Differential Geometry to be Taught in Fall

In Fall of 2007, Mike Hvidsten will teach the “Special Topics” course MCS-344 on the subject of Differential Geometry. Differential Geometry is the study of properties of surfaces such as distance and curvature. It is the underlying mathematical language of the Theory of Relativity and String Theory. Topics in this course will include curves and surfaces in three dimensional Euclidean space, manifolds in higher dimensional space, tangent spaces, tensors, first and second fundamental forms, Gaussian and mean curvature, geodesics, Gauss-Bonnet theorem, minimal surfaces, and applications to the Theory of Relativity. Prerequisites are MCS-221 (Linear Algebra) and MCS-222 (Multivariable Calculus).