History of Taxicab Geometry
Taxicab Geometry is a non-Euclidean Geometry that measures distance on horizontal and vertical lines. According to Taxicab Geometry - History, the taxicab metric was first introduced by Hermann Minkowski (1864-1909) over 100 years ago; however, it did not get its name until 1952. Taxicab is unique in that it is only one axiom away from being a Euclidean metric. In Euclidean Geometry the minimum distance between two points is the shortest line segment between those two points. However, in Taxicab Geometry there can be multiple minimal distances or ‘shortest paths’ made up of line segments perpendicular or parallel to the x-axis. Taxicab Geometry - History suggests that modern research on taxicab did not occur until as recent as the 1980s. The measurement of distance using vertical and horizontal lines rather than diagonal lines has sparked questions about its applications and encouraged more research and exploration of this simple yet unique metric.