Differential Geometry The Interface Between Pure And Applied Mathematics

Normally, mathematical research has been divided into 'pure' and 'applied', and only within the past decade has this distinction become blurred. However, differential geometry is one area of mathematics that has not made this distinction and has consistently played a vital role in both general areas. The papers in this volume represent the proceedings of a conference entitled 'Differential Geometry: The Interface Between Pure and Applied Mathematics', which was held in San Antonio, Texas, in April 1986. The purpose of the conference was to explore recent exciting applications and challenging classical problems in differential geometry. The papers represent a tremendous range of applications and techniques in such diverse areas as ordinary differential equations, Lie groups, algebra, numerical analysis and control theory.

Normally, mathematical research has been divided into ``pure'' and ``applied,'' and only within the past decade has this distinction become blurred. However, differential geometry is one area of mathematics that has not made this distinction and has consistently played a vital role in both general areas. The papers in this volume represent the proceedings of a conference entitled ``Differential Geometry: The Interface Between Pure and Applied Mathematics,'' which was held in San Antonio, Texas, in April 1986. The purpose of the conference was to explore recent exciting applications and challenging classical problems in differential geometry. The papers represent a tremendous range of applications and techniques in such diverse areas as ordinary differential equations, Lie groups, algebra, numerical analysis, and control theory.

This book gives the basic notions of differential geometry, such as the metric tensor, the Riemann curvature tensor, the fundamental forms of a surface, covariant derivatives, and the fundamental theorem of surface theory in a self-contained and accessible manner. Although the field is often considered a OC classicalOCO one, it has recently been rejuvenated, thanks to the manifold applications where it plays an essential role.The book presents some important applications to shells, such as the theory of linearly and nonlinearly elastic shells, the implementation of numerical methods for shells, and mesh generation in finite element methods.This volume will be very useful to graduate students and researchers in pure and applied mathematics."

Comprehensive coverage of the foundations, applications, recent developments, and future of conformal differential geometry Conformal Differential Geometry and Its Generalizations is the first and only text that systematically presents the foundations and manifestations of conformal differential geometry. It offers the first unified presentation of the subject, which was established more than a century ago. The text is divided into seven chapters, each containing figures, formulas, and historical and bibliographical notes, while numerous examples elucidate the necessary theory. Clear, focused, and expertly synthesized, Conformal Differential Geometry and Its Generalizations * Develops the theory of hypersurfaces and submanifolds of any dimension of conformal and pseudoconformal spaces. * Investigates conformal and pseudoconformal structures on a manifold of arbitrary dimension, derives their structure equations, and explores their tensor of conformal curvature. * Analyzes the real theory of four-dimensional conformal structures of all possible signatures. * Considers the analytic and differential geometry of Grassmann and almost Grassmann structures. * Draws connections between almost Grassmann structures and web theory. Conformal differential geometry, a part of classical differential geometry, was founded at the turn of the century and gave rise to the study of conformal and almost Grassmann structures in later years. Until now, no book has offered a systematic presentation of the multidimensional conformal differential geometry and the conformal and almost Grassmann structures. After years of intense research at their respective universities and at the Soviet School of Differential Geometry, Maks A. Akivis and Vladislav V. Goldberg have written this well-conceived, expertly executed volume to fill a void in the literature. Dr. Akivis and Dr. Goldberg supply a deep foundation, applications, numerous examples, and recent developments in the field. Many of the findings that fill these pages are published here for the first time, and previously published results are reexamined in a unified context. The geometry and theory of conformal and pseudoconformal spaces of arbitrary dimension, as well as the theory of Grassmann and almost Grassmann structures, are discussed and analyzed in detail. The topics covered not only advance the subject itself, but pose important questions for future investigations. This exhaustive, groundbreaking text combines the classical results and recent developments and findings. This volume is intended for graduate students and researchers of differential geometry. It can be especially useful to those students and researchers who are interested in conformal and Grassmann differential geometry and their applications to theoretical physics.

This book contains a series of papers on some of the longstanding research problems of geometry, calculus of variations, and their applications. It is suitable for advanced graduate students, teachers, research mathematicians, and other professionals in mathematics.