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The Erlangen program of Felix Klein

George Mpantes mathematics teacher

Serres September 2016

www.mpantes.gr

preface

From the late 18th century until about the end of 19th century geometry
exploded in an apparently disconnected tree. Projective geometry was at the center
stage, affine geometry, Euclidean geometry, hyperbolic geometry, conformal geometry
descriptive geometry, Plckers line geometry, Mbius inversive geometry, Analysis Situs
and the connections between these geometries were far from clear. There were
adherents of the analytic algebraic method, others believed that only a synthetic
approach could be faithfull to the essence of geometric objects.

In 1872 Felix Klein made a stunning application of groups to geometry, which

introduced a beautiful order into the then existing chaos of geometrical information.the
main goal of the program is to classify geometric spaces systematically and see precisely
how they relate to one another. Kleins fundamental idea was that to study a geometry,
one had to look of transformations and further more the geometric properties of that
geometry are those which are invariant under the group of transformations.

Kleins work
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Kleins delivered in 1872 his famous and influential lecture entitled a

comparative review of recent researches in geometry on the occasion of his admission
to the faculty of the University of Erlangen. The aim of the so called Erlangen program
was the classification of geometry as the study of invariants under various groups of
transformations. Here there appear groups such as the projective group, the group of
rigid motions, the group of similarities the hyperbolic group, the elliptic groups , as well
as the geometries associated with them.
The Erlanger program which was inspired by the work of Arthur Cayley,
defines a geometry as a theory of the invariants of a transformation group in a
manifold. So the key words are ,manifold, transformations , group, and invariants.

The manifolds

A manifold of n dimensions is a class of objects which is such that a particular

object in the class is completely specified when each of n things is given. For instance , a
plane is a two-dimensional manifold of points, because any point in the plane is
completely specified when the two coordinate x and y are given. The dimensions of the
manifolds depends only from its elements (points, lines, circles, spheres ) But the
same manifold may also be viewed as a four-dimensional manifold of straight lines,
since each line is defined by four numbers, point and direction.

The transformations referred to are of the kind which replace each object of the
manifold by some definite object of the manifold or even of another manifold.

The transormations

Kleins transformation of a set S of elements onto itself is a correspondence

under which each element of S corresponds to a unique element of S, it is a one-to-one
correspondence and may be described as a permutation of the elements of S among
themselves. By the product , T2T1 of two transformations we mean the resulting
transformation obtained by first performing transformation T1 and then transformation
T2.
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The groups

Regularities and repetitions in patterns suggest at once to a modern

mathematician the abstract groups behind the patterns and the various transformations
of one problem , not necessarily mathematical, into another again spell group and raise
the question what ,if anything , in the problems remains the same , or invariant under all
these transformations. In technical phrase , what are the invariants of the group of
transformations?
A set of transformations is said to form a group if the following properties hold:
closure, associative law , existence of a identity element, existence of a unique inverse to
each transformation of the set.
The algebraic concept of group arose in the early nineteenth century initially
from the solution by Galois to the problem of solvability with radicals.
Galois was the first to use the term group in a technical sense-to him it
signified a collection of permutations closed under multiplication: if one has in the same
group the substitution S and T one is certain to have the substitution ST. he recognized
that the most important properties of an algebraic equation was reflected in certain
properties of a group uniquely associated with the equation the group of equation.
Galois defines the group of an equation as follows:
Let an equation be given whose roots are a,b,c. there will always be a group
of permutations of the letters a,b,cwhich have the following property:
1) that every function of the roots invariant under the substitutions of
that group is rationally known [i.e. is a rational function of the
coefficients and any adjoint quantities]
2) 2) conversely that any function of the roots, which can be expressed
rationally is invariant under these substitutions.
To continue the analogy with Galois , Klein notes that just as there is a theory of
permutation groups we insist in a theory of transformations, a study of groups
generated by transformations of a given type.
now let there be given a sequence of transformations A,B,C,If this sequence
has the property that the composite of two of its transformations yelds a
transformation that again belongs to the sequence, then the later will be called a group
of transformations.
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This was the notion of the group in Kleins Erlanger program. Only the property
of closure just as in Galois, but the groups were infinite.
But Carleys definition in 1854 who gave the first abstract definition of finite
group was the same description of the enclosure property.
We know that Klein shunned the abstract point of view in group theory and
even his technical definition of a group is deficient. But he did much to promote the view
that the group theoretical ideas are fundamental in mathematics.
The abstract point of view in group theory was not universally applauded.
Klein: abstract formulation is excellent for the working out of proofs but it does not
help one to find new ideas and methods, in general the disadvantage og the [abstract]
method is that it fails to encourage thought

