Date of Graduation

Spring 2013

Degree

Master of Science in Mathematics

Department

Mathematics

Committee Chair

Kishor Shah

Abstract

We begin our thesis with the study of quadric surfaces in R^n. We provide a detailed proof of the well-known Principal Axis Theorem. We apply this theorem to reduce a general degree two equation to the form Ax^2+By^2+Cz^2+J=0 or the form Ax^2+By^2+Iz=0. We construct a detailed table that complements the classification of quadrics outlined in Leonhard Euler's book Introduction to Analysis of the Infinite, James Stewart's textbook Essential Calculus, as well as John B. Fraleigh and Raymond A. Beauregard's textbook Linear Algebra. We then study quadric surfaces in the projective space P^n over the field k. We provide a proof of the well-known theorem on Normal Form for Quadrics specifically in the case of P^3. We illustrate this theorem with detailed examples of quadric surfaces in P^4 (Z_5 ), P^2 (Q(i)), and P^2 (Q). We conclude our thesis by studying the Segre map, Segre varieties, ruled surfaces, and Plü;cker coordinates.

Keywords

quadric surface, Principal Axis Theorem, eigenvalues, projective space, normal form, Segre map, ruled surface, Plücker coordinates, Mathematica

Subject Categories

Mathematics

Copyright

© Michael Robert Finnegan

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