An Elementary Proof of Poincar\'e's Last Geometric Theorem

Abstract

It is shown that the Poincar\'e-Birkhoff fixed point theorem may be proven by extending the geometric approach originally devised by Henri Poincar\'e himself, along with several results from elementary differential topology. Beginning with an example application of the theorem, we proceed by systematically constructing and classifying a certain set of invariant curves and their critical points. This classification is then used to prove the correctness of a procedure which guarantees the existence of at least two fixed points for any twist map of the annulus admitting a positive integral invariant.