Preface Dear reader, Geometry is the fifth and final book in the series written for high-school students by Israel Gelfand with his colleagues, What is special about this book? Why and for whom was it written? ‘This book presents geometry in an unusual way. Instead of focusing on logic and axioms, it focuses on geometrical constructions and presents concepts ina visual form. It starts by introducing a few simple notions and then grad- ually builds upon them. Students are invited to draw figures and “move” them on the plane. We also introduce transformations—you can see them illustrated on the cover. Israel Gelfand believed that geometry is the simplest model of spatial relationships in the world. Studying geometry will help students visualize objects and shapes on the plane and in space, and help them develop an intuitive understanding about how they change if they are moved. Rather than make students memorize theorems and practice logic, Gelfand wanted to raise students’ interest in the subject and teach them skills such as geo- metrical vision, imagination, and creativity. These skills are very important in everyday life no matter what future path a student will choose ‘Many books are written on calculus, but only a relative few on geometry. You can read more about the importance of geometry in our lives and a de- scription of the structure of this book in the Introduction, which is presented in words as close as possible to Gelfand’s own. All the above makes this book suitable for a wide audience, from students with different backgrounds, to readers with a variety of interests, to educators and to mathematicians, who can appreciate this new way of presenting plane geometry in a simple form while adhering to its depth and rigor. In Gelfand’s approach, pictures play an essential role. He called the pictures “the main beauty of the book” which would distinguish this bookxii Preface from other geometry books. We were even considering the title Geometry in Pictures. Indeed, the book has 467 pictures. Gelfand expected that this book might become quite revolutionary for mathematicians because of the new approach, which he called “algorithmic.” Mathematicians would either be very negative about the book or would like it very much. He predicted that the book would only be accepted by the mathematical community years after its publication. Of course, one has to know that we started the book in 1989. Back then even the Internet was still a relatively new feature for the mainstream, and social media was only beginning to develop. Tam curious to see the response when this book is published. About the process of writing Geometry. Israel Gelfand first mentioned his idea of writing a high-school geometry book with me when we visited Boston in 1989. I was surprised because at that point, I had neither written a book nor even planned to, Israel told me that he chose to write this book specifically with me for several reasons. He said that I had a good intuition for understanding what he means, his ideas and vision of mathematics. He pointed out that I had good spatial imagination, could write the text clearly and logically, and could structurally organize it into a connected whole. It was important that the book have two levels. It had to be simple and attractive for students, yet be precise and exact, at a deep mathematical level so that “no captious mathematician would be able to deprecate its rigor,” as he said. Of course, at that time, I did not take his words seriously. One day, within a few weeks of our stay in Boston, Israel simply asked me to take out a piece of paper and a pen, and to write down his thoughts for the book before he forgot them. This is how Geometry started. Every so often, at random times and places, Gelfand would ask me to write down separate sentences, problems, or small essays for the future book. These small essays looked to me like an entertaining set of problems rather than the fundamentals of a subject. They were not even related to each other. One of the first such essays was “The problem about wolves and dogs” illustrated on the cover (see Problem 16, Ch. I, Sec. 4). In this problem one has to count all bounded and unbounded domains formed by four intersect- ing lines on the plane. Gelfand was so fascinated with his idea of “placing dogs and wolves” in these domains that he tried to explain this problem to every mathematician he passed in the halls of Harvard or MIT or in atten-Preface xiii dance at dinners to which he was invited. Not many of them shared his excitement—especially during dinners. I think what fascinated Gelfand was that he had found a good metaphor for explaining on an intuitive level the mathematical notions of boundedness and unboundedness and the difference between them. “Wolves can run away as far as they want and will not come back” refers to students’ intuition of being able to go infinitely far. Maybe by coincidence, it was around that same time that he and I were engaged in joint mathematical research on combinatorial chambers, The word “chamber” connected perfectly the languages appropriate for students and for mathematicians. Indeed, in the problem above there are chambers for wolves. “Mathematicians also call them chambers but the word ‘wolves’ is not used.” This problem presented a good example of how Gelfand managed to explain high-level mathematical notions to high-school students in a clear and simple way, while mixing them with a grain of humor. In another essay, Gelfand wrote about what he considered one of the beauties of projective geometry—the Desargues configuration (see Sections 8, 9 in Chapter I). Because he wanted