Geometric Computing With Clifford Algebras

This monograph-like anthology introduces the concepts and framework of Clifford algebra. It provides a rich source of examples of how to work with this formalism. Clifford or geometric algebra shows strong unifying aspects and turned out in the 1960s to be a most adequate formalism for describing different geometry-related algebraic systems as specializations of one "mother algebra" in various subfields of physics and engineering. Recent work shows that Clifford algebra provides a universal and powerful algebraic framework for an elegant and coherent representation of various problems occurring in computer science, signal processing, neural computing, image processing, pattern recognition, computer vision, and robotics.

This useful text offers new insights and solutions for the development of theorems, algorithms and advanced methods for real-time applications across a range of disciplines. Its accessible style is enhanced by examples, figures and experimental analysis.

After an introduction to geometric algebra, and the necessary math concepts that are needed, the book examines a variety of applications in the field of cognitive systems using geometric algebra as the mathematical system. There is strong evidence that geobetric albegra can be used to carry out efficient computations at all levels in the cognitive system. Geometric algebra reduces the complexity of algebraic expressions and as a result, it improves algorithms both in speed and accuracy. The book is addressed to a broad audience of computer scientists, cyberneticists, and engineers. It contains computer programs to clarify and demonstrate the importance of geometric algebra in cognitive systems.

This edited survey book consists of 20 chapters showing application of Clifford algebra in quantum mechanics, field theory, spinor calculations, projective geometry, Hypercomplex algebra, function theory and crystallography. Many examples of computations performed with a variety of readily available software programs are presented in detail.

Until recently, almost all of the interactions between objects in virtual 3D worlds have been based on calculations performed using linear algebra. Linear algebra relies heavily on coordinates, however, which can make many geometric programming tasks very specific and complex-often a lot of effort is required to bring about even modest performance enhancements. Although linear algebra is an efficient way to specify low-level computations, it is not a suitable high-level language for geometric programming. Geometric Algebra for Computer Science presents a compelling alternative to the limitations of linear algebra. Geometric algebra, or GA, is a compact, time-effective, and performance-enhancing way to represent the geometry of 3D objects in computer programs. In this book you will find an introduction to GA that will give you a strong grasp of its relationship to linear algebra and its significance for your work. You will learn how to use GA to represent objects and perform geometric operations on them. And you will begin mastering proven techniques for making GA an integral part of your applications in a way that simplifies your code without slowing it down. * The first book on Geometric Algebra for programmers in computer graphics and entertainment computing * Written by leaders in the field providing essential information on this new technique for 3D graphics * This full colour book includes a website with GAViewer, a program to experiment with GA

The demand for more reliable geometric computing in robotics, computer vision and graphics has revitalized many venerable algebraic subjects in mathematics OCo among them, GrassmannOCoCayley algebra and Geometric Algebra. Nowadays, they are used as powerful languages for projective, Euclidean and other classical geometries. This book contains the author and his collaborators' most recent, original development of GrassmannOCoCayley algebra and Geometric Algebra and their applications in automated reasoning of classical geometries. It includes two of the three advanced invariant algebras OCo Cayley bracket algebra, conformal geometric algebra, and null bracket algebra OCo for highly efficient geometric computing. They form the theory of advanced invariants, and capture the intrinsic beauty of geometric languages and geometric computing. Apart from their applications in discrete and computational geometry, the new languages are currently being used in computer vision, graphics and robotics by many researchers worldwide. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Introduction (252 KB). Contents: Projective Space, Bracket Algebra and GrassmannOCoCayley Algebra; Projective Incidence Geometry with Cayley Bracket Algebra; Projective Conic Geometry with Bracket Algebra and Quadratic Grassmann-Cayley Algebra; Inner-product Bracket Algebra and Clifford Algebra; Geometric Algebra; Euclidean Geometry and Conformal GrassmannOCoCayley Algebra; Conformal Clifford Algebra and Classical Geometries. Readership: Graduate students in discrete and computational geometry, and computer mathematics; mathematicians and computer scientists.

The author defines “Geometric Algebra Computing” as the geometrically intuitive development of algorithms using geometric algebra with a focus on their efficient implementation, and the goal of this book is to lay the foundations for the widespread use of geometric algebra as a powerful, intuitive mathematical language for engineering applications in academia and industry. The related technology is driven by the invention of conformal geometric algebra as a 5D extension of the 4D projective geometric algebra and by the recent progress in parallel processing, and with the specific conformal geometric algebra there is a growing community in recent years applying geometric algebra to applications in computer vision, computer graphics, and robotics. This book is organized into three parts: in Part I the author focuses on the mathematical foundations; in Part II he explains the interactive handling of geometric algebra; and in Part III he deals with computing technology for high-performance implementations based on geometric algebra as a domain-specific language in standard programming languages such as C++ and OpenCL. The book is written in a tutorial style and readers should gain experience with the associated freely available software packages and applications. The book is suitable for students, engineers, and researchers in computer science, computational engineering, and mathematics.