Classical Geometries and Modern Applications

Catalog description

An introduction to projective, hyperbolic, and spherical geometry and their modern applications. The course will be divided into short modules with an emphasis on participation, discovery, and student projects and presentations. In addition to proving theorems, students will have the opportunity to make, build, 3D print, or program something related to the course material as a project component. We will cover classical theorems and techniques (e.g., stereographic projection and conics) and see how classical geometry is used in and relates to other areas of mathematics (e.g., topology, via Euler characteristic) and applications such as computer vision, networks, or architectural drawing. Students will be expected to be comfortable writing proofs. More experience with proofs may be gained by first taking a 3000-level MATH course.