this essay to be well presented, he asked me to create a series of illustrations, consisting only of several points and lines, which had to explain in a clear step-by-step way a number of deep concepts of projective geometry. After I collected a pile of notes and started organizing separate topics in a systematic way, the process of writing Geometry became quite interest- ing. I think this was one of Gelfand’s educational “tricks"—once a student starts doing something in small, easy steps, he or she becomes involved in the process and is able to learn and create things without even noticing it This is why Gelfand wanted students to draw figures themselves along with the book rather than rely on computers to draw and move objects for (or instead of) them. ‘The process of writing Geometry was slowed down by my involvement in writing Assignments for GCPM (Gelfand Correspondence Program in Math- ematics) and by various life challenges. Some people asked Israel about this delay and even proposed that he write this book with them instead of with me, suggesting it would be “quicker and better.” In response, Israel would repeat numerous times to them and to me that he “could not write this book with anyone else except Tanya.” This book was mostly completed around 2000. I planned to do the “final editing” within two to three months. Unfortunately, we both went through a number of injuries and health challenges which again delayed the book, On top of that, a great deal of technical work was needed to digitally draw allxiv Preface 467 pictures for the book. The good thing was that the complete manuscript was ready by September 2009—Gelfand’s 96th birthday—and that he knew about it, Then the publication process at Springer started, and unfortunately, it took a decade to prepare the book for publication. There is one more remark I want to make. Once, a mathematician who never worked with Gelfand asked me why most of Gelfand’s papers were written jointly with co-authors and what Gelfand’s role could be in so many such publications. As his co-author of this book, and from being present for many years during his collaborative work with people, I would compare Gelfand’s role in his joint works with that of a composer or a conductor. Many times Gelfand himself said that, if he could have been born again, he would have become a composer. I would say that he actually was one.Preface xv Acknowledgements. For me, Gelfand was more than just the co-author of this book. This is why I want to express here my gratitude for his trust in me and for his inered- ible ability to inspire and encourage, and have patience with, his students. I learned a lot from writing this book with him (which I hope to share one day), even though the process of working with Gelfand could not have been called “smooth and easy.” I would like to thank Andrei Alexeevsky for his numerous encouraging discussions, for practical help in clarifying a number of definitions, and for resolving a few logical conflicts that arose. I thank Lyuba Pogost for creating digital images of most of the illustra- tions and Tatiana I. Gelfand for completing this important, time-consuming part of the job. I thank Robert Wilson for reading the manuscript and for his valuable comments. Twant to thank Mark Saul, who did a thorough job of reading and making corrections to the manuscript. It was funny for me that a few places where he argued with the way material was presented were exactly the places where I made the same arguments to Gelfand, who did not agree with me at that time. This time I found good ways to compromise. Tam also very grateful to Fred Roberts, who always encouraged me in my work on this book, It was also stimulating to hear from all the people who learned from the GCPM site about the coming Geometry book and asked me where to obtain it for their kids or themselves. I want to apologize to them and their children who grew up already while waiting for the book to go through the 10-year- long publication process. Ironically, one of the reasons for this delay was the use of computers for drawing and editing figures. For this book, the figures had to be preserved precisely and not arbitrarily altered to fit the formatting options provided by the typesetting software, You can read in the Introduction a comment about computers in Israel's own words Finally, I want to thank Samuel DiBella, who came to Springer in 2018 and devotedly moved the manuscript towards the finish line.Introduction Geometry is the simplest model of spatial relationships in our world At the present time, geometry finds applications much more broadly than ever before. A geometric approach is used in a variety of fields that do not seem to be related to mathematics; for example, in medical diagnostics (to- mography), surgical procedures, architecture, car design, and even in dental restorations. In studying geometry, the main goal is to understand the structure of our space, learn how to see it, and find out how to orient ourselves in it. Mathematicians in ancient Greece, long before Euclid, proved geometric statements by drawing figures accompanied by the word “look.” We have tied to follow this approach. This is why our book has so many pictures. ‘We want to teach readers to see geometric objects (figures), to grasp relations between them, and to construct them by drawing, thus developing geometric intuition, Some examples of geometric objects considered in this book are points, straight lines, segments, triangles, quadrilaterals, and circles. We obtain our knowledge of the geometry of our world from three sour- ces: through words (verbal description), through seeing (visual perception), and through motion and touch (kinesthetic perception). Verbal descriptions are good for making logical conclusions. For ex- ample, people often say, “Imagine a triangle. Inscribe a circle in it ...." or “Given a triangle with equal sides ... Visual perception enables us to see different things simultaneously and to grasp relations between them. We look at the picture or at the object and see at once what is presented in it We can also learn about the geometry of the world through movement ‘We must not underestimate the role of motion. The famous Russian physiol- ogist, Sechenoy, said, “Motion is the foundation of thinking.” That is why itxviii Introduction is important not only to look at the illustrations, but to actually practice draw- ing geometric constructions yourself and imagine moving geometric figures. We want to make a remark about the use of computers. While reading this book, you can imagine using a computer doing the operations described in each chapter. You may actually solve some of the problems by drawings on the screen, The study of geometry on a computer has some advantages, similar to the use of calculators, which can save you time adding and mul- iplying numbers. However, in the case of geometry, you might reduce not only your work, but your understanding as well. The number of ideas in mathematics is not large. Everything that is achieved is obtained from basic or fundamental concepts that are applied with some degree of variation. Mastering these basic concepts in one field of mathematics helps us to recognize and use them in other fields. We are so used to studying certain basic concepts for tests that we often do not notice their beauty. For example, the well-known statement that through two points one can draw one line, and that this line is unique, was a topic of thorough study by several mathematicians. In fact, every basic concept and idea was once a new and remarkable discovery! In this book, we present, in simple form, the basic notions of geometry and some methods of studying geometric objects. This material does not require any specific knowledge or talents, but just interest, which we also have tried to raise. We start this book with simple notions and then build on them as if constructing a brick building. It is always a good idea to have a brick fixed securely before putting a new one on top; otherwise, the whole construction might collapse later. You may find it useful and enjoyable to return to the book several times. This is not surprising; for example, in order to fully appreciate a piece of music, either classical or popular, one usually listens to it more than once. ‘There are different approaches to geometry.” The traditional approach is the axiomatic approach. This approach, started by Euclid and mastered by Hilbert, tumed geometry into a logically perfect system. However, this, approach is too difficult for the majority of students, Indeed, even a good student can hardly understand why it should be proven that vertical angles are equal (which is evident for him) and, at the same time, skip the statement that a straight line which crosses a triangle and does not pass through any vertex has common points with exactly two sides of the triangle. The proof of the first of these statements is one example of logical reasoning in geometry, 2One can classify the following approaches to geometry: axiomatic, analytic (with the help of coordinates), and the approach of group theory.Introduction xix while the second statement is considered self-evident. ‘We consider geometry as the simplest model of spatial relations in our world, We use elements of every approach and pay most attention to con- structions rather than to axioms. We introduce certain operations in each chapter and explore what we can construct using them. This is similar to how algorithms are described, Thus, we can call our approach to geometry “algorithmic.” Structure of this book and how to read it This book consists of four chapters. In each chapter, we allow only certain procedures or operations to be available, It is important to remember that we cannot perform any other operations besides the specified ones. From chapter to chapter, we increase the number of available operations and thus the “usual” (i.e., Euclidean) geometry will be presented in the last chapter. In each chapter, using the defined operations and “instruments” to perform these operations, we draw objects and figures* on the plane. We study their properties, which sometimes give us other interesting notions and definitions. We also study relations between the objects, to which we refer as “operations with figures” and “correspondences.” In Chapter I, we are allowed to use only a pencil and a straightedge. We assume that by using these instruments we can draw points and straight lines and perform the following operations with them: (1) Draw the unique straight line that passes through two given points. (2) Mark the point of intersection of two straight lines if these lines inter- sect. As you will see, even by using only these two operations we can con- struct different geometric figures—in scientific language, configurations— and systems of straight lines which form strange and interesting patterns. Some of these configurations are so famous that they have their own names, 50f course, we could have changed the order of chapters and started from Euclidean geometry. In that case, when introducing affine geometry we would have (o “forget about length.” We thought that this might not be easy to do, as it reminds us of the psychological exercise, "Don’t think about a white elephant ‘4We will not define precisely what an object or a figure is, and leave this up to your intuition. 