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    Farrah I 1975

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    Amrutha Swathi Priya
    This document discusses a proof that any transformation of a Euclidean plane that preserves a single distance is necessarily an isometry. The author provides a synthetic proof of this result without assuming completeness of the plane. The proof is divided into several steps showing that the transformation must preserve various segments and configurations, ultimately showing it preserves all distances.

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    Farrah I 1975

    Uploaded by

    Amrutha Swathi Priya
    21 views4 pages
    This document discusses a proof that any transformation of a Euclidean plane that preserves a single distance is necessarily an isometry. The author provides a synthetic proof of this result without assuming completeness of the plane. The proof is divided into several steps showing that the transformation must preserve various segments and configurations, ultimately showing it preserves all distances.

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    Farrah i 1975

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    This document discusses a proof that any transformation of a Euclidean plane that preserves a single distance is necessarily an isometry. The author provides a synthetic proof of this result without assuming completeness of the plane. The proof is divided into several steps showing that the transformation must preserve various segments and configurations, ultimately showing it preserves all distances.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    21 views4 pages

    Farrah I 1975

    Uploaded by

    Amrutha Swathi Priya
    This document discusses a proof that any transformation of a Euclidean plane that preserves a single distance is necessarily an isometry. The author provides a synthetic proof of this result without assuming completeness of the plane. The proof is divided into several steps showing that the transformation must preserve various segments and configurations, ultimately showing it preserves all distances.

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    Journal of Geometry. Vol. 6/1 1975.

    Birkh~user Verlag Basel

    ON ISOMETRIES OF EUCLIDEAN PLANES

    Bijan Farrahi %

    In [1,5 ] the authors prove that any t r a n s f o r m a t i o n


    of the euclidean plane, c o o r d i n a t i z e d by the real field,
    which preserves a single non-zero distance is n e c e s s a r i l y
    an isometry. The purpose of this note is to give a synthe-
    tic proof of the same result for any e u c l i d e a n plane. Hence,
    I do not assume the axiom of completeness.

    PRELIMINARIES & STATEMENT OF THE THEOREM.


    I assume the plane axioms of [3 ] except the axiom
    of completeness. I also use the notation and terminology of
    [3 ] . A t r a n s f o r m a t i o n T of the euclidean plane is called
    an isometry iff: pQ~pTQT for all points P,Q.
    Theorem. Let T be any t r a n s f o r m a t i o n (not n e c e s s a r i l y single-
    valued) of the e u c l i d e a n plane which preserves a single
    segment e, T is n e c e s s a r i l y an isometry.
    Proof. The proof is divided into several steps.
    (i). Let A,B,C,D be the vertices of a rhombus of side e
    such that ABC is an e q u i l a t e r a l triangle. If A',B',C',
    D' are some images of the points A,B,C,D under T
    respectively, then A'B'C'D' is a rhombus (of side e
    such that A'B'C' is an equilateral triangle).
    Proof. [5 ] .
    (2). T is single-valued.
    Proof. Let P be an arbitrary point. Let A,B,C,D be points

    The author was supported by the N a t i o n a l Research Council


    of Canada.

