This book is a translation of an authoritative introductory text based on a lecture series delivered by the renowned differential geometer, Professor S S Chern in Beijing University in 1980. The original Chinese text, authored by Professor Chern and Professor Wei-Huan Chen, was a unique contribution to the mathematics literature, combining simplicity and economy of approach with depth of contents. The present translation is aimed at a wide audience, including (but not limited to) advanced undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics, as well as physicists interested in the diverse applications of differential geometry to physics. In addition to a thorough treatment of the fundamentals of manifold theory, exterior algebra, the exterior calculus, connections on fiber bundles, Riemannian geometry, Lie groups and moving frames, and complex manifolds (with a succinct introduction to the theory of Chern classes), and an appendix on the relationship between differential geometry and theoretical physics, this book includes a new chapter on Finsler geometry and a new appendix on the history and recent developments of differential geometry, the latter prepared specially for this edition by Professor Chern to bring the text into perspectives.

This book is based on lectures given at Harvard University during the academic year 1960?1961. The presentation assumes knowledge of the elements of modern algebra (groups, vector spaces, etc.) and point-set topology and some elementary analysis. Rather than giving all the basic information or touching upon every topic in the field, this work treats various selected topics in differential geometry. The author concisely addresses standard material and spreads exercises throughout the text. his reprint has two additions to the original volume: a paper written jointly with V. Guillemin at the beginning of a period of intense interest in the equivalence problem and a short description from the author on results in the field that occurred between the first and the second printings.

These notes consist of two parts: Selected in York 1) Geometry, New 1946, Topics University Notes Peter Lax. by Differential in the 2) Lectures on Stanford Geometry Large, 1956, Notes J.W. University by Gray. are here with no essential They reproduced change. Heinz was a mathematician who mathema- Hopf recognized important tical ideas and new mathematical cases. In the phenomena through special the central idea the of a or difficulty problem simplest background is becomes clear. in this fashion a crystal Doing geometry usually lead serious allows this to to - joy. Hopf's great insight approach for most of the in these notes have become the st- thematics, topics I will to mention a of further try ting-points important developments. few. It is clear from these notes that laid the on Hopf emphasis po- differential Most of the results in smooth differ- hedral geometry. whose is both t1al have understanding geometry polyhedral counterparts, works I wish to mention and recent important challenging. Among those of Robert on which is much in the Connelly rigidity, very spirit R. and in - of these notes (cf. Connelly, Conjectures questions open International of Mathematicians, H- of gidity, Proceedings Congress sinki vol. 1, 407-414) 1978, .

Elementary, yet authoritative and scholarly, this book offers an excellent brief introduction to the classical theory of differential geometry. It is aimed at advanced undergraduate and graduate students who will find it not only highly readable but replete with illustrations carefully selected to help stimulate the student's visual understanding of geometry. The text features an abundance of problems, most of which are simple enough for class use, and often convey an interesting geometrical fact. A selection of more difficult problems has been included to challenge the ambitious student. Written by a noted mathematician and historian of mathematics, this volume presents the fundamental conceptions of the theory of curves and surfaces and applies them to a number of examples. Dr. Struik has enhanced the treatment with copious historical, biographical, and bibliographical references that place the theory in context and encourage the student to consult original sources and discover additional important ideas there. For this second edition, Professor Struik made some corrections and added an appendix with a sketch of the application of Cartan's method of Pfaffians to curve and surface theory. The result was to further increase the merit of this stimulating, thought-provoking text — ideal for classroom use, but also perfectly suited for self-study. In this attractive, inexpensive paperback edition, it belongs in the library of any mathematician or student of mathematics interested in differential geometry.

This book provides an introduction to some aspects of the flourishing field of nonsmooth geometric analysis. In particular, a quite detailed account of the first-order structure of general metric measure spaces is presented, and the reader is introduced to the second-order calculus on spaces – known as RCD spaces – satisfying a synthetic lower Ricci curvature bound. Examples of the main topics covered include notions of Sobolev space on abstract metric measure spaces; normed modules, which constitute a convenient technical tool for the introduction of a robust differential structure in the nonsmooth setting; first-order differential operators and the corresponding functional spaces; the theory of heat flow and its regularizing properties, within the general framework of “infinitesimally Hilbertian” metric measure spaces; the RCD condition and its effects on the behavior of heat flow; and second-order calculus on RCD spaces. The book is mainly intended for young researchers seeking a comprehensive and fairly self-contained introduction to this active research field. The only prerequisites are a basic knowledge of functional analysis, measure theory, and Riemannian geometry.

This book is a set of notes based on lectures delivered by Prof. Su Buchin at Fudan University, Shanghai in 1978 and 1979 to graduate students as well as teachers from other institutions in China. Some selected topics in global differential geometry are dealt with. Certain areas of classical differential geometry based on modern approach are presented in Lectures 1, 3 and 4. Lecture 2 is on integral geometry on the Euclidean plane. It is abridged from W Blaschke's Vorlesungen Ulber Integralgeometrie. In Lecture 5, Cartan's exterior differential forms are introduced. Fruitful applications in this area by Profs S S Chern and C C Hsiung are also discussed.

An introduction to geometrical topics used in applied mathematics and theoretical physics.

This textbook is suitable for a one semester lecture course on differential geometry for students of mathematics or STEM disciplines with a working knowledge of analysis, linear algebra, complex analysis, and point set topology. The book treats the subject both from an extrinsic and an intrinsic view point. The first chapters give a historical overview of the field and contain an introduction to basic concepts such as manifolds and smooth maps, vector fields and flows, and Lie groups, leading up to the theorem of Frobenius. Subsequent chapters deal with the Levi-Civita connection, geodesics, the Riemann curvature tensor, a proof of the Cartan-Ambrose-Hicks theorem, as well as applications to flat spaces, symmetric spaces, and constant curvature manifolds. Also included are sections about manifolds with nonpositive sectional curvature, the Ricci tensor, the scalar curvature, and the Weyl tensor. An additional chapter goes beyond the scope of a one semester lecture course and deals with subjects such as conjugate points and the Morse index, the injectivity radius, the group of isometries and the Myers-Steenrod theorem, and Donaldson's differential geometric approach to Lie algebra theory.

The goal of this book is to introduce the reader to some of the most frequently used techniques in modern global geometry. Suited to the beginning graduate student willing to specialize in this very challenging field, the necessary prerequisite is a good knowledge of several variables calculus, linear algebra and point-set topology.The book's guiding philosophy is, in the words of Newton, that ?in learning the sciences examples are of more use than precepts?. We support all the new concepts by examples and, whenever possible, we tried to present several facets of the same issue.While we present most of the local aspects of classical differential geometry, the book has a ?global and analytical bias?. We develop many algebraic-topological techniques in the special context of smooth manifolds such as Poincar‚ duality, Thom isomorphism, intersection theory, characteristic classes and the Gauss-;Bonnet theorem.We devoted quite a substantial part of the book to describing the analytic techniques which have played an increasingly important role during the past decades. Thus, the last part of the book discusses elliptic equations, including elliptic Lpand H”lder estimates, Fredholm theory, spectral theory, Hodge theory, and applications of these. The last chapter is an in-depth investigation of a very special, but fundamental class of elliptic operators, namely, the Dirac type operators.The second edition has many new examples and exercises, and an entirely new chapter on classical integral geometry where we describe some mathematical gems which, undeservedly, seem to have disappeared from the contemporary mathematical limelight.