HISTORY OF GEOMETRY

Euclid's The Elements of Geometry (c.300 BCE), was one of the

most important early texts on geometry, in which he presented
geometry in an ideal axiomatic form, which came to be known as
Euclidean geometry.

In the early 17th century, there were two important developments in

geometry. The first and most important was the creation of analytic
geometry, or geometry with coordinates and equations, by Rene
Descartes (1596–1650) and Pierre de Fermat (1601–1665). The
second geometric development of this period was the systematic
study of projective geometry by Girard Desargues (1591–1661).
Projective geometry is the study of geometry without measurement,
just the study of how points align with each other.

Geometry is still feeling the effects of two developments from the

nineteenth century. Two of the master geometers of the time were
Bernhard Riemann, working primarily with tools from mathematical
analysis, and introducing the Riemann surface, and Henri Poincaré,
the founder of algebraic topology and the geometric theory of
dynamical systems.

As a consequence of these major changes in the conception of

geometry, the concept of 'space' became something rich and varied,
and the natural background for theories as different as complex
analysis and classical mechanics. The traditional type of geometry
was recognised as that of homogeneous spaces, those spaces which
have a sufficient supply of symmetry, so that from point to point they
look just the same
Contemporary geometry

Some of the representative leading figures in modern

geometry are Michael Atiyah, Mikhail Gromov, and
William Thurston. Geometry now is, in large part, the
study of structures on manifolds, that have a geometric
meaning in the sense of the principle of covariance that
lies at the root of general relativity theory, in
theoretical physics.

Contemporary Euclidean geometry

The study of traditional Euclidean geometry is by no means dead. It is
now typically presented as the geometry of Euclidean spaces of any
dimension, and of the Euclidean group of rigid motions. The
fundamental formulae of geometry, such as the Pythagorean theorem,
can be presented in this way for a general inner product space.

Euclidean geometry has become closely connected with

computational geometry, computer graphics, discrete geometry, and
some areas of combinatorics. Momentum was given to further work
on Euclidean geometry and the Euclidean groups by crystallography
and the work of H. Geometric group theory is an expanding area of
the theory of more general discrete groups, drawing on geometric
models and algebraic techniques.

Algebraic geometry

The field of algebraic geometry is the modern incarnation of the

Cartesian geometry of co-ordinates.
The geometric style which was traditionally called the Italian school
is now known as birational geometry. Objects from algebraic
geometry are now commonly applied in string theory, as well as
diophantine geometry.

Methods of algebraic geometry rely heavily on sheaf theory and other

parts of homological algebra. For practical applications, Gröbner
basis theory and real algebraic geometry are major subfields.

Differential geometry

Differential geometry, which in simple terms is the

geometry of curvature, has been of increasing
importance to mathematical physics since the
suggestion that space is not flat space. Contemporary
differential geometry is intrinsic, meaning that space is
a manifold and structure is given by a Riemannian
metric, or analogue, locally determining a geometry
that is variable from point to point.

Topology and geometry

The field of topology, which saw massive development

in the twentieth century, is in a technical sense a type
of transformation geometry, in which transformations
are homeomorphisms. Contemporary geometric
topology and differential topology, and particular
subfields such as Morse theory, would be counted by
most mathematicians as part of geometry.

Arts & Crafts

Arts and crafts comprise a whole host of activities

and hobbies that are related to making things with
one's hands and skill. These can be sub-divided into
handicrafts or "traditional crafts" (doing things the old
way) and "the rest". Some crafts have been practised
for centuries, while others are modern inventions, or
popularisations of crafts which were originally practised
in a very small geographic area.
Most crafts require a combination of skill, speed, and
patience, but they can also be learnt on a more basic
level by virtually anyone. Many community centres and
schools run evening or day classes and workshops
offering to teach basic craft skills in a short period of
time. Many of these crafts become extremely popular
for brief periods of time (a few months, or a few years),
spreading rapidly among the crafting population as
everyone emulates the first examples, then their
popularity wanes until a later resurgence.
Arts and crafts also refers to the Arts and Crafts
movement, a late 19th century design reform and
social movement. Its proponents were motivated by
the ideals of William Morris and John Ruskin, who
proposed that in pre-industrial societies, such as the
European Middle Ages, people had achieved fulfillment
through the creative process of handicrafts. This was
held up in contrast to what was perceived to be the
alienating effects of industrial labour.

All this is the work of thousands of unsung,

unappreciated artisans and crafts persons who make
magic with their very hands. They are the ones who
make those fabulous tie-and-dye skirts, those
fantastically embroidered Gujarati cholis, that
lacquered furniture and that beautifully studded silver
jewellery. India may be a land of farmers but it is
equally a land of artisans.
Unfortunately, Indian arts and crafts have been
teetering on the edge of extinction for a long time.
Demand for indigenous arts and crafts nose-dived with
the setting up of large-scale industry in India. After all,
in a poor country like India, machine-made saris – to
give you but one example – are cheaper and therefore
more affordable than handloom saris. The list is
endless. This has left artisans with little choice but to
abandon their age-old professions and become
common laborers, factory workers or government
clerks. In either case, the loss has been of ours.
Thankfully, efforts have been made by both
government and non-government agencies to keep our
art and craft tradition alive and kicking. Here then is an
overview of the major arts and crafts of India.
These activities are called crafts because originally
many of them were professions under the guild system.
Adolescents were apprenticed to a master-craftsman,
and they refined their skills over a period of years in
exchange for low wages. By the time their training was
complete, they were well-equipped to set up in trade
for themselves, earning their living with the skill that
could be traded directly within the community, often
for goods and services. The Industrial Revolution and
the increasing mechanisation of production processes
gradually reduced or eliminated many of the roles
professional craftspeople played, and today "crafts" are
most commonly seen as a form of hobby or art.
The term craft also refers to the products of artistic
production or creation that require a high degree of
tacit knowledge, are highly technical, require
specialized equipment and/or facilities to produce,
involve manual labour or a blue-collar work ethic, are
accessible to the general public and are constructed
from materials with histories that exceed the
boundaries of western art history, such as ceramics,
glass, textiles, metal and wood. These products are
produced within a specific community of practice and
while they differ from the products produced within the
communities of art and design, the boundaries of such
often overlap resulting in hybrid objects. Additionally,
as the interpretation and validation of art is frequently
a matter of context, an audience may perceive crafted
objects as art objects when these objects are viewed
within an art context, such as in a museum or in a
position of prominence in one's home.

