May 30, 2006
-
The Mathematical
Association of America
discusses
finite geometry:
“One thing in the Fano plane that bothered me for years (for years, I
say) is that it had a circle – and it was described as a line. For me, a line was
a straight line, and I didn’t trust curved or wriggly lines. This distrust kept
me away from understanding projective planes, designs, and finite geometries for
a awhile (for years).”“Against stupidity
the gods themselves
fight unvictorious.”– Schiller,* quoted as
the epigraph to the
chapter on Galois in
Men of Mathematics,
by E. T. BellRelated material:
Galois Geometry*
From Die Jungfrau von Orleans
(The Maid of Orleans), Act III, sc. vi.
Today is the feast of that Jungfrau.
Click on picture
for details.