5We usually write these notions in italic when we use them for the first time. These words are defined and commented on also in the Glossaryxx Introduction for example, the Desargues configuration and the Pascal configuration. The geometry based on only these operations corresponds to projective geometry. In Chapter II, we add the possibility of drawing parallel straight lines by using a simple instrument such as, for instance, a rolling ruler. Thus, in Chapter II we can perform operations (1), (2) and: (3) Given a point and a straight line, we can draw a straight line through the point that is parallel to the first line. This operation enriches our knowledge and vision of different geometric fig- ures. Though we still do not have any instrument to measure the lengths of segments, operation (3) cnables us to compare segments lying on paral- lel lines and even (which is more difficult) to compare segments lying on the same straight line. The geometry described in Chapter II corresponds to affine geometry. After Chapter II there is an Appendix, which contains some additional material from Chapter Il for optional reading In Chapter III, in addition to the operations of Chapters I and II, we introduce the area of a figure. We choose a unit area, and require area, as, a characteristic of a figure, to satisfy certain conditions. If we would like to imagine an “instrument” to measure area, we can think of a scale for weight measure.° Such geometry corresponds to symplectic geometry. Note that we still cannot measure the lengths of segments. In Chapter IV, we use the operations of Chapters I and If, but not II, and the following operation: (4) Given two points A and B, we can draw a circle with center at one of these points and radius AB. An instrument used to draw a circle is a compass. Operation (4) allows us to define the length of a segment. We will be able to compare lengths of segments on different straight lines that are not necessarily parallel. The geometry considered in Chapter IV corresponds to Euclidean geometry.” Tf all objects are cut out of a sheet of some material of uniform thickness, then two figures will have the same area just when they have the same weight, Note that when “building” on affine geometry, we have a choice. We can define the length of a segment and obtain Euclidean geometry without necessarily defining area, or wwe can define area and obtain symplectic geometry without measuring lengths. Usually, if length measurement is introduced, as in Euclidean geometry, then the measurement of area is defined as well.Introduction xxi The book contains a Glossary of the terms which we define and use. Some of the definitions might appear different from the ones in the text. It is important to understand what the notions mean rather than memorize them. There are many problems in this book. Some of them we solve. These are called Exercises. Others we recommend for you to solve on your own. A. few problems are marked by an asterisk (*) and are more difficult. We also highly recommend that you draw pictures for yourself, even the ones that are presented in the book. It is also useful to draw the pictures slightly differently than in the book, and observe how the statements or prob- ems will look in the case of your own drawing. For example, if there is a quadrilateral in the text or in the problem, draw a trapezoid, a parallelogram, or a rhombus. If a triangle is considered, draw triangles with angles different from the ones in the illustration, Be careful, though, to follow the conditions which this triangle has to satisfy. For example, such conditions for the tri- angle may require that all angles of the triangle be acute, or that the triangle have a right angle, and so on. Read the book at your own pace and return to it if you need to. The main “rule” is to enjoy reading and drawing figures, and to see the beauty of geometry as if you were playing at discovering a new worldChapter I ® Points and Lines: A Look at Projective Geometry 1 Points and lines 1.1 What is a point and what is a line? The most important objects on the plane are points and lines. In Fig. I.1a, there is a picture of a point. . e a) b) Fig. 1. Now look at it with the magnification 10 (see Fig. 1.1b). When magnified 100 times, a point will not look like a point at all, and when magnified 1000 times, even the sheet of paper will look different. ‘We will not define precisely what a point is. The Greek philosopher and mathematician Euclid, who lived about 2000 years ago, wrote in his famous Elements (which has greatly influenced all school curricula) that “a point is that which has no part.” The stars in the sky look like points. Even when magnified 10, 100, 1000 times, the stars will still look like points. However, as we know, the stars are huge objects in the sky. Our Sun is one of these stars and its diameter is 109 times bigger than that of the Earth. Thus, whether we should consider a star as a point depends on the scale that we use to look at the sky, © The Authors 2020 1 1M. Gelfand, T. Alekseyevskaya (Gelfand), Geometry, ‘hups:/[Link]/10.1007/978-1-0716-0299-7_12 I. Points and Lines: A Look at Projective Geometry The smaller the dot we use for a point, the closer it will represent an ideal point. However, there is a limit to this representation, Modern physics claims that at distances smaller than 10~*! cm, all the concepts of space change radically. One of the challenging problems in physics now is to understand how our world looks at distances smaller than 10~*! cm When we want to draw a line,' we