    89
    FARRAHI 2

    such that ABP, BCP and PCD are equilateral triangles of sides e. By
    (i), T preserves the c o n f i g u r a t i o n ABCPD. Hence, any two images of
    P must coincide, and T is single-valued.
    Let ABC and DBC be distinct equilateral triangles of sides
    a. We denote by a the segment AD. The argument in (i) shows that
    T preserves the segment e. Further, the argument in (2) shows that
    T preserves the segment 2e, which in turn implies that T preserves
    the segment ne, n any positive rational integer.
    (3). T preserves the segment 2e.
    Proof. Let B,C be points with BCH2e. Let M be the m i d p o i n t of BC
    and A a points with ABHACH2e. If we denote by D and E the midpoints
    of AB and AC respectively, then AMHMEHMDHe, DEHe.T preserves the
    c o n i f i g u r a t i o n ABCMDE, and hence, the segment 2e. It follows that
    T preserves the segments me, any positive rational integer m.
    (4). The segment (ne)/2, n any positive rational integer, is
    preserved by T.
    Proof. Let A, E be points with AEH(ne)/2. Let C be the point such
    that E ist the m i d p o i n t of AC. Let B a point with BAH2ne,
    BCs for an appropriate natural number m. Let B' be the point such
    that ABCB' is a parallelogram, and let D, F, D', F', be the midpoints
    of BC, AB, AB' and CB' respectively. We have EFHEF'Hme, EDHED's
    Since T preserves the c o n f i g u r a t i o n AFBDCED'B'F', it n e c e s s a r i l y
    preserves the segment (ne)/2.
    By an obvious g e n e r a l i z a t i o n of (4), one shows that if
    T preserves the segment (ne)/(2m), some positive rational integers
    m, n, then it n e c e s s a r i l y preserves the segment (ne)/(2m+l).
    Therefore, (4) implies that T preserves the segment (ne)/(2m),
    any positive rational integers m, n.
    (5). Let a be an arbitrary segment. If A, B are points with
    ABHa, then either ATBTHa or ATBT<a.
    Proof. Assume that ATBTIa. Hence, a is not of the form (ne)/(2m).
    Now assume that ATBT>a, and we show this leads to a contradiction.
    Let B' be a point with B between A and B' and

    90
    FARRAHI

    such that ATBTHAB'. There exists a point C between B and B'


    with ACK(ne)/(2 m) for some positive rational integers m, n.

    A B C B'

    Fig. 1

    Let D be a point such that ADB is an isosceles triangle with


    ADEBDE(ne)/(2m+I). T maps the triangle ADB onto the isosceles
    triangle ATBTcT with ATBTHBTDTH(ne)/(2m+I). But this is a
    contradiction to the assumption ATBT>a.
    Now, let a be any segment. Let A, B be points with
    ABHa. Let C,D be points such that ACBD is a rhombus whose
    side is preserved by T. (For instance, AC could be chosen to
    be congruent to (ne)/(2 m) for suitable positive rational in-
    tegers m, n.) Further, let E and F be points such that the
    segments ED, EC, AF and BF are preserved by T and EC~ED,
    AF~BF.

    C
    jl A F
    I / ~ . i"~/~
    -- / .\__..

    \\\'~
    Fig. 2

    91
    FARRAHI

    Since the segments AFI and BF are preserved by T and AF~BF,


    AT%B T. Likewise, cT%D T. Hence, ATcTBTD T is a rhombus whose
    side is congruent to that of the rhombus ACBD. Now, if
    ATBT<AB, then DTcT>Dc. But this is, in view of (5), im-
    possible. Hence, ATBTHAB. Q.E.D.

    REFERENCES

    [i ] Beckman,F.S. & Quarles,Jr.D.A. ; On Isometries of


    Euclidean Spaces. Proc. Am. Math. Soc~ 4(1953), 810-815.
    [2 ] Benz,W. ; Uber die Grundlagen der Geometrie der Kreise
    in der Pseudo-euklidischen,(Minkowskischen), Geometrie.
    Journal fur die reine und angewandte Mathematik, Band
    232 (1968).
    [3 ] Hilbert,D. ; The Foundations of Geometry(English trans-
    lation), Open Court, La Salle-Illinois 1950.
    [4 ] Hilbert,D. ; Grundlagen der Geometrie. B.G.Teubner,
    Stuttgart 1956.
    [5 ] Modenov,P.S. & Parkhomenko,A.S. ; Geometric Transfor-
    mations Vol. l(English translation). Academic Press,
    New York-London 1965.

    Address of the author:


    Bijan Farrahi
    Dpt. of pure mathematics,
    University of Waterloo,
    Waterloo, Ontario
    N2L 3GI Canada

    (Elngegangen am 1. August 1974)

    92

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