Types of arts and crafts

There are almost as many variations on the theme of
"arts and crafts" as there are crafters with time on their
hands, but they can be broken down into a number of
categories:

• Banner-making
• Calligraphy
• Canvas work
• Cross-stitch
• Crocheting
• Curve stitching
• Embroidery
• Felting
• Knitting
• Lace-making
• Lucet
• Macrame
• Millinery
• Needlepoint
• Patchwork
• Quilting
• Ribbon embroidery
• Rug making
• Sewing
• Shoemaking
• Spinning (textiles)
• Spirelli (also see Scrapbooking)
• String art
• Tapestry
• Tatting
• T-shirt art
• Weaving

Crafts involving wood, metal or clay

• Cabinet making
• Carpentry
 • Chip carving
• Jewelry
• Marquetry
• Metalworking
• Pottery
• Sculpture
• Wood burning
• Wood turning
• Woodworking
• Fretwork

Founders of the Arts and Crafts movement

Banner-making · Canvas work · Cross-stitch ·

Crocheting · Curve stitching · Embroidery ·
Felting · Friendship bracelet · Knitting · Lace-
making · Lucet · Macrame · Millinery ·
Textile Needlepoint · needlework · Patchwork ·
Quilting · Ribbon embroidery · Rug hooking ·
Rug making · Sewing · Shoemaking · Spinning
(textiles) · String art · Tapestry · Tatting · Tie-
dye · Weaving

Bookbinding · Calligraphy · Cardmaking · Card

Modelling · Collage · Decoupage · Embossing ·
Paper
Iris folding · Marbling · Origami · Papercraft ·
Papier-mâché · Scrapbooking · Stamping

Cabinet making · Carpentry · Chip carving ·

Wood Intarsia · Marquetry · Wood burning · Wood
carving · Woodturning · Woodworking

Azulejo · Cameo glass · Ceramics · Glassware ·

Ceramic
Pottery · Stained glass

Metal Metalworking · Jewellery

 Assemblage · Beadwork · Bone carving · Doll
making · Dollhouse · Egg decorating · Engraved
gems · Hardstone carving · Jewellery ·
Other
Lathart · Lapidary · Miniatures · Micromosaic ·
Mosaic · Pietra dura · Pressed flower craft ·
Scrimshaw · Straw marquetry · Textile arts

Design
Design is the planning that lays the basis for the making of every
object or system. It can be used both as a noun and as a verb and, in a
broader way, it means applied arts and engineering (See design
disciplines below). As a verb, "to design" refers to the process of
originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, system, or
component with intention[1]. As a noun, "a design" is used for either
the final (solution) plan (e.g. proposal, drawing, model, description)
or the result of implementing that plan in the form of the final product
of a design process[2]. This classification aside, in its broadest sense
no other limitations exist and the final product can be anything from
clothing to graphical user interfaces to skyscrapers. Even virtual
concepts such as corporate identity and cultural traditions such as
celebration of certain holidays[3] are sometimes designed. More
recently, processes (in general) have also been treated as products of
design, giving new meaning to the term process design.

The person designing is called a designer, which is also a term used

for people who work professionally in one of the various design
areas, usually also specifying which area is being dealt with (such as a
fashion designer, concept designer or web designer). Designing often
requires a designer to consider the aesthetic, functional, and many
other aspects of an object or a process, which usually requires
considerable research, thought, modeling, interactive adjustment, and
re-design. With such a broad definition, there is no universal language
or unifying institution for designers of all disciplines. This allows for
many differing philosophies and approaches toward the subject.
However, serious study of design demands increased focus on the
design process

Defining a design process

According to video game developer Dino Dini, in a talk given at the
2005 Game Design and Technology Workshop held by Liverpool JM
University, design underpins every form of creation from objects such
as chairs to the way we plan and execute our lives. For this reason it
is useful to seek out some common structure that can be applied to
any kind of design, whether this be for video games, consumer
products or one's own personal life.

For such an important concept, the question "What is Design?"

appears to yield answers with limited usefulness. Dino Dini states that
the design process can be defined as "The management of
constraints". He identifies two kinds of constraint, negotiable and
non-negotiable. The first step in the design process is the
identification, classification and selection of constraints. The process
of design then proceeds from here by manipulating design variables
so as to satisfy the non-negotiable constraints and optimizing those
which are negotiable. It is possible for a set of non-negotiable
constraints to be in conflict resulting in a design with no solution; in
this case the non-negotiable constraints must be revised. For example,
take the design of a chair. A chair must support a certain weight to be
useful, and this is a non-negotiable constraint. The cost of producing
the chair might be another. The choice of materials and the aesthetic
qualities of the chair might be negotiable.

Dino Dini theorizes that poor designs occur as a result of mismanaged

constraints, something he claims can be seen in the way the video
game industry makes "Must be Fun" a negotiable constraint where he
believes it should be non-negotiable.

It should be noted that "the management of constraints" may not

include the whole of what is involved in "constraint management" as
defined in the context of a broader Theory of Constraints, depending
on the scope of a design or a designer's position.