The theory of screws derived from a module over the dual numbers

Abstract The theory of screws clarifies many analogies between apparently unrelated notions in mechanics, including the duality between forces and angular velocities. It is known that the real 6-dimensional space of screws can be endowed with an operator E E, E²=0 E 2 = 0, that converts it into a rank 3 free module over the dual numbers. In this paper we prove the converse, namely, given a rank 3 free module over the dual numbers, endowed with orientation and a suitable scalar product (D D -module geometry), we show that it is possible to define, in a canonical way, a Euclidean space so that each element of the module is represented by a screw vector field over it. The new approach has the effectiveness of motor calculus while being independent of any reduction point. It gives insights into the transference principle by showing that affine space geometry is basically vector space geometry over the dual numbers. The main results of screw theory are then recovered by using this point of view.