In construction…

In the historical center of Santiago, there is a mystery. In the geographical origin of Santiago, the Plaza de Armas (also the main square due to its location relative to the sunsets) is the place where you can find the 0 Km, marking the precise location of Santiago.

Plaza de Armas

This has been the center of Santiago for a long time, but modernity has brought a new perspective to the city. One of these is the main highway of Santiago. Fearsome machines with high speed move people and goods throughout the city. The bringer of modernity with their new ideas decided to create a new 0Km in Santiago.

The two 0km

It is not clear from where this idea came, but probably it has its roots in noncommutative geometry. Commutative is maybe something that you have heard of in school, as a property of numbers; more precisely, you heard something along the lines of: “the order of the sums does not alter the sum.” Arguably, noncommutative is more natural, as many structures in day-to-day life are noncommutative. For example, the words “Listen” and “Silent” are different from one another. The noncommutativity of the city comes from the fact that the distance from Santiago depends on which city center you choose. This is not what we are used to in commutative geometry, where from a given point the way doesn’t depend on the coordinates, but in this case, it depends on whether we choose to situate Santiago in the Plaza de Armas or the highway.

But recently, the place in the Plaza de Armas is missing! Nobody knows who is stealing it or what has really happened, but there is a natural suspect. A group called the Abelieans seems to be behind the attacks. This group worships the mathematician Niels Henrik Abel.

The only portrait ever painted of Niels Henrik Abel was painted by Johan Gørbitz in 1826.

Known for his contributions to algebraic equations and their “group of ambiguities,” he is also known as an adjective when one wants to name commutative groups.