Differential Geometry (Wiley Classics Library)

This classic work is now available in an unabridged paperback edition. Stoker makes this fertile branch of mathematics accessible to the nonspecialist by the use of three different notations: vector algebra and calculus, tensor calculus, and the notation devised by Cartan, which employs invariant differential forms as elements in an algebra due to Grassman, combined with an operation called exterior differentiation. Assumed are a passing acquaintance with linear algebra and the basic elements of analysis. This chapter presents briefly the principal rules for operating with vectors, and a collection of those formulas which are useful in differential geometry.