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What are some simple examples I can use to demonstrate the power of geometric algebra over "everyday" vector algebra?

An alternative way of thinking of this question might be: what example demonstrates how geometric algebra simplifies a tedious problem in vector algebra?

bzm3r
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1 Answers1

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One big advantage is in the conception of some geometric transformations.

So-called "rejections" are a good example. For instance, given a vector $v$, the part of a vector $a$ that is orthogonal to $v$ is $a - (v \cdot a) v^{-1}$. This defines a linear map. When you get to finding the rejection on a blade $V$, you might, in ordinary vector algebra, have to find an orthogonal basis for the blade, and then subtract out components one at a time. If $v_1, v_2, \ldots$ are such an orthogonal basis, then it looks like this:

$$a - (v_1 \cdot a) v_1^{-1} - (v_2 \cdot a) v_2^{-1} - \ldots$$

Geometric algebra offers the more compact $(a \wedge V) \cdot V^{-1}$ instead.


Rotations are, in some sense, too well studied for GA to offer a massive advantage. Nevertheless, I believe the rotor viewpoint of rotations makes it easier to make the leap from Euclidean geometry to, for example, Minkowskian geometry. The rotor viewpoint of rotations quickly allows one to derive the equations for Lorentz boosts in special relativity.


Vector and vector calculus identities are often easy to prove with the help of grade projection.

For instance, for scalar field $\psi$ and vector $A$, consider the identity

$$\nabla \times (\psi A) = (\nabla \psi) \times A + \psi (\nabla \times A)$$

To prove it, you might have to resort to writing the cross product in terms of the Levi-Civita tensor and do some index manipulation. The GC way of doing things just uses grade projection:

$$\nabla \wedge (\psi A) = \langle \nabla (\psi A) \rangle_2 = \langle (\nabla \psi) A \rangle_2 + \langle \psi (\nabla A) \rangle_2 = (\nabla \psi) \wedge A + \psi \nabla \wedge A$$


GA/GC offers a different perspective on linear maps. Thinking of the determinant of a linear map $\underline T$ as the action of that map on a pseudoscalar is almost mind-blowing. Finding traces as the divergence of a linear map with respect to its linear argument is similarly weird when you're used to just summing a diagonal. These concepts help convince the student that traces and determinants (and other invariants that become exposed through differentiation) are real, meaningful quantities and entirely independent of basis.


GC's perspective on integration sheds some light on differential forms, also. I've run into several people on this very site who seem to think that the differentials in an integral are the same as basis 1-forms. GC shows emphatically this is not the case, as what the differential in an integral contributes is a tangent $k$-vector: e.g. $dV$ being a tangent 3-vector in 3d space.

GC makes it easy to talk about monogenic functions--functions that obey $\nabla A = 0$ for any arbitrary $k$-blade-field $A$. Conventional vector calculus fixates on harmonic vector fields instead, because the conditions $\nabla \cdot A = 0$ and $\nabla \times A = 0$ can't be married together.

GC also makes it easy to talk about Green's functions for $\nabla$ as a result. For instance, using the Green's function for $\nabla$, we can write, for a vector field $F$,

$$F(r) = i^{-1} \left[ \oint_{\partial M} G(r-r') \, dS' \, F(r') + \int_M G(r-r') \, dV' \nabla' F(r') \right]$$

That surface integral term would be horrendous to describe in vector algebra.

Muphrid
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  • Dear Muphrid, thank you for your answer. I have some specific questions for you, that would be unsuitable for a longer discussion here in the comments. Would you mind sharing an email address which I can use to contact you? – bzm3r May 15 '14 at 01:45
  • P.S. I upvoted your answer, but I am afraid I cannot accept it as an answer, since I am simply not knowledgeable enough to understand some of your examples. If someone were to show me some of the examples you presented, I would not be able understand them to be able to comment intelligently, and thus would remain unconvinced of the power of the geometric algebra. Perhaps what might help is telling you that I come from a "structural mechanics" background in physics/engineering, so I am particularly keen for applications there. – bzm3r May 15 '14 at 01:49
  • In that sense, a common problem that is encountered is dealing with the mess of "basis transformations". Let us say I have a stick, and I find the forces acting on its ends, in the "coordinate system local to that stick". Now, I have another stick (perhaps connected to the first stick), and I want to consider how the forces I just found acting on the first stick act on this second stick. In order to do so, I will have to transform the results I found for the first stick, so that they are now in the "coordinate system" of the second stick. – bzm3r May 15 '14 at 01:52
  • Given the relative orientation of the two sticks, we may define a matrix for this transformation. Can GA help us bypass this ugliness? If yes, then I can sell the concept to engineers that I work with. – bzm3r May 15 '14 at 01:53
  • I think the best GA could do is, instead of using the matrix to store the transformation, you store a rotor--equivalent to a quaternion--that describes the transformation instead. As with quaternions, a succession of several basis transformations only requires multiplying rotors, which is cheaper than multiplying several matrices. – Muphrid May 15 '14 at 03:19
  • I think I also better understand the piece of your post starting from: "Vector and vector calculus identities are often easy to prove with the help of grade projection...". Similar to the relativity example you gave, in solid mechanics, GA may be used to do "index free" tensor math! – bzm3r May 15 '14 at 05:34
  • Similarly with the section starting from "GA/GC offers a different perspective on linear maps..." – bzm3r May 15 '14 at 05:35