Dehn Planes

Dehn Planes

In geometry, Dehn constructed two examples of planes, a semi-Euclidean geometry and a non-Legendrian geometry, that have infinitely many lines parallel to a given one that pass through a given point, but where the sum of the angles of a triangle is at least π. A similar phenomenon occurs in hyperbolic geometry, except that the sum of the angles of a triangle is less than π. Dehn's examples use a non-Archimedean field, so that the Archimedean axiom is violated. They were introduced by Max Dehn (1900) and discussed by Hilbert (1902, p.127–130, or p. 42-43 in some later editions).