Download or read book Mathematics Today Twelve Informal Essays written by L.A. Steen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objective of the present book of essays is to convey to the intelligent nonmathematician something of the nature, development, and use of mathe matical concepts, particularly those that have found application in current scientific research. The idea of assembling such a volume goes back at least to 1974, when it was discussed by the then-newly-formed Joint Projects Committee for Mathematics (JPCM) of the American Mathematical Soci ety, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Indus trial and Applied Mathematics. Currently, the nine members of the JPCM are Saunders Mac Lane (Chairman) of the University of Chicago, Frederick J. Almgren, Jr. of Princeton University, Richard D. Anderson of Louisiana State University, George E. Carrier of Harvard University, Hirsh G. Cohen ofthe International Business Machines Corporation, Richard C. DiPrima of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Robion C. Kirby of the University of California at Berkeley, William H. Kruskal of the University of Chicago, and George D. Mostow of Yale University. The JPCM decided to make production of this volume its first major proj ect and requested the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS), of which its three sponsoring societies are all member organiza tions, to approach the National Science Foundation on its behalffor support of the undertaking. A proposal submitted by the C BMS in December 1974 and in revised form in July 1975 was granted by the Foundation in May 1976, and work on assembling the volume got under way.
Download or read book Mathematics Tomorrow written by L.A. Steen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mathematics today is approaching a state of cnSIS. As the demands of science and society for mathematical literacy increase, the percentage of American college students intending to major in mathematics plummets and achievement scores of entering college students continue thelt unremit ting decline. As research in core mathematics reaches unprecedented heights of power and sophistication, the growth of diverse applied special ties threatens to fragment mathematics into distinct and frequently hostile mathematical sciences. These crises in mathematics presage difficulties for science and engineer ing, and alarms are beginning to sound in the scientific and even in the political communities. Citing a trend towards "virtual scientific and techno logical illiteracy" and a "shrinking of our national commitment to excel lence . . . in science, mathematics and technology," a recent study con ducted for the President by the U. S. National Science Foundation and Department of Education warns of serious impending shortcomings in public understanding of science. "Today people in a wide range of non scientific . . . professions must have a greater understanding of technology than at any time in our history. Yet our educational system does not now provide such understanding. " The study goes on to conclude that present trends pose great risk of manpower shortages in the mathematical and engineering sciences. "The pool from which our future scientific and engineering personnel can be drawn is . . . in danger of becoming smaller, even as the need for such personnel is increasing. " It is time to take a serious look at mathematics tomorrow.
Download or read book Mathematical Reasoning written by Raymond Nickerson and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2011-02-25 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The development of mathematical competence -- both by humans as a species over millennia and by individuals over their lifetimes -- is a fascinating aspect of human cognition. This book explores when and why the rudiments of mathematical capability first appeared among human beings, what its fundamental concepts are, and how and why it has grown into the richly branching complex of specialties that it is today. It discusses whether the ‘truths’ of mathematics are discoveries or inventions, and what prompts the emergence of concepts that appear to be descriptive of nothing in human experience. Also covered is the role of esthetics in mathematics: What exactly are mathematicians seeing when they describe a mathematical entity as ‘beautiful’? There is discussion of whether mathematical disability is distinguishable from a general cognitive deficit and whether the potential for mathematical reasoning is best developed through instruction. This volume is unique in the vast range of psychological questions it covers, as revealed in the work habits and products of numerous mathematicians. It provides fascinating reading for researchers and students with an interest in cognition in general and mathematical cognition in particular. Instructors of mathematics will also find the book’s insights illuminating.
Download or read book New Directions in the Philosophy of Mathematics written by Thomas Tymoczko and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1998-02 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The traditional debate among philosophers of mathematics is whether there is an external mathematical reality, something out there to be discovered, or whether mathematics is the product of the human mind. This provocative book, now available in a revised and expanded paperback edition, goes beyond foundationalist questions to offer what has been called a "postmodern" assessment of the philosophy of mathematics--one that addresses issues of theoretical importance in terms of mathematical experience. By bringing together essays of leading philosophers, mathematicians, logicians, and computer scientists, Thomas Tymoczko reveals an evolving effort to account for the nature of mathematics in relation to other human activities. These accounts include such topics as the history of mathematics as a field of study, predictions about how computers will influence the future organization of mathematics, and what processes a proof undergoes before it reaches publishable form. This expanded edition now contains essays by Penelope Maddy, Michael D. Resnik, and William P. Thurston that address the nature of mathematical proofs. The editor has provided a new afterword and a supplemental bibliography of recent work.
