MATH128 – Modern Geometry

MODULE 6

Lesson: Geometry on Spheres

Learning Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to

We now turn to a study of spherical geometry. Although the analytic geometry of the sphere is
best formulated by considering it as a subset of three-dimensional space, our intuitive motivation
must be intrinsic. In other words, our geometrical statements must be concerned with the sphere
itself, not the points of space that lie inside or outside it. Our point of view is that of a small bug
crawling on the two-dimensional surface of the sphere. Concepts of point, line, distance, angle,
and reflection will be chosen to coincide with the bug's experience.

1 Preliminaries from E3
Of course, there is a three-dimensional Euclidean geometry analogous to the geometry of E 2,
which is worthy of study in itself. In this book, however, we are restricting our attention to two-
dimensional geometries. It is convenient for computational purposes to regard some of these
geometries as subsets of E3, and thus a few facts about the geometry of E 3 will be developed. In a
manner quite similar to that used in Chapter 1, we introduce the coordinate three-space R 3 (also a
vector space), an inner product, and the concept of length of a vector. In particular, if x = (x 1, x2,
x3) and y = (y1, y2, y3), then

x + y = (x1 + y1, x2 + 2, x3 + y3).

cx = (cx1, cx2, cx3),
〈x, y〉 = x1y1 + x2y2 + x3y3,
|x|= √ 〈 x , y 〉

Theorems 1-8 of Chapter 1 apply equally well in this setting. The reader can easily check this by
using the same proofs or trivial modifications of theorem.

The theorem of Pythagoras (Theorem 12, Chapter 1) is equally valid in with the same proof. The
definition of v⊥ is peculiar to E2. However, instead, we have the cross product, which is treated in
the next section.

1.2 The cross product

The problem of finding a vector perpendicular to two given vectors
is solved as follows:

Definition. Let u and v be vectors in R 3. Then u × v is the unique

vector such that, for all x ∈ R3,

(z, x) = det (x, u, v).

Theorem 1.
i. u × v is well-defined.
ii. 〈u × v, u〉 = 〈u × v, v〉 = 0. (See Figure 4.1.)
iii. u × v = - v × u.
iv. 〈u × v, w〉 = 〈u, v × w).
v. 〈u × v 〉 × w = (u, w〉v - 〈v, w〉u.