History of Differential Geometry 
History of Differential Geometry
by UNSW / N.J. Wildberger
Video Lecture 22 of 32
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Date Added: January 19, 2015

Lecture Description

Differential geometry arises from applying calculus and analytic geometry to curves and surfaces. This video begins with a discussion of planar curves and the work of C. Huygens on involutes and evolutes, and the related notions of curvature and osculating circle. We discuss involutes of the catenary (yielding the tractrix), cycloid and parabola. The evolute of the parabola is a semi-cubical parabola. For space curves we describe the tangent line, osculating plane, principle normal and binormal.Surfaces were studied by Euler, who investigated curvatures of planar sections and by Gauss, who realized that the product of Euler's two principal curvatures gave a new notion of curvature intrinsic to a surface. Curvature was ultimately extended by Riemann to higher dimensions, and plays today a major role in modern physics, due to the work of Einstein. If you like this topic, and want to learn more, make sure you don't miss Prof. Wildberger's exciting new course on Differential Geometry.

Course Index

Course Description

In this course, Prof. N.J. Wildberger from UNSW provides a great overview of the history of the development of mathematics. The course roughly follows John Stillwell's book 'Mathematics and its History' (Springer, 3rd ed)Starting with the ancient Greeks, we discuss Arab, Chinese and Hindu developments, polynomial equations and algebra, analytic and projective geometry, calculus and infinite series, number theory, mechanics and curves, complex numbers and algebra, differential geometry, topology and hyperbolic geometry.  This course is meant for a broad audience, not necessarily mathematics majors. All backgrounds are welcome to take the course and enjoy learning about the origins of mathematical ideas. Generally the emphasis will be on mathematical ideas and results, but largely without proofs, with a main eye on the historical flow of ideas. At UNSW, this is MATH3560 and GENS2005. NJ Wildberger is also the developer of Rational Trigonometry: a new and better way of learning and using trigonometry.

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