Download or read book Wittgenstein and the Turning Point in the Philosophy of Mathematics written by S.G. Shanker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-19 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book A Mathematics Sampler written by William P. Berlinghoff and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2001 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in its fifth edition, A Mathematics Sampler presents mathematics as both science and art, focusing on the historical role of mathematics in our culture. It uses selected topics from modern mathematics--including computers, perfect numbers, and four-dimensional geometry--to exemplify the distinctive features of mathematics as an intellectual endeavor, a problem-solving tool, and a way of thinking about the rapidly changing world in which we live. A Mathematics Sampler also includes unique LINK sections throughout the book, each of which connects mathematical concepts with areas of interest throughout the humanities. The original course on which this text is based was cited as an innovative approach to liberal arts mathematics in Lynne Cheney's report, "50 HOURS: A Core Curriculum for College Students", published by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Download or read book The Applicability of Mathematics as a Philosophical Problem written by Mark Steiner and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes the different ways mathematics is applicable in the physical sciences, and presents a startling thesis--the success of mathematical physics appears to assign the human mind a special place in the cosmos. Mark Steiner distinguishes among the semantic problems that arise from the use of mathematics in logical deduction; the metaphysical problems that arise from the alleged gap between mathematical objects and the physical world; the descriptive problems that arise from the use of mathematics to describe nature; and the epistemological problems that arise from the use of mathematics to discover those very descriptions. The epistemological problems lead to the thesis about the mind. It is frequently claimed that the universe is indifferent to human goals and values, and therefore, Locke and Peirce, for example, doubted science's ability to discover the laws governing the humanly unobservable. Steiner argues that, on the contrary, these laws were discovered, using manmade mathematical analogies, resulting in an anthropocentric picture of the universe as "user friendly" to human cognition--a challenge to the entrenched dogma of naturalism.
Download or read book Mathematically Speaking written by C.C. Gaither and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 1998-01-01 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the first time, a book has brought together in one easily accessible form the best expressed thoughts that are especially illuminating and pertinent to the discipline of mathematics. Mathematically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations provides profound, wise, and witty quotes from the most famous to the unknown. You may not find all the quoted "jewels" that exist, but you will definitely a great many of them here. The extensive author and subject indexes provide you with the perfect tools for locating quotations for practical use or pleasure, and you will soon enjoy discovering what others have said on topics ranging from addition to zero. This book will be a handy reference for the mathematician or scientific reader and the wider public interested in who has said what on mathematics.
Download or read book Graph Coloring Problems written by Tommy R. Jensen and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-10-24 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains a wealth of information previously scattered in research journals, conference proceedings and technical reports. Identifies more than 200 unsolved problems. Every problem is stated in a self-contained, extremely accessible format, followed by comments on its history, related results and literature. The book will stimulate research and help avoid efforts on solving already settled problems. Each chapter concludes with a comprehensive list of references which will lead readers to original sources, important contributions and other surveys.
Download or read book Teaching and Learning Mathematical Problem Solving written by Edward A. Silver and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-03 with total page 671 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative collection of papers containing comprehensive reviews of previous research, teaching techniques, and pointers for direction of future study. Provides both a comprehensive assessment of the latest research on mathematical problem solving, with special emphasis on its teaching, and an attempt to increase communication across the active disciplines in this area.
