Analytic projective geometry (Q2449588)

The development of projective geometry must be seen as one of the most propelling advances in the long history of geometry as a whole. Apart from the introduction of the so-called analytic method to the study of ancient geometry by R. Descartes in the early 17th century, that is, from the systematic use of (Cartesian) coordinates to analyze geometric properties, it was the first attempt to describe the properties of geometric figures that are invariant under perspectives, as undertaken by G. Desargues at about the same time, which provided the origins of what later emerged as the independent field of analytic projective geometry. Actually, after the systematic development of synthetic (i.e., coordinate-free) projective geometry at the beginning of the 19th century (by J. Poncelet and others), the analytic method of using homogeneous coordinates in projective geometry was established not until the mid 19th century, mainly through the pioneering works of A. Abius, J. Plücker, A. Cayley, and others. In the course of the rapid development of analytic projective geometry since that time, it became apparent that all the geometries known so far could be interpreted as suitable specializations of this new approach, and that projective geometry factually could be taken as a solid basis of large parts of geometry in general. Moreover, the crucial role of projective geometry in both classical and modern algebraic geometry is still unchallenged, and the more recent development of computer vision opens up a new field for applications of this venerable branch of mathematics even in these days. The book under review provides a comprehensive introduction to the concepts, methods, and results of both complex and real analytic projective geometry. Exclusively based on the framework of linear algebra, the book grew out of the author's repeated courses on the subject for undergraduate students at the University of Barcelona, Spain, and as such it may serve as a profound source for courses on analytic projective geometry and its applications, on the one hand, and for independent self-study on the other. In fact, the author offers a fairly complete account of classical projective geometry in a modern setting, thereby conveying the historical spirit of the great classical textbook authors in the field such as E. Bertini (1923), G. Castelnuovo (1924), C. Veblen and J. W. Young (1910), J. G. Semple and G. T. Kneebone (1963), or O. Schreier and B. Sperner (1961). Requiring only the basic knowledge of linear algebra and some familiarity with linear affine and metric geometry, the contents of the book are organized in eleven chapters and two appendices. Chapter 1 introduces projective spaces associated to finite-dimensional vector spaces over an arbitrary field, their linear subspaces, projectivities as (projective) maps between projective spaces, the concept of projective invariance, projections, sections, perspectivities, and the classical theorems of Pappus and Desargues, respectively. Chapter 2 discusses projective coordinates (i.e., homogeneous coordinates), matrix representations of projectivities, the cross ratio of four points in \(\mathbb{P}^1\), and harmonic sets of four points. Chapter 3 describes the link to affine geometry, including the projective closure of an affine subspace, the relation between affine and projective coordinates, affine geometry in the projective framework, and the idea of P. Klein's Erlangen Program. Chapter 4 is devoted to projective hyperplanes and the according principle of duality, with particular emphasis on duals of projectivities, linear subvarieties, and bunches of the latter. Chapter 5 turns to projective transformations of projective spaces and of linear varieties, where the one-dimensional case is given a separate, more elementary and detailed treatment. Involutions, collineations, correlations, perspectivities, and (singular) projectivities are the main objects of study in this chapter. Chapter 6 enters into the analysis of projective quadrics and their basic geometric properties, thereby treating the cases of nondegenerate and generate quadrics successively. The classification of both projective and affine quadrics is undertaken in Chapter 7 and further properties of quadrics are derived in this context. Chapter 8 contains the main results concerning the projective generation and internal structure of conics in the plane and quadrics in projective three-space, including the related classical theorems of Steiner, Pascal, and Brianchon as well as the study of lines on quadrics and in \(\mathbb{P}^3\). Chapter 9 is dedicated to the study of projective spaces of quadrics. In this context, rational projective curves, linear systems of quadrics, pencils of quadrics and conics, spaces of quadric envelopes, the notions of polarity and apolarity, Desargues's theorem on pencils of quadrics, and the twisted cubic in \(\mathbb{P}^3\) are described in greater detail. Chapter 10 deals with the metric geometry of quadrics, where the study of conics and three-space quadrics is given special attention. Metric invariants of quadrics and the resulting metric classification of quadrics are the highlights of the discussion presented in this chapter. Finally, Chapter 11 returns to the study of projective transformations (as begun in Chapter 5). The aim of this more advanced and more technical chapter is to present the proofs of three important classification theorems. More precisely, the projective classification of collineations, regular pencils of quadrics, and correlations are explained in full detail, where the algebraic theory of equivalence of polynomial matrices is used as a crucial technical ingredient. The main text of the book is supplemented by two appendices presenting further, less usual applications of projective geometry. Appendix A explains the projective foundations of the practical rules of perspective (as used by artists), and Appendix B discusses projective models of the Euclidean plane and of non-Euclidean plane geometries, respectively. Each chapter ends with a section proposing a number of related exercises, where many of them provide additional classical results or further related topics. All together, the book under review gives an utmost lucid, precise and rigorous presentation of the central topics of classical analytic projective geometry, with numerous instructive examples, elucidating remarks, and interesting applications. The author's teaching experience of about thirty-five years becomes evident everywhere in this excellent primer of projective geometry, which will be to the benefit of various kinds of readers interested in the subject.