Clifford Algebra to Geometric Calculus: A Unified Language for Mathematics and Physics (Fundamental Theories of Physics (5))

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. Geometric Calculus is a language for expressing and analyzing the full range of geometric concepts in mathematics. Clifford Algebra provides the grammar. Complex number, quaternions, matrix algebra, vector, tensor and spinor calculus and differential forms are integrated into a single comprehensive system. The geometric calculus developed in this book has the following features: a systematic development of definitions, concepts and theorems needed to apply the calculus easily and effectively to almost any branch of mathematics or physics; a formulation of linear algebra capable of details computations without matrices or coordinates; new proofs and treatments of canonical forms including an extensive discussion of spinor representations of rotations in Euclidean n-space; a new concept of differentiation which makes it possible to formulate calculus on manifolds and carry out complete calculations of such thinks as the Jacobian of a transformation without resorting to coordinates; a coordinate-free approach to differential geometry featuring a new quantity, the shape tensor, from which the curvature tensor can be computed without a connection; a formulation of integration theory based on a concept of directed measure, with new results including a generalization of Cauchy's integral formula to n-dimension spaces and explicit integral formula for the inverse of a transformation; a new approach to Lie groups and Lie algebras. --From cover 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.