Harmonic
Sets and Projectivity Exercise 4.37
Besides language and music,
[mathematics] is one of the primary manifestations of the free creative powers
of the human mind, and it is the universal organ for world-understanding through
theoretical construction. Mathematics must therefore remain an essential element
of the knowledge and abilities which we have to teach, of the culture we have to
transmit, to the next generation.
—Hermann Weyl (1885–1955)
Theorem 4.14. There exists a unique projectivity between any two harmonic sets.
Exercise 4.37. Prove Theorem 4.14.
Proof. Assume A,B,C,D are four elements of a pencil of points that form a
harmonic set H(AB,CD), and A',B',C',D'
are four elements of another pencil of points that form a harmonic set H(A'B',C'D').
By the Fundamental Theorem, there exists a unique projectivity .
Let Dim be the image of D under the projectivity. By the
previous theorem, H(A'B',C'Dim). Thus, since the harmonic conjugate
of C'
with respect to A' and B' is unique (Theorem 7), we must have D' = Dim.
Therefore, there exists a unique projectivity between any two harmonic sets.//
Film is one of the three universal
languages, the other two: mathematics and music.
—Frank Capra (1897–1991)
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