However, in my mind R’lyeh would look far more alien. R’lyeh by John Coulthart ( I love these examples of Lovecraft’s non-Euclidean geometry, particularly in showing what R’lyeh looks like. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos (by Michael Komarck) Shown below are some varying examples:Ĭover art for The Art of H.P. When I first figured this out in high school or college I was sort of disappointed because in my mind Lovecraft’s non-Euclidean geometry looked far more alien than elliptical and hyperbolic geometries however, stop for a moment and think about seeing an entire city built using this type of geometry. Thus, the elliptical and hyperbolic geometries do not follow these Euclidean circle formulas and thus are defined as non-Euclidean geometry. Non-Euclidean geometry is not just triangles and squares – the familiar circle formulas of C = 2 π r and A = π r 2 (C = circumference r = radius A = area π is 3.14159…) are very Euclidean. Straight lines, squares, cubes and angles of 45 and 90 degrees – this is Euclidean geometry and to someone like HPL who was so interested in architecture, nothing exemplified human civilization than their buildings and infrastructure. Thus, Euclidean space is essentially “planar” geometry. For convenience, each type of geometry is shown below: Two of the more “common” types of non-Euclidean Geometry are hyperbolic geometry and elliptic geometry. Non-Euclidean Geometry is simply a modification of one of these axioms or notions.
#NON EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY HP LOVECRAFT SERIES#
Part of his treatise The Elements, included a series of axioms and notions which laid the foundation for modern geometry. and his best known for developing the math of geometry. Non-Euclidean Geometry– to understand what non-Euclidean geometry is you have to know what is meant by Euclidean geometry.
Upcoming articles will go into more detail in the use of mathematics in HPL’s work, however, for this article I wanted to focus on one of his more popular phrases: However, HPL clearly had a strong interest in the sciences throughout his life and this was well engrained in his stories, incorporating the most up-to-date scientific knowledge at the time into his writings. Never completing high school and going to college was always a personal failure in his mind, which he mentions a number of times. Unfortunately, based on school records HPL did not receive his high school diploma, finishing only the eleventh grade (Joshi, 2013). It is interesting to note that HPL was not stratified with the grade he received in Intermediate Algebra during the 1906-07 school year and that he voluntarily re-took the subject the following year. But the whole thing disappointed me bitterly, for I was then intending to pursue astronomy as a career, and of course advance astronomy is simply a mass of mathematics.” Or rather it was algebra which formed the bugbear. I passed in these subjects – but just about that. “In studies I was not bad – except for mathematics, which repelled and exhausted me.
Lovecraft (Hippocampus Press, 2013), HPL remarked in 1931, Joshi’s I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H.P.
#NON EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY HP LOVECRAFT PROFESSIONAL#
As a student, he thought of having a professional career in chemistry or astronomy but the difficulties he had with algebra made him realize this was not possibility. While HPL loved astronomy, he was not a fan of mathematics. For this article the focus will be on “non-Euclidean geometry”.īrown University’s Ladd Observatory in Providence, RI Sometime in February discussions will begin on the Yithians. However, other subjects, such as astronomy and biology, may crop up from time to time. Over the next few articles I will be discussing how HPL incorporated mathematics and physics into his fiction.
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