between different groups of specialists many results are often rediscovered several times. Surveys of the present state of the art are therefore in dispensable not only to mathematicians but to the scientific community at large. The study of inequalities reflects the many and various aspects of mathemat ics. There is on the one hand the systematic search for the basic principles and the study of inequalities for their own sake. On the other hand the subject is a source of ingenious ideas and methods that give rise to seemingly elementary but nevertheless serious and challenging problems. There are many applications in a wide variety of fields from mathematical physics to biology and economics."

This self-contained book offers a new and direct approach to the theories of special functions with emphasis on spherical symmetry in Euclidean spaces of arbitrary dimensions. Based on many years of lecturing to mathematicians, physicists and engineers in scientific research institutions in Europe and the USA, the author uses elementary concepts to present the spherical harmonics in a theory of invariants of the orthogonal group. One of the highlights is the extension of the classical results of the spherical harmonics into the complex - particularly important for the complexification of the Funk-Hecke formula which successfully leads to new integrals for Bessel- and Hankel functions with many applications of Fourier integrals and Radon transforms. Numerous exercises stimulate mathematical ingenuity and bridge the gap between well-known elementary results and their appearance in the new formations.

The papers collected in this volume are contributions to the 33rd session of the Seminaire de Mathematiques Superieures (SMS) on "Topological Methods in Differential Equations and Inclusions." This session of the SMS took place at the Universite de Montreal in July 1994 and was a NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI). The aim of the ASI was to bring together a considerable group of young researchers from various parts of the world and to present to them coherent surveys of some of the most recent advances in this area of Nonlinear Analysis. During the meeting 89 mathematicians from 20 countries have had the opportunity to get acquainted with various aspects of the subjects treated in the lectures as well as the chance to exchange ideas and learn about new problems arising in the field. The main topics teated in this ASI were the following: Fixed point theory for single- and multi-valued mappings including topological degree and its generalizations, and topological transversality theory; existence and multiplicity results for ordinary differential equations and inclusions; bifurcation and stability problems; ordinary differential equations in Banach spaces; second order differential equations on manifolds; the topological structure of the solution set of differential inclusions; effects of delay perturbations on dynamics of retarded delay differential equations; dynamics of reaction diffusion equations; non smooth critical point theory and applications to boundary value problems for quasilinear elliptic equations.

A fascinating tour through parts of geometry students are unlikely to see in the rest of their studies while, at the same time, anchoring their excursions to the well known parallel postulate of Euclid. The author shows how alternatives to Euclids fifth postulate lead to interesting and different patterns and symmetries, and, in the process of examining geometric objects, the author incorporates the algebra of complex and hypercomplex numbers, some graph theory, and some topology. Interesting problems are scattered throughout the text. Nevertheless, the book merely assumes a course in Euclidean geometry at high school level. While many concepts introduced are advanced, the mathematical techniques are not. Singers lively exposition and off-beat approach will greatly appeal both to students and mathematicians, and the contents of the book can be covered in a one-semester course, perhaps as a sequel to a Euclidean geometry course.

A relaxed and informal presentation conveying the joy of mathematical discovery and insight. Frequent questions lead readers to see mathematics as an accessible world of thought, where understanding can turn opaque formulae into beautiful and meaningful ideas. The text presents eight topics that illustrate the unity of mathematical thought as well as the diversity of mathematical ideas. Drawn from both "pure" and "applied" mathematics, they include: spirals in nature and in mathematics; the modern topic of fractals and the ancient topic of Fibonacci numbers; Pascals Triangle and paper folding; modular arithmetic and the arithmetic of the infinite. The final chapter presents some ideas about how mathematics should be done, and hence, how it should be taught. Presenting many recent discoveries that lead to interesting open questions, the book can serve as the main text in courses dealing with contemporary mathematical topics or as enrichment for other courses. It can also be read with pleasure by anyone interested in the intellectually intriguing aspects of mathematics.

Topics in Matroid Theory provides a brief introduction to matroid theory with an emphasis on algorithmic consequences.Matroid theory is at the heart of combinatorial optimization and has attracted various pioneers such as Edmonds, Tutte, Cunningham and Lawler among others. Matroid theory encompasses matrices, graphs and other combinatorial entities under a common, solid algebraicframework, thereby providing the analytical tools to solve related difficult algorithmic problems. The monograph contains a rigorousaxiomatic definition of matroids along with other necessary concepts such as duality, minors, connectivity and representability asdemonstrated in matrices, graphs and transversals. The author also presents a deep decomposition result in matroid theory that providesa structural characterization of graphic matroids, and show how this can be extended to signed-graphic matroids, as well as the immediatealgorithmic consequences.

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Using this book, you can explore ways to create hinged collections of pieces that swing together to form a figure. Swing them another way and they form another figure! The profuse illustrations and lively text will show you how to find a wealth of hinged dissections for all kinds of polygons, stars and crosses, curved and even three-dimensional figures. For an added challenge, you can try using different kinds of hinges for twisting and flipping pieces. The author includes careful explanation of ingenious techniques, as well as puzzles and solutions for readers of all mathematical levels. If you remember any secondary school geometry, you are already on your way. These novel and original dissections will be a gold mine for math puzzle enthusiasts, for math educators in search of enrichment topics, and for anyone who loves to see beautiful objects in motion.

