stands for
. With this change,
can be written:
which is the expression of the square of a distance in a four-dimensional Euclidean space when a Cartesian co-ordinate system is taken. Since this expression is to remain unmodified in value and form in all Galilean frames, we must conclude that in a space-time representation a passage from one Galilean frame to another is given by a rotation of our four-dimensional Cartesian space-time mesh-system. Now rotation constitutes a change of mesh-system to the same extent as would a deformation of the mesh-system, and all changes of this sort entail a variation in the co-ordinates of the points of the continuum. In other words, they correspond to mathematical transformations. The transformations which accompany a rotation of a Cartesian co-ordinate system are of a particularly simple nature; they are called “orthogonal transformations.” It follows that if we write out the orthogonal transformations for Minkowski’s four-dimensional Euclidean space-time, we should obtain ipso facto the celebrated Lorentz-Einstein transformations which represent the passage from one Galilean system to another. This fact is easily verified. If, now, we recall that Minkowski had got rid of the minus sign in the expression for
by writing
