South Pointing Chariot: An Invitation to Differential Geometry
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Publication:6259451
arXiv1502.07671MaRDI QIDQ6259451FDOQ6259451
Authors: Stephen Sawin 
Publication date: 24 February 2015
Abstract: We introduce the south-pointing chariot, an intriguing mechanical device from ancient China. We use its ability to keep track of a global direction as it travels on an arbitrary path as a tool to explore the geometry of curved surfaces. This takes us as far as a famous result of Gauss on the impossibility of a faithful map of the globe, which started off the field of differential geometry. The reader should get a view into how geometers think and an introduction to important early results in the field, but should need no more than a solid background in calculus (ideally through multivariable calculus). This is achieved by relying on the reader's visual intuition.
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