This book was written to make learning introductory algebraic geometry as easy as possible. It is designed for the general first- and second-year graduate student, as well as for the nonspecialist; the only prerequisites are a one-year course in algebra and a little complex analysis. There are many examples and pictures in the book. One's sense of intuition is largely built up from exposure to concrete examples, and intuition in algebraic geometry is no exception. I have also tried to avoid too much generalization. If one under stands the core of an idea in a concrete setting, later generalizations become much more meaningful. There are exercises at the end of most sections so that the reader can test his understanding of the material. Some are routine, others are more challenging. Occasionally, easily established results used in the text have been made into exercises. And from time to time, proofs of topics not covered in the text are sketched and the reader is asked to fill in the details. Chapter I is of an introductory nature. Some of the geometry of a few specific algebraic curves is worked out, using a tactical approach that might naturally be tried by one not familiar with the general methods intro duced later in the book. Further examples in this chapter suggest other basic properties of curves. In Chapter II, we look at curves more rigorously and carefully."

Although not so well known today, Book 4 of Pappus' Collection is one of the most important and influential mathematical texts from antiquity. The mathematical vignettes form a portrait of mathematics during the Hellenistic "Golden Age," illustrating central problems - for example, squaring the circle; doubling the cube; and trisecting an angle - varying solution strategies, and the different mathematical styles within ancient geometry.

This volume provides an English translation of Collection 4, in full, for the first time, including: a new edition of the Greek text, based on a fresh transcription from the main manuscript and offering an alternative to Hultsch's standard edition, notes to facilitate understanding of the steps in the mathematical argument, a commentary highlighting aspects of the work that have so far been neglected, and supporting the reconstruction of a coherent plan and vision within the work, bibliographical references for further study.

Different Faces of Geometry - edited by the world renowned geometers S. Donaldson, Ya. Eliashberg, and M. Gromov - presents the current state, new results, original ideas and open questions from the following important topics in modern geometry: Amoebas and Tropical Geometry Convex Geometry and Asymptotic Geometric Analysis Differential Topology of 4-Manifolds 3-Dimensional Contact Geometry Floer Homology and Low-Dimensional Topology Kahler Geometry Lagrangian and Special Lagrangian Submanifolds Refined Seiberg-Witten Invariants. These apparently diverse topics have a common feature in that they are all areas of exciting current activity. The Editors have attracted an impressive array of leading specialists to author chapters for this volume: G. Mikhalkin (USA-Canada-Russia), V.D. Milman (Israel) and A.A. Giannopoulos (Greece), C. LeBrun (USA), Ko Honda (USA), P. Ozsvath (USA) and Z. Szabo (USA), C. Simpson (France), D. Joyce (UK) and P. Seidel (USA), and S. Bauer (Germany). "One can distinguish various themes running through the different contributions. There is some emphasis on invariants defined by elliptic equations and their applications in low-dimensional topology, symplectic and contact geometry (Bauer, Seidel, Ozsvath and Szabo). These ideas enter, more tangentially, in the articles of Joyce, Honda and LeBrun. Here and elsewhere, as well as explaining the rapid advances that have been made, the articles convey a wonderful sense of the vast areas lying beyond our current understanding. Simpson's article emphasizes the need for interesting new constructions (in that case of Kahler and algebraic manifolds), a point which is also made by Bauer in the context of 4-manifolds and the "11/8 conjecture". LeBrun's article gives another perspective on 4-manifold theory, via Riemannian geometry, and the challenging open questions involving the geometry of even "well-known" 4-manifolds. There are also striking contrasts between the articles. The authors have taken different approaches: for example, the thoughtful essay of Simpson, the new research results of LeBrun and the thorough expositions with homework problems of Honda. One can also ponder the differences in the style of mathematics. In the articles of Honda, Giannopoulos and Milman, and Mikhalkin, the "geometry" is present in a very vivid and tangible way; combining respectively with topology, analysis and algebra. The papers of Bauer and Seidel, on the other hand, makes the point that algebraic and algebro-topological abstraction (triangulated categories, spectra) can play an important role in very unexpected ways in concrete geometric problems." - From the Preface by the Editors

This volume consists of eighteen peer-reviewed papers related to lectures on pseudo-differential operators presented at the meeting of the ISAAC Group in Pseudo-Differential Operators (IGPDO) held at Imperial College London on July 13-18, 2009. Featured in this volume are the analysis, applications and computations of pseudo-differential operators in mathematics, physics and signal analysis. This volume is a useful complement to the volumes "Advances in Pseudo-Differential Operators", "Pseudo-Differential Operators and Related Topics", "Modern Trends in Pseudo-Differential Operators", "New Developments in Pseudo-Differential Operators" and "Pseudo-Differential Operators: Complex Analysis and Partial Differential Equations" published in the same series in, respectively, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010.

A study of topology and geometry, beginning with a comprehensible account of the extraordinary and rather mysterious impact of mathematical physics, and especially gauge theory, on the study of the geometry and topology of manifolds. The focus of the book is the Yang-Mills-Higgs field and some considerable effort is expended to make clear its origin and significance in physics. Much of the mathematics developed here to study these fields is standard, but the treatment always keeps one eye on the physics and sacrifices generality in favor of clarity. The author brings readers up the level of physics and mathematics needed to conclude with a brief discussion of the Seiberg-Witten invariants. A large number of exercises are included to encourage active participation on the part of the reader.