The Science Quiz | The weird shapes of space

The Hindu Science Quiz on The weird shapes of space

1. Geometry is the study of some properties of space. Hyperbolic geometric is a form of this geometry created when the parallel postulate of _________ geometry is replaced. Fill in the blank with the adjective derived from the name of a Greek philosopher often called the “father of geometry”.

2. Take the spacetime continuum as it exists today and remove gravitation, and the resulting geometry of spacetime is hyperbolic. Name the European mathematician who adopted precepts of hyperbolic geometry to understand spacetime, and paved the way for Einstein’s special theory of relativity.

3. Name the branch of geometry concerned with the study of spaces where parallel lines cannot exist (i.e. they will always intersect). In this geometry, the interior angles of a triangle also add up to more than 180 degrees.

4. What is the Latin name for the isosceles triangle theorem? Its name in Latin is reputedly because understanding it tested a reader’s intelligence, before they could be introduced to more complicated concepts in geometry?

5. A rectangle is a polygon with four sides; an octagon is a polygon with eight sides. What is the single-word name for a polygon that has an infinite number of sides?

Answers to June 4 quiz:

1. Part of the finger from which it is nearly impossible to remove indelible ink – Ans: Lunula