Introduction to hyperbolic geometry (Q1344387)

The present book is mainly concerned with plane hyperbolic geometry. The approach is based upon (what the authors call) a ``user friendly'' system of axioms: There are ``traditional'' axioms (in the spirit of David Hilbert), e.g. the hyperbolic parallel axiom, whereas in some axioms the field of real numbers is used, e.g. by demanding that the plane is a metric space. This has the great advantage that the apparatus of real numbers and real analysis is available from the very beginning. Moreover, there will be no need to introduce later such constructions as Hilbert's ``Endenrechnung''. On the other hand, the authors state 14 axioms to give the term ``field of real numbers'' a precise meaning, so that there are 21 axioms in total. Geometry starts with a thorough discussion of absolute planes (disregarding the hyperbolic parallel axiom) which includes, e.g. standard results on triangles; the group of isometries is treated in terms of products of reflections. Next comes a qualitative description of some features of hyperbolic planes such as ultraparallel lines, circles, horocycles, tilings and triangulations. Hyperbolic 3-spaces are introduced in a similar manner as has been done before for planes. It is shown that the inner geometry on any horosphere is locally Euclidean. This in turn is used to show that the planes of a hyperbolic 3-space are infinitesimally Euclidean. Some basic ideas of Riemannian geometry are introduced in a self- contained way and then applied to hyperbolic planes. Various well-known models for hyperbolic planes are investigated. This leads naturally to the questions of consistency and categoricalness of the hyperbolic axioms. Additional chapters deal with higher-dimensional hyperbolic spaces, connections with special relativity and constructions by ruler and compass. To sum up this is a well-written textbook which is certainly appreciated by everyone who is willing to follow the authors' axiomatic approach. Surprisingly, it seems that there are no references on other textbooks on hyperbolic geometry.