An essay on the foundations of geometry — John Shaqi
An essay on the foundations of geometryRussell, Bertrand
Philosophy
An essay on the foundations of geometry
Russell, Bertrand
Geometry -- Foundations
form a singly infinite series, since they contain one parameter,
namely λ′: λ″. Such a series of geodesics, therefore, must form a
two-dimensional manifold, with a measure of curvature in the ordinary
Gaussian sense. This measure of curvature can be determined from
the above formula for the elementary arc, by the help of Gauss's
general formula alluded to above. We thus obtain an infinite number
of measures of curvature at a point, but from n.(n - 1)/2 of these,
the rest can be deduced (Riemann, Gesammelte Werke, p. 262). When all
the measures of curvature at a point are constant, and equal to all
the measures of curvature at any other point, we get what Riemann
calls a manifold of constant curvature. In such a manifold free
mobility is possible, and positions do not differ intrinsically from
one another. If _a_ be the measure of curvature, the formula for the
arc becomes, in this case,
ds^{2} = Σdx^{2}/(1 + a/4 Σx^{2})^{2}.
In this case only, as I pointed out above, can the term "measure of
curvature" be properly applied to space without reference to a higher
dimension, since free mobility is logically indispensable to the
existence of quantitative or metrical Geometry.
=23.= The mathematical result of Riemann's dissertation may be summed
up as follows. Assuming it possible to apply magnitude to space,
_i.e._ to determine its elements and figures by means of algebraical
quantities, it follows that space can be brought under the conception
of a manifold, as a system of quantitatively determinable elements.
Owing, however, to the peculiar nature of spatial measurement, the
quantitative determination of space demands that magnitudes shall
be independent of place--in so far as this is not the case, our
measurement will be necessarily inaccurate. If we now assume, as
the quantitative relation of distance between two elements, the
square root of a quadratic function of the coordinates--a formula
subsequently proved by Helmholtz and Lie--then it follows, since
magnitudes are to be independent of place, that space must, within
the limits of observation, have a constant measure of curvature,
or must, in other words, be homogeneous in all its parts. In the
infinitesimal, Riemann says (p. 267), observation could not detect
a departure from constancy on the part of the measure of curvature;
but he makes no attempt to show how Geometry could remain possible
under such circumstances, and the only Geometry he has constructed
is based entirely on Free Mobility. I shall endeavour to prove, in
Chapter III., that any metrical Geometry, which should endeavour to
dispense with this axiom, would be logically impossible. At present
I will only point out that Riemann, in spite of his desire to prove
that all the axioms can be dispensed with, has nevertheless, in his
mathematical work, retained three fundamental axioms, namely, Free
Mobility, the finite integral number of dimensions, and the axiom
that two points have a unique relation, namely distance.
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