Abstract
It is a historical fact that geometry was crucial in the development of the modern view of mathematics and the axiomatic method. David Hilbert (1862–1943) judged that the invention of non-Euclidean geometry was “the most suggestive and notable achievement of the last century,” a very strong statement, considering the advance of science during the period. Hilbert meant that the concepts of truth and knowledge, and how to discover truth and acquire knowledge, all this was changed by the invention of non-Euclidean geometry. This chapter reviews some of that historical development.
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Notes on the Literature
Blumenthal, L.M. (1980) A Modern View of Geometry. New York: Dover.
Frank, P. (1957) Philosophy of Science. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Wilder, R.L. (1983) Introduction to the Foundations of Mathematics. 2nd ed. Malabar, FL: Krieger.
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(2007). Mathematics and Its Applications. In: The Nature of Statistical Evidence. Lecture Notes in Statistics, vol 189. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-40054-9_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-40054-9_2
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
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