Download or read book Thinking about Godel and Turing written by Gregory J. Chaitin and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2007 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr Gregory Chaitin, one of the world's leading mathematicians, is best known for his discovery of the remarkable O number, a concrete example of irreducible complexity in pure mathematics which shows that mathematics is infinitely complex. In this volume, Chaitin discusses the evolution of these ideas, tracing them back to Leibniz and Borel as well as GAdel and Turing.This book contains 23 non-technical papers by Chaitin, his favorite tutorial and survey papers, including Chaitin's three Scientific American articles. These essays summarize a lifetime effort to use the notion of program-size complexity or algorithmic information content in order to shed further light on the fundamental work of GAdel and Turing on the limits of mathematical methods, both in logic and in computation. Chaitin argues here that his information-theoretic approach to metamathematics suggests a quasi-empirical view of mathematics that emphasizes the similarities rather than the differences between mathematics and physics. He also develops his own brand of digital philosophy, which views the entire universe as a giant computation, and speculates that perhaps everything is discrete software, everything is 0's and 1's.Chaitin's fundamental mathematical work will be of interest to philosophers concerned with the limits of knowledge and to physicists interested in the nature of complexity."
Download or read book Gaither s Dictionary of Scientific Quotations written by Carl C. Gaither and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-01-08 with total page 1895 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientists and other keen observers of the natural world sometimes make or write a statement pertaining to scientific activity that is destined to live on beyond the brief period of time for which it was intended. This book serves as a collection of these statements from great philosophers and thought–influencers of science, past and present. It allows the reader quickly to find relevant quotations or citations. Organized thematically and indexed alphabetically by author, this work makes readily available an unprecedented collection of approximately 18,000 quotations related to a broad range of scientific topics.
Download or read book Philosophy and the Many Faces of Science written by Dionysios Anapolitanos and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 1998 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of original papers by an international group of distinguished philosophers of science impressively demonstrates the links among the philosophic points of view, areas of focus, and methods of treatment used in examining the many facets of scientific inquiry. It will be an indispensable collection for philosophers of science and scientists of various disciplines, including physicists, neuroscientists, and psychologists.
Download or read book A Wealth of Numbers written by Benjamin Wardhaugh and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-29 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An entertaining and informative anthology of popular math writing from the Renaissance to cyberspace Despite what we may sometimes imagine, popular mathematics writing didn't begin with Martin Gardner. In fact, it has a rich tradition stretching back hundreds of years. This entertaining and enlightening antholog—the first of its kind—gathers nearly one hundred fascinating selections from the past 500 years of popular math writing, bringing to life a little-known side of math history. Ranging from the late fifteenth to the late twentieth century, and drawing from books, newspapers, magazines, and websites, A Wealth of Numbers includes recreational, classroom, and work mathematics; mathematical histories and biographies; accounts of higher mathematics; explanations of mathematical instruments; discussions of how math should be taught and learned; reflections on the place of math in the world; and math in fiction and humor. Featuring many tricks, games, problems, and puzzles, as well as much history and trivia, the selections include a sixteenth-century guide to making a horizontal sundial; "Newton for the Ladies" (1739); Leonhard Euler on the idea of velocity (1760); "Mathematical Toys" (1785); a poetic version of the rule of three (1792); "Lotteries and Mountebanks" (1801); Lewis Carroll on the game of logic (1887); "Maps and Mazes" (1892); "Einstein's Real Achievement" (1921); "Riddles in Mathematics" (1945); "New Math for Parents" (1966); and "PC Astronomy" (1997). Organized by thematic chapters, each selection is placed in context by a brief introduction. A unique window into the hidden history of popular mathematics, A Wealth of Numbers will provide many hours of fun and learning to anyone who loves popular mathematics and science.
Download or read book Integer Programming and Related Areas written by R.v. Randow and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Information and Randomness written by Cristian Calude and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Algorithmic information theory (AIT) is the result of putting Shannon's information theory and Turing's computability theory into a cocktail shaker and shaking vigorously", says G.J. Chaitin, one of the fathers of this theory of complexity and randomness, which is also known as Kolmogorov complexity. It is relevant for logic (new light is shed on Gödel's incompleteness results), physics (chaotic motion), biology (how likely is life to appear and evolve?), and metaphysics (how ordered is the universe?). This book, benefiting from the author's research and teaching experience in Algorithmic Information Theory (AIT), should help to make the detailed mathematical techniques of AIT accessible to a much wider audience.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Statistical Sciences Volume 1 written by and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2005-12-16 with total page 722 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF STATISTICAL SCIENCES
