Transcribed Image Text: clarified in this way, the kind of logical reasoning that characterizes mathematics becomes
an incredibly powerful and effective tool. The history of mathematics is full of examples
of surprising practical applications of mathematical ideas that were originally discovered
and developed by people who were completely unaware of the eventual applications.
EXERCISES 2.4
1. It is said that Hilbert once illustrated his contention that the undefined terms in a
geometry should not have any inherent meaning by claiming that it should be possible
to replace point by beer mug and line by table in the statements of the axioms. Consider
three friends sitting around one table. Each person has one beer mug. At the moment
all the beer mugs are resting on the table. Suppose we interpret point to mean beer
mug, line to mean the table, and lie on to mean resting on. Is this a model for incidence
geometry? Explain. Is this interpretation isomorphic to any of the examples in the text?
2. One-point geometry contains just one point and no line. Which incidence axioms
does one-point geometry satisfy? Explain. Which parallel postulates does one-point
geometry satisfy? Explain.
3. Consider a small mathematics department consisting of Professors Alexander, Bailey,
Curtis, and Dudley with three committees: curriculum committee, personnel committee,
and social committee. Interpret point to mean a member of the department, interpret
line to be a departmental committee, and interpret lie on to mean that the faculty
member is a member of the specified committee.
(a) Suppose the committee memberships are as follows: Alexander, Bailey, and Curtis
are on the curriculum committee; Alexander and Dudley are on the personnel
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Chapter 2
Axiomatic Systems and Incidence Geometry
committee; and Bailey and Curtis are on the social committee. Is this a model for
Incidence Geometry? Explain.
(b) Suppose the committee memberships are as follows: Alexander, Bailey and Curtis
are on the curriculum committee; Alexander and Dudley are on the personnel
committee; and Bailey and Dudley are on the social committee. Is this a model for
incidence geometry? Explain.
(c) Suppose the committee memberships are as follows: Alexander and Bailey are on
the curriculum committee, Alexander and Curtis are on the personnel committee,
and Dudley and Curtis are on the social committee. Is this a model for incidence
geometry? Explain.
4. A three-point geometry is an incidence geometry that satisfies the following additional
axiom: There exist exactly three points.
(a) Find a model for three-point geometry.
(b) How many lines does any model for three-point geometry contain? Explain.
(c) Explain why any two models for three-point geometry must be isomorphic. (An
axiomatic system with this property is said to be categorical.)
5. Interpret point to mean one of the four vertices of a square, line to mean one of the
sides of the square, and lie on to mean that the vertex is an endpoint of the side. Which
incidence axioms hold in this interpretation? Which parallel postulates hold in this
interpretation?
6. Draw a schematic diagram of five-point geometry (see Example 2.2.5).
7. Which parallel postulate does Fano's geometry satisfy? Explain.
8. Which parallel postulate does the three-point line satisfy? Explain.
9. Under what conditions could a geometry satisfy more than one of the parallel postulates?
Explain. Could an incidence geometry satisfy more than one of the parallel postulates?
Explain.
10. Consider a finite model for incidence geometry that satisfies the following additional
axiom: Every line has exactly three points lying on it. What is the minimum number of
points in such a geometry? Explain your reasoning.
11. Find a finite model for Incidence Geometry in which there is one line that has exactly
three points lying on it and there are other lines that have exactly two points lying on
them.
12. Find interpretations for the words point, line, and lie on that satisfy the following
conditions.
(a) Incidence Axioms 1 and 2 hold, but Incidence Axiom 3 does not.
(b) Incidence Axioms 2 and 3 hold, but Incidence Axiom 1 does not.
(c) Incidence Axioms 1 and 3 hold, but Incidence Axiom 2 does not.
13. For any interpretation of incidence geometry there is a dual interpretation. For each
point in the original interpretation there is a line in the dual and for each line in the
original there is point in the dual. A point and line in the dual are considered to be
incident if the corresponding line and point are incident in the original interpretation.
(a) What is the dual of the three-point plane? Is it a model for incidence geometry?
(b) What is the dual of the three-point line? Is it a model for incidence geometry?
(c) What is the dual of four-point geometry? Is it a model for incidence geometry?
(d) What is the dual of Fano's geometry?
2.5 THEOREMS, PROOFS, AND LOGIC
We now take a more careful look at the third part of an axiomatic system: the theorems
and proofs. Both theorems and proofs require extra care. Most of us have enough
experience with mathematics to know that the ability to write good proofs is a skill that
must be learned, but we often overlook the fact that a necessary prerequisite to good
proof writing is good statements of theorems.
A major goal of this course is to teach the art of writing proofs and it is not expected
that the reader is already proficient at it. The main way in which one learns to write proofs
Section 2.5
Theorems, proofs, and logic 25
is by actually writing them, so the remainder of the book will provide lots of opportunities
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