Some elementary aspects of 4-dimensional geometry

DOI10.3390/SYM7020515MaRDI QIDQ2406207zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors J. Scott Carter, David A. Mullens

Publication date 27 September 2017

Published in Symmetry (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1504.01727

zbMATH Keywords

four-dimensional geometryHeron's formulahyper-solidshypercubeNicomachus' theoremscissors congruence

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Elementary problems in Euclidean geometries (51M04) Length, area and volume in real or complex geometry (51M25)

Abstract: We indicate that Heron's formula (which relates the square of the area of a triangle to a quartic function of its edge lengths) can be interpreted as a scissors congruence in 4-dimensional space. In the process of demonstrating this, we examine a number of decompositions of hypercubes, hyper-parallelograms, and other elementary 4-dimensional solids.

Review text

The square of the area of a triangle can be explicitly expressed with the edge lengths \(a\), \(b\), \(c\) of the triangle by Heron's formula: \[ 16A^2=(a+b+c)(-a+b+c)(a-b+c)(a+b-c) \] \[ 2a^2b^2+\quad 2a^2c^2+2b^2c^2-a^4-b^4-c^4. \] The authors of this paper interpret this formula as a scissors congruence in four-dimensional space. In the process of demonstration, they examine a number of decompositions of hypercubes and other elementary four-dimensional solids. In Section 3, a geometric interpretation of the multinominal theorem is given. In Section 4, the method of demonstration of the Pythagorean theorem is applied for the decomposition of a hyper-rectangle. Beside a four-dimensional geometric proof of Heron's formula, the primary purpose of the authors is ``to develop the reader's intuition and interest in elementary four-dimensional geometry.

Cited in

(9)

• A symmetric 3D proof of Heron's formula
• Is a 2000-Year-Old Formula Still Keeping Some Secrets?
• Reinventing Heron
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1182545 (Why is no real title available?)
• Heron's formula, and volume forms
• The ``form of a triangle
• Heron's formula in higher dimensions
• An extension of Heron's formula to tetrahedra, and the projective nature of its zeroes. I
• Line-bound vectors, plane-bound bivectors and tetrahedra in the conformal model of three-dimensional space

This page was built for publication: Some elementary aspects of 4-dimensional geometry

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q2406207)