Geometric Calculus

This textbook for the undergraduate vector calculus course presents a unified treatment of vector and geometric calculus. This is the printing of August 2022. The book is a sequel to the text Linear and Geometric Algebra by the same author. That text is a prerequisite for this one. Its web page is at faculty.luther.edu/ macdonal/laga. Linear algebra and vector calculus have provided the basic vocabulary of mathematics in dimensions greater than one for the past one hundred years. Just as geometric algebra generalizes linear algebra in powerful ways, geometric calculus generalizes vector calculus in powerful ways. Traditional vector calculus topics are covered, as they must be, since readers will encounter them in other texts and out in the world. Differential geometry is used today in many disciplines. A final chapter is devoted to it. Download the book's table of contents, preface, and index at the book's web site: faculty.luther.edu/ macdonal/vagc. From a review of Linear and Geometric Algebra: Alan Macdonald's text is an excellent resource if you are just beginning the study of geometric algebra and would like to learn or review traditional linear algebra in the process. The clarity and evenness of the writing, as well as the originality of presentation that is evident throughout this text, suggest that the author has been successful as a mathematics teacher in the undergraduate classroom. This carefully crafted text is ideal for anyone learning geometric algebra in relative isolation, which I suspect will be the case for many readers. -- Jeffrey Dunham, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Natural Sciences, Middlebury College

Matrix algebra has been called "the arithmetic of higher mathematics" [Be]. We think the basis for a better arithmetic has long been available, but its versatility has hardly been appreciated, and it has not yet been integrated into the mainstream of mathematics. We refer to the system commonly called 'Clifford Algebra', though we prefer the name 'Geometric Algebra' suggested by Clifford himself. Many distinct algebraic systems have been adapted or developed to express geometric relations and describe geometric structures. Especially notable are those algebras which have been used for this purpose in physics, in particular, the system of complex numbers, the quaternions, matrix algebra, vector, tensor and spinor algebras and the algebra of differential forms. Each of these geometric algebras has some significant advantage over the others in certain applications, so no one of them provides an adequate algebraic structure for all purposes of geometry and physics. At the same time, the algebras overlap considerably, so they provide several different mathematical representations for individual geometrical or physical ideas.

Matrix algebra has been called "the arithmetic of higher mathematics" [Be]. We think the basis for a better arithmetic has long been available, but its versatility has hardly been appreciated, and it has not yet been integrated into the mainstream of mathematics. We refer to the system commonly called 'Clifford Algebra', though we prefer the name 'Geometric Algebm' suggested by Clifford himself. Many distinct algebraic systems have been adapted or developed to express geometric relations and describe geometric structures. Especially notable are those algebras which have been used for this purpose in physics, in particular, the system of complex numbers, the quatemions, matrix algebra, vector, tensor and spinor algebras and the algebra of differential forms. Each of these geometric algebras has some significant advantage over the others in certain applications, so no one of them provides an adequate algebraic structure for all purposes of geometry and physics. At the same time, the algebras overlap considerably, so they provide several different mathematical representations for individual geometrical or physical ideas.

Calcolo Geometrico, G. Peano's first publication in mathematical logic, is a model of expository writing, with a significant impact on 20th century mathematics. Kannenberg's lucid and crisp translation, Geometric Calculus, will appeal to historians of mathematics, researchers, graduate students, and general readers interested in the foundations of mathematics and the development of a formal logical language. The book has never been reprinted in its entirety, and only two chapters have ever been translated into English. Readers of this valuable translation will gain insight into the work of a distinguished mathematician and founder of mathematical logic.

With a fresh geometric approach that incorporates more than 250 illustrations, this textbook sets itself apart from all others in advanced calculus. Besides the classical capstones--the change of variables formula, implicit and inverse function theorems, the integral theorems of Gauss and Stokes--the text treats other important topics in differential analysis, such as Morse's lemma and the Poincaré lemma. The ideas behind most topics can be understood with just two or three variables. The book incorporates modern computational tools to give visualization real power. Using 2D and 3D graphics, the book offers new insights into fundamental elements of the calculus of differentiable maps. The geometric theme continues with an analysis of the physical meaning of the divergence and the curl at a level of detail not found in other advanced calculus books. This is a textbook for undergraduates and graduate students in mathematics, the physical sciences, and economics. Prerequisites are an introduction to linear algebra and multivariable calculus. There is enough material for a year-long course on advanced calculus and for a variety of semester courses--including topics in geometry. The measured pace of the book, with its extensive examples and illustrations, make it especially suitable for independent study.

An authorised reissue of the long out of print classic textbook, Advanced Calculus by the late Dr Lynn Loomis and Dr Shlomo Sternberg both of Harvard University has been a revered but hard to find textbook for the advanced calculus course for decades. This book is based on an honors course in advanced calculus that the authors gave in the 1960's. The foundational material, presented in the unstarred sections of Chapters 1 through 11, was normally covered, but different applications of this basic material were stressed from year to year, and the book therefore contains more material than was covered in any one year. It can accordingly be used (with omissions) as a text for a year's course in advanced calculus, or as a text for a three-semester introduction to analysis. The prerequisites are a good grounding in the calculus of one variable from a mathematically rigorous point of view, together with some acquaintance with linear algebra. The reader should be familiar with limit and continuity type arguments and have a certain amount of mathematical sophistication. As possible introductory texts, we mention Differential and Integral Calculus by R Courant, Calculus by T Apostol, Calculus by M Spivak, and Pure Mathematics by G Hardy. The reader should also have some experience with partial derivatives. In overall plan the book divides roughly into a first half which develops the calculus (principally the differential calculus) in the setting of normed vector spaces, and a second half which deals with the calculus of differentiable manifolds.

This book explains and helps readers to develop geometric intuition as it relates to differential forms. It includes over 250 figures to aid understanding and enable readers to visualize the concepts being discussed. The author gradually builds up to the basic ideas and concepts so that definitions, when made, do not appear out of nowhere, and both the importance and role that theorems play is evident as or before they are presented. With a clear writing style and easy-to- understand motivations for each topic, this book is primarily aimed at second- or third-year undergraduate math and physics students with a basic knowledge of vector calculus and linear algebra.

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.