The Universe of Conics From the Ancient Greeks to 21st Century Developments

This text presents the classical theory of conics in a modern form. It includes many novel results that are not easily accessible elsewhere. The approach combines synthetic and analytic methods to derive projective, affine and metrical properties, covering both Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries.

With more than two thousand years of history, conic sections play a fundamental role in numerous fields of mathematics and physics, with applications to mechanical engineering, architecture, astronomy, design and computer graphics.

This text will be invaluable to undergraduate mathematics students, those in adjacent fields of study, and anyone with an interest in classical geometry.

Augmented with more than three hundred fifty figures and photographs, this innovative text will enhance your understanding of projective geometry, linear algebra, mechanics, and differential geometry, with careful exposition and many illustrative exercises.

1 Introduction.- 2 Euclidean plane.- 3 Differential Geometry.- 4 Eucledian 3-space.- 5 Projective Geometry.- 6 Projective conics.- 7 Polarities and pencils.- 8 Affine Geometry.- 9 Special problems.- 10 Other geometries.- Index.

Georg Glaeser, born 1955, got his PhD and habilitation in geometry at the Vienna University of Technology, 1998-2023 full professor of geometry at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Author and coauthor of more than a dozen books on geometry, mathematics, computational geometry, computer graphics, and photography.

Hellmuth Stachel, born 1942, got his PhD and habilitation in geometry in Graz. 1978 full professor at the Mining University Leoben, 1980-2011 full professor of geometry at the Vienna University of Technology. Coauthor of several books on mathematics and computational geometry and of more than 180 articles on geometry.

Boris Odehnal, born 1973, got his PhD and habilitation in geometry at the Vienna University of Technology. 2011-2012 professor at the Dresden University of Technology, from 2023 full professor of geometry at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Author of several dozens of publications on geometry.