and M. Kline put it in his animitable way:

premature abstraction fall on deaf ears , whether they belong to mathematicians or
to students.

The invariants
The invariants in Keins program are all those things (properties, actual figures )
that persist , or remain unchanged, under all the transformations , or operations , of a
particular given group.
The geometrical problem is now: given any geometric thing-configuration
*)-surface, solid or whatever can be defined geometrically and given also a
set of transformations of that thing or of the space containing it , to find all these
properties of the given thing which are invariant under the transformations of the set.
All these can be translated into the perspicuous symbolic language of algebra .
Now we are ready to give Felix Kleins famous definition of a geometry :a
geometry is the study of these properties of a set S that remain invariant when the
elements of the set S are subjected to the transformations of some transformation group
.

Given any group of transformations in space which include the principal group as
a subgroup , then the invariant theory of the group gives a definite kind of geometry ,
and every possible geometry can be obtained in this way. Thus each geometry is
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characterized by its group , which therefore assumes the leading place in our
consideration. . Further more since it is possible to associate to one plane geometry its
group of transformations and since these groups are structures that can be related to
one another, it is possible to determine on that basis how different geometries are
related to one another.

Here is another element of classification. Since the transformation group of

plane geometry is a subgroup of the transformation group of plane equiform geometry,
it follows that any theorem holding in the later geometry must hold in the former. Until
recent times , the transformation group of projective geometry contained as subgroups
the transformation groups of practically all other geometries that had been studied. So
the theorems of projective geometry are contained among the theorems of each of the
others geometries. This is essentially what Cayley meant when he remarked that
projective geometry contains all geometry. Klein obtained non Euclidea geometry as a
subgeometry of projective geometry.

Finally in developing the geometry we realize that some results are immediate
consequences of certain inherent symmetries of the geometric figures. To use these
symmetries, certain transformations of the plane capture these symmetries are
introduced. So we speak of

Projective geometry: the geometry of projective tranformations invariants are:

cross-ratio and incidence relations

Affine geometry: the geometry affine transformations, invariants: cross ratio

and ratios of lengths

Euclidean geometry with Euclidean transformations rotation, translation and

reflection with invariants: the cross-ratio, ratios of lengths, angles, distances.

Newtons mechanics with transformations the Galilean tranformations,

invariants the, force, time interval, space interval .all the laws of classical mechanics

The Euclidean case as example

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We shall understand the Kleins procedure by an example that is our known

Euclidean geometry. In developing the geometry we realize that some results are
immediate consequences of certain inherent symmetries of the geometric figures. To
use these symmetries, certain transformations of the plane that capture these
symmetries are introduced. In this case these symmetries are called isometries which
are captured by the transformations (mappings f)

An isometry is a bijective map f:RR that preserves distances i.e f(d(x,y))=d(f(x),

f(y)). It can be shown that every isometry is either a translation along a line in R2 or a
reflection in a line in R2 or a rotation about a point in R2. These are the transformations
that capture the isometries.The collection S(R2) of all the transformations has a certain
algebraic structure, it is a group! i.e for the isometries f, g their composition fog, gof
are two isometries. Further more there is an isometry e namely a rotation through an
angle that is a multiple of 2, which acts as the identity: foe=eof=f and for any isometry f
there is an isometry f-1 : fof-1=f-1 of=e. So the S(R2) is a group the group of
transformations of the Euclidean plane. The study of the invariants of this group are
the definition of Euclidean geometry by Klein

The result is that the notion of what is to be a meaningfull property of the

Euclidean figure is determined by the group of isometries. Indeed the notion of
congruence of figures can be fined on the basis of this group: two figures F1 and F2 are
said to be (Euclidean) congruent if there is an isometry of F1 to F2. More generally P is
a meanigfuI Euclidean property if and only if the figure f(F) has the propert P. I t can
easily seen that these properties include distance, angle, collinearity of points,
concurrence of lines etc

So the transformation groups encode basic geometric facts. But if Euclidean

geometry is determined according to Kleins program by the Euclidean group and the
relativistic physics is determined by the Poincare group if such is indeed the case- the
fact that these groups of transformations are given still does not exempt one from
constructing the theories in question, as did Euclid or Einstein.

