Abstract
I propose in the present memoir to consider the geometrical theory: I have alluded to this part of the subject in the articles Nos. 3 and 4 of the Introductory Memoir. The present memoir relates to the geometry of one dimension and the geometry of two dimensions, corresponding respectively to the analytical theories of binary and ternary quantics. But the theory of binary quantics is considered for its own sake; the geometry of one dimension is so immediate an interpretation of the theory of binary quantics, that for its own sake there is no necessity to consider it at all; it is considered with a view to the geometry of two dimensions. A chief object of the present memoir is the establishment, upon purely descriptive principles, of the notion of distance. I had intended in this introductory paragraph to give an outline of the theory, but I find that in order to be intelligible it would be necessary for me to repeat a great part of the contents of the memoir in relation to this subject, and I therefore abstain from entering upon it. The paragraphs of the memoir are numbered consecutively with those of my former Memoirs on Quantics. 147. It will be seen that in the present memoir, the geometry of one dimension is treated of as a geometry of points in a line, and the geometry of two dimensions as a geometry of points and lines in a plane. It is, however, to be throughout borne in mind, that, in accordance with the remarks No. 4 of the Introductory Memoir, the terms employed are not (unless this is done expressly or by the context) restricted to their ordinary significations. In using the geometry of one dimension in reference to geometry of two dimensions considered as a geometry of points and lines in a plane, it is necessary to consider,— 1°, that the word point may mean
point
and the word line mean
line
; 2°, that the word point may mean
line
and the word line mean
point
. It is, I say, necessary to do this, for in such geometry of two dimensions we have systems of points in a line and of lines through a point, and each of these systems is in fact a system belonging to, and which can by such extended signification of the terms be included in, the geometry of one dimension. And precisely because we can by such extension comprise the correlative theorems under a common enunciation, it is not in the geometry of one dimension necessary to enunciate them separately; it may be and very frequently is necessary and proper in the geometry of two dimensions, where we are concerned with systems of each kind, to enunciate such correlative theorems separately. It may, by way of further illustration, be remarked, that in using the geometry of one dimension in reference to geometry of three dimensions considered as a geometry of points, lines, and planes in space, it would be necessary to consider,—1°, that the words point and line may mean respectively
point
and
line
; 2°, that the word line may mean
point in a plane
, and the word point mean
line
, viz. the expression points in a line mean
lines through a point and in a plane
; 3rd, that the word line may mean
line
and the word point mean
plane
, viz. the expression points in a line mean
planes through a line
. And so in using the geometry of two dimensions in reference to geometry of three dimensions considered as a geometry of points, lines, and planes in space, it would be necessary to consider,—1°, that the words point, line, and plane may mean respectively
point
,
line
, and
plane
; 2°, that the words point, line, and plane may mean respectively
plane
,
line
, and
point
. But I am not in the present memoir concerned with geometry of three dimensions. The thing to be attended to is, that in virtue of the extension of the signification of the terms, in treating the geometry of one dimension as a geometry of points in a line, and the geometry of two dimensions as a geometry of points and lines in a plane, we do in reality treat these geometries respectively in an absolutely general manner. In particular—and I notice the case because I shall have occasion again to refer to it—we do in the geometry of two dimensions include spherical geometry; the words plane, point, and line, meaning for this purpose, spherical surface, arc (of a great circle) and point (that is, pair of opposite points) of the spherical surface. And in like manner the geometry of one dimension includes the cases of points on an arc, and of arcs through a point.