have the same difficulties as when we want to draw a point, Indeed, you would hardly recognize a line when it is magnified 10 times However, there is another difficulty. Fig. 1.2 shows a line Fig. 1.2, If the sheet of paper were bigger, we could extend this line further. Thus we can say that this picture does not show an entire line but only the part of it that can be placed on this sheet of paper. There does not exist a sheet of paper on which you could draw a complete line, even if such a sheet were as large as the Earth, or the Solar System, or a galaxy. Geometry deals with © “ideal points” that cannot be subdivided; and © “ideal lines” that have no thickness and extend infinitely in both directions. We also assume that there exist lines, called parallel lines, that do not intersect no matter how far they are extended (see Fig. 1.3). Parallel lines are considered in more detail in Chapter IL. Fig. 13 'f not mentioned otherwise, we will always mean a straight line when saying “a line.”1. Points and lines 3 1.2 Operations available in Chapter I In real life, we use a pen or a pencil to draw points, ‘The sharper the pencil, the better the point. To draw a line, we use an instrument called a straightedge. This is a ruler with no measuring marks on it, We can also draw points and lines which have some relation to cach other, More precisely, given a point, we can draw a line passing through this point or even more than one line passing through it? (see Fig. 1.4). Fig. 14 Given a line, we can mark a point on it or several points on it} (see Fig. 1.5). Fig. LS We say that two lines intersect if there is a point lying on both of them; we call this point the intersection point, or simply the intersection of the lines. Using a straightedge, one can draw a single line through any two points.“ in fact, we can draw infinitely many lines passing through a point 3We can mark infinitely many points lying on the line, Note, that in the real world the accuracy of this operation depends on the representation of points and also on the distance between these points,4 I. Points and Lines: A Look at Projective Geometry If the points are too close, then the accuracy of the operation becomes very poor (see Fig. 1.6). Fig. 1.6 We assume that we have “ideal geometric tools” that enable us to perform the following operations: 1. Draw the unique line through any two points. 2. Mark the point of intersection of two lines if these lines intersect. Remark 1. In geometty, the fact that operations 1 and 2 can be performed is expressed in a pair of statements called axioms that are usually formulated as follows: 1. Through any two points, one can draw a unique line 2. Any two lines either have a unique point of intersection or do not in- tersect (are parallel) Geometric constructions that are performed using only these two opera- tions are called constructions in projective geometry. 1.3. Ray, segment, half-plane Let us consider a line and mark a point on this line (see Fig. 1.7). This point divides the line into two parts. If we imagine moving along the line, then it is not possible to move from one part to the other without passing through the point or “jumping” over it. Each of these parts is called a ray or a half-line. We call the point that divides the line into two rays the endpoint; the endpoint belongs to both rays. Fig. 1.7 5We suppose that if the lines are not parallel, but do not intersect on a particular sheet of paper, we can extend them and still find their intersection point1. Points and lines 5 ‘Two points on a line divide it into three parts (Fig. 1.8). Fig. 18 The part of the line between® the two points is called a line segment or simply a segment. Thus, a line with wo points on it is divided into two rays and a segment. We call the two points endpoints of the segment; the endpoints belong to the segment. (Each one of them also belongs to one of the two rays.) Notice that any picture representing a line looks like a segment; there- fore, it is important to know what is under consideration. PROBLEM 1. Into how many non-overlapping parts do 100 points divide a line? What are these parts? That is, how many of them are segments and how many are rays? i Fig. 1.9 A line divides the plane into two parts called regions or domains (see Fig. 1.9). It is not possible to move from one of these domains to another without crossing the line. Indeed, if you imagine the plane as a huge field and the line as a fence, and if we place one hostile dog in each domain, then they will be separated by the fence and will not be able to fight. The domains into which the plane is divided by a line are called half-planes. The line separating the domains is called the boundary of each of these domains. The boundary is included in both domains. We will not define here the precise meaning of the term “between” because it requires high level mathematics. We rely on your intuitive understanding of this term.6 I. Points and Lines: A Look at Projective Geometry PROBLEM 2. Into how many parts can two lines divide a plane? Consider all possible positions of two lines in the plane. 1.4 Constructions with a straightedge Let us do some exercises using the operations defined in Section 1.2, We will denote points using capital letters and straight lines using lower case letters. Exercise 1. Find the point of intersection of the two lines in Fig. 1.10, a oo Fig. 1.10 Solution, We see in Fig. 1.10 that the line segments drawn do not actually intersect, We have to extend the line a, Now we can mark the point of intersection of the lines a and b; we can also denote it by a capital letter, for example, by A (see Fig. 1.11) Fig. 1.11