The Geometry of Special Relativity (Textbooks in Mathematics)

"This unique book presents a particularly beautiful way of looking at special relativity. The author encourages students to see beyond the formulas to the deeper structure. The unification of space and time introduced by Einstein's special theory of relativity is one of the cornerstones of the modern scientific description of the universe. Yet the unification is counterintuitive because we perceive time very differently from space. Even in relativity, time is not just another dimension, it is one with different properties The book treats the geometry of hyperbolas as the key to understanding special relativity. The author simplifies the formulas and emphasizes their geometric content. Many important relations, including the famous relativistic addition formula for velocities, then follow directly from the appropriate (hyperbolic) trigonometric addition formulas. Prior mastery of (ordinary) trigonometry is sufficient for most of the material presented, although occasional use is made of elementary differential calculus, and the chapter on electromagnetism assumes some more advanced knowledge. Changes to the Second Edition The treatment of Minkowski space and spacetime diagrams has been expanded. Several new topics have been added, including a geometric derivation of Lorentz transformations, a discussion of three-dimensional spacetime diagrams, and a brief geometric description of "area" and how it can be used to measure time and distance. Minor notational changes were made to avoid conflict with existing usage in the literature"--

Science & Math

Dray, Tevian

Mathematics

Chapman and Hall/CRC

Product Description 
This unique book presents a particularly beautiful way of looking at special relativity. The author encourages students to see beyond the formulas to the deeper structure.The unification of space and time introduced by Einstein’s special theory of relativity is one of the cornerstones of the modern scientific description of the universe. Yet the unification is counterintuitive because we perceive time very differently from space. Even in relativity, time is not just another dimension, it is one with different propertiesThe book treats the geometry of hyperbolas as the key to understanding special relativity. The author simplifies the formulas and emphasizes their geometric content. Many important relations, including the famous relativistic addition formula for velocities, then follow directly from the appropriate (hyperbolic) trigonometric addition formulas.Prior mastery of (ordinary) trigonometry is sufficient for most of the material presented, although occasional use is made of elementary differential calculus, and the chapter on electromagnetism assumes some more advanced knowledge.Changes to the Second Edition\nThe treatment of Minkowski space and spacetime diagrams has been expanded.\nSeveral new topics have been added, including a geometric derivation of Lorentz transformations, a discussion of three-dimensional spacetime diagrams, and a brief geometric description of "area" and how it can be used to measure time and distance.\nMinor notational changes were made to avoid conflict with existing usagein the literature.\nTable of Contents \nPreface1. Introduction.2. The Physics of Special Relativity.3. Circle Geometry.4. Hyperbola Geometry. 5. The Geometry of Special Relativity. 6. Applications.7. Problems III.8. Paradoxes.9. Relativistic Mechanics.10. Problems II.11. Relativistic Electromagnetism. 12. Problems III.13. Beyond Special Relativity. 14. Three-Dimensional Spacetime Diagrams.15. Minkowski Area via Light Boxes.16. Hyperbolic Geometry.17. Calculus.Bibliography. \nAuthor Biography 
Tevian Dray is a Professor of Mathematics at Oregon State University. His research lies at the interface between mathematics and physics, involving differential geometry and general relativity, as well as nonassociative algebra and particle physics; he also studies student understanding of "middle-division" mathematics and physics content. Educated at MIT and Berkeley, he held postdoctoral positions in both mathematics and physics in several countries prior to coming to OSU in 1988. Professor Dray is a Fellow of the American Physical Society for his work in relativity, and an award-winning teacher.\nAbout the Author 
Tevian Dray is a Professor of Mathematics at Oregon State University. His research lies at the interface between mathematics and physics, involving differential geometry and general relativity, as well as nonassociative algebra and particle physics; he also studies student understanding of "middle-division" mathematics and physics content. Educated at MIT and Berkeley, he held postdoctoral positions in both mathematics and physics in several countries prior to coming to OSU in 1988. Professor Dray is a Fellow of the American Physical Society for his work in relativity, and an award-winning teacher.

Differential Forms and the Geometry of General Relativity provides readers with a coherent path to understanding relativity. Requiring little more than calculus and some linear algebra, it helps readers learn just enough differential geometry to grasp the basics of general relativity. The book contains two intertwined but distinct halves.Designed for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students in mathematics or physics, most of the text requires little more than familiarity with calculus and linear algebra. The first half presents an introduction to general relativity that describes some of the surprising implications of relativity without introducing more formalism than necessary. This nonstandard approach uses differential forms rather than tensor calculus and minimizes the use of "index gymnastics" as much as possible. The second half of the book takes a more detailed look at the mathematics of differential forms. It covers the theory behind the mathematics used in the first half by emphasizing a conceptual understanding instead of formal proofs. The book provides a language to describe curvature, the key geometric idea in general relativity.

Differential Forms and the Geometry of General Relativity

A K Peters/CRC Press

The Geometry of Special Relativity provides an introduction to special relativity that encourages readers to see beyond the formulas to the deeper geometric structure. The text treats the geometry of hyperbolas as the key to understanding special relativity. This approach replaces the ubiquitous γ symbol of most standard treatments with the appropriate hyperbolic trigonometric functions. In most cases, this not only simplifies the appearance of the formulas, but also emphasizes their geometric content in such a way as to make them almost obvious. Furthermore, many important relations, including the famous relativistic addition formula for velocities, follow directly from the appropriate trigonometric addition formulas. The book first describes the basic physics of special relativity to set the stage for the geometric treatment that follows. It then reviews properties of ordinary two-dimensional Euclidean space, expressed in terms of the usual circular trigonometric functions, before presenting a similar treatment of two-dimensional Minkowski space, expressed in terms of hyperbolic trigonometric functions. After covering special relativity again from the geometric point of view, the text discusses standard paradoxes, applications to relativistic mechanics, the relativistic unification of electricity and magnetism, and further steps leading to Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The book also briefly describes the further steps leading to Einstein’s general theory of relativity and then explores applications of hyperbola geometry to non-Euclidean geometry and calculus, including a geometric construction of the derivatives of trigonometric functions and the exponential function.

GEOMETRY OF THE OCTONIONS, THE

There are precisely two further generalizations of the real and complex numbers, namely, the quaternions and the octonions. The quaternions naturally describe rotations in three dimensions. In fact, all (continuous) symmetry groups are based on one of these four number systems. This book provides an elementary introduction to the properties of the octonions, with emphasis on their geometric structure. Elementary applications covered include the rotation groups and their spacetime generalization, the Lorentz group, as well as the eigenvalue problem for Hermitian matrices. In addition, more sophisticated applications include the exceptional Lie groups, octonionic projective spaces, and applications to particle physics including the remarkable fact that classical supersymmetry only exists in particular spacetime dimensions.

The Geometry of the Octonions

Manogue, Corinne A

World Scientific Publishing Company

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Books by Dray, Tevian

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dray, Tevian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Geometry of Special Relativity (Textbooks in Mathematics)

The Geometry of Special Relativity (Textbooks in Mathematics)

Differential Forms and the Geometry of General Relativity

The Geometry of Special Relativity (Textbooks in Mathematics)

The Geometry of the Octonions

GEOMETRY OF THE OCTONIONS, THE