Part One: Warm Up

Discuss the following questions with a partner or group:

  • What do you know about architecture? Do you know any types or styles of architecture?
  • Have you ever heard of sustainable architecture? What is it, or what do you think it might be?
  • Do you think that most buildings made today are efficient? Safe? Stong? Inexpensive? Why or why not?
  • How is geometry relevant to architecture? 

Part Two: Definition

An important word to understand for the Reading and Exercise is geodesic. Read Wikipedia's definition of this word below:

In differential geometry, a geodesic is a generalization of the notion of a "straight line" to "curved spaces". The term "geodesic" comes from geodesy, the science of measuring the size and shape of Earth; in the original sense, a geodesic was the shortest route between two points on the Earth's surface, namely, a segment of a great circle. The term has been generalized to include measurements in much more general mathematical spaces; for example, in graph theory, one might consider a geodesic between two vertices/nodes of a graph.


Unlock full access by logging in. Registered users can explore the entire lesson and more.

keyboard_arrow_up