What if the deepest meaning of the problem?

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The spirit of Erlangen program

The Erlangen program seemed a philosophy of geometry which said that it was
about groups as well as shapes: a geometric property was one that was invariant under
all the operations of the groups associated to that geometry.

The close relationship of this principle of classifying geometries to the demand

that physical laws have invariant mathematical forms with respect to a given
transformation group was pointed out by Klein1. This is the deeper meaning of the
program. The transformations of Klein became transformations of coordinate systems
and the symmetries of the project were basic axioms of the theory. The classification
turned to be a unification.

Mathematics after the deeper understanding of the meaning of group theory

when coupled with geometry (the concept of transformation group)had concluded that this
approach ought to be most fertile in the understanding of mathematics as a connected
structure of physics. Our Standard Model is entirely built in that Erlangen spirit based as it is
upon the geometrical manifestations of several transformation groups. The first such theory
was Einsteins general theory of relativity . It appeared to represent a new picture in physics
in which dynamics would be replaced by geometryE.C.G. Sudashan

The simplest indication of this evolution of Erlangen spirit is the relation of

orthogonal linear transformations and geometry. The transformations of Klein became
transformations of coordinate systems. The orthogonal linear transformations carry out
the first unification of geometry: all the orthogonal Cartesian coordinate systems are
equivalent for the formulation of Euclidean metric. A geometer who measures a
distance and an angle in an orthogonal system, he uses the same formulas and finds the
same results with another, in another orthogonal system which undergoes a translation,
a reflection or a rotation or all of them. All them are expressed from the transformation
group. Indeed it is known that

( AB ) 2 ( X 11 X 01 ) 2 ( X 12 X 02 ) 2 ( X 13 X 03 ) 2 ...............(1)

P.Q P j Q k jk P1Q1 P 2 Q 2 P 3Q 3 ............(2)

1
Entwichlung der Mathematiks II Chelsey N.York 1952
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In a transition to another Cartesian orthogonal sytem we have that there are applied the
conditions of orthogonality and for the dot product we have similarly

3 3 3

k 1 P j Q j (Crj P r )(C sj Q s ) Crj C sj P r Q s rs P r Q s P k Q k

3

j 1 j 1 k 1

The linear reference systems ( the manifolds of Klein) are equivalent in the laws
of Euclidean geometry, the inertial reference frames are equivalent to Newtonian
mechanics laws, as later and the laws of electromagnetics but this unification led us in
the theory of relativity, and a later enlargement included and accelerated
systems.(general relativity). Each theory contains the previous and this refers to the
Kleins classification.
Indeed one of the constant endeavors of geometry and physics is to find the
broadest possible transformations sets, through which physical-geometric laws remain
invariant, and then it relates to more and more general unifying principles.

We need to understand that a new mathematical language, more

comprehensive and complex, the language of unification, is not something without
substance, although the same result may be made without the use of new symbols
(Maxwell wrote the equations without the use vectors). But the development of
language contributes to the development of thinking, the more comprehensive language
becomes, the more deep is our penetration in the natural world, the mathematical
notation, -n language- is not a typical theme.

George Mpantes Serres september 2016 www.mpantes.gr

Sources

Jurgen Richter Gebert (2011): Perspectives on Projective Geometry Springer

Jean Pierre Marquis (2009) :from a geometrical point of view Sprtinger

Universal library OU_16003: the queen of science last edited by Jessamin West

Swetz J.Frank(2012): A search for certainty, a journey through the history of

mathematics Dover N.Y

E.C.G. Sudarshan (1994): a gift of prophecy, World Scintific,Texas