The Works of Archimedes


Archimedes
    Remarkable for his range of thought and his mastery of treatment, Archimedes addressed such topics as the famous problems of the ratio of the areas of a cylinder and an inscribed sphere; the measurement of a circle; the properties of conoids, spheroids, and spirals; and the quadrature of the parabola. This edition offers an informative introduction with many valuable insights into the ancient mathematician's life and thought as well as the views of his contemporaries. Modern mathematicians, physicists, science historians, and logicians will find this volume a source of timeless fascination.

Multiple View Geometry in Computer Vision


Richard Hartley - 2000
    This book covers relevant geometric principles and how to represent objects algebraically so they can be computed and applied. Recent major developments in the theory and practice of scene reconstruction are described in detail in a unified framework. Richard Hartley and Andrew Zisserman provide comprehensive background material and explain how to apply the methods and implement the algorithms. First Edition HB (2000): 0-521-62304-9

Symmetry and the Monster: One of the Greatest Quests of Mathematics


Mark Ronan - 2006
    Now, in an exciting, fast-paced historical narrative ranging across two centuries, Mark Ronan takes us on an exhilarating tour of this final mathematical quest. Ronan describes how the quest to understand symmetry really began with the tragic young genius Evariste Galois, who died at the age of 20 in a duel. Galois, who spent the night before he died frantically scribbling his unpublished discoveries, used symmetry to understand algebraic equations, and he discovered that there were building blocks or atoms of symmetry. Most of these building blocks fit into a table, rather like the periodic table of elements, but mathematicians have found 26 exceptions. The biggest of these was dubbed the Monster--a giant snowflake in 196,884 dimensions. Ronan, who personally knows the individuals now working on this problem, reveals how the Monster was only dimly seen at first. As more and more mathematicians became involved, the Monster became clearer, and it was found to be not monstrous but a beautiful form that pointed out deep connections between symmetry, string theory, and the very fabric and form of the universe. This story of discovery involves extraordinary characters, and Mark Ronan brings these people to life, vividly recreating the growing excitement of what became the biggest joint project ever in the field of mathematics. Vibrantly written, Symmetry and the Monster is a must-read for all fans of popular science--and especially readers of such books as Fermat's Last Theorem.

Essays on the Theory of Numbers


Richard Dedekind - 1901
    W. R. Dedekind. The first presents Dedekind's theory of the irrational number-the Dedekind cut idea-perhaps the most famous of several such theories created in the 19th century to give a precise meaning to irrational numbers, which had been used on an intuitive basis since Greek times. This paper provided a purely arithmetic and perfectly rigorous foundation for the irrational numbers and thereby a rigorous meaning of continuity in analysis.The second essay is an attempt to give a logical basis for transfinite numbers and properties of the natural numbers. It examines the notion of natural numbers, the distinction between finite and transfinite (infinite) whole numbers, and the logical validity of the type of proof called mathematical or complete induction.The contents of these essays belong to the foundations of mathematics and will be welcomed by those who are prepared to look into the somewhat subtle meanings of the elements of our number system. As a major work of an important mathematician, the book deserves a place in the personal library of every practicing mathematician and every teacher and historian of mathematics. Authorized translations by "Vooster " V. Beman.

Meta Math!: The Quest for Omega


Gregory Chaitin - 2005
    His investigations shed light on what we can ultimately know about the universe and the very nature of life. In an infectious and enthusiastic narrative, Chaitin delineates the specific intellectual and intuitive steps he took toward the discovery. He takes us to the very frontiers of scientific thinking, and helps us to appreciate the art—and the sheer beauty—in the science of math.

Algebra


Michael Artin - 1991
    Linear algebra is tightly integrated into the text.

Calculus [With CDROM]


James Stewart - 1986
    Stewart's Calculus is successful throughout the world because he explains the material in a way that makes sense to a wide variety of readers. His explanations make ideas come alive, and his problems challenge, to reveal the beauty of calculus. Stewart's examples stand out because they are not just models for problem solving or a means of demonstrating techniques--they also encourage readers to develp an analytic view of the subject. This edition includes new problems, examples, and projects.

An Introduction To Quantum Field Theory


Michael E. Peskin - 1994
    The authors make these subjects accessible through carefully worked examples illustrating the technical aspects of the subject, and intuitive explanations of what is going on behind the mathematics. After presenting the basics of quantum electrodynamics, the authors discuss the theory of renormalization and its relation to statistical mechanics, and introduce the renormalization group. This discussion sets the stage for a discussion of the physical principles that underlie the fundamental interactions of elementary particle physics and their description by gauge field theories.

Four Colors Suffice: How the Map Problem Was Solved


Robin J. Wilson - 2002
    This is the amazing story of how the "map problem" was solved.The problem posed in the letter came from a former student: What is the least possible number of colors needed to fill in any map (real or invented) so that neighboring counties are always colored differently? This deceptively simple question was of minimal interest to cartographers, who saw little need to limit how many colors they used. But the problem set off a frenzy among professional mathematicians and amateur problem solvers, among them Lewis Carroll, an astronomer, a botanist, an obsessive golfer, the Bishop of London, a man who set his watch only once a year, a California traffic cop, and a bridegroom who spent his honeymoon coloring maps. In their pursuit of the solution, mathematicians painted maps on doughnuts and horseshoes and played with patterned soccer balls and the great rhombicuboctahedron. It would be more than one hundred years (and countless colored maps) later before the result was finally established. Even then, difficult questions remained, and the intricate solution--which involved no fewer than 1,200 hours of computer time--was greeted with as much dismay as enthusiasm.Providing a clear and elegant explanation of the problem and the proof, Robin Wilson tells how a seemingly innocuous question baffled great minds and stimulated exciting mathematics with far-flung applications. This is the entertaining story of those who failed to prove, and those who ultimately did prove, that four colors do indeed suffice to color any map.

Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel


Stephen Budiansky - 2021
    Yet unlike Einstein, with whom he formed a warm and abiding friendship, Gödel has long escaped all but the most casual scrutiny of his life.Stephen Budiansky’s Journey to the Edge of Reason is the first biography to fully draw upon Gödel’s voluminous letters and writings—including a never-before-transcribed shorthand diary of his most intimate thoughts—to explore Gödel’s profound intellectual friendships, his moving relationship with his mother, his troubled yet devoted marriage, and the debilitating bouts of paranoia that ultimately took his life. It also offers an intimate portrait of the scientific and intellectual circles in prewar Vienna, a haunting account of Gödel’s and Jewish intellectuals’ flight from Austria and Germany at the start of the Second World War, and a vivid re-creation of the early days of Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, where Gödel and Einstein both worked.Eloquent and insightful, Journey to the Edge of Reason is a fully realized portrait of the odd, brilliant, and tormented man who has been called the greatest logician since Aristotle, and illuminates the far-reaching implications of Gödel’s revolutionary ideas for philosophy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, and man’s place in the cosmos.

An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications, Volume 1


William Feller - 1968
    Beginning with the background and very nature of probability theory, the book then proceeds through sample spaces, combinatorial analysis, fluctuations in coin tossing and random walks, the combination of events, types of distributions, Markov chains, stochastic processes, and more. The book's comprehensive approach provides a complete view of theory along with enlightening examples along the way.

Number: The Language of Science


Tobias Dantzig - 1930
    Tobias Dantzig shows that the development of math—from the invention of counting to the discovery of infinity—is a profoundly human story that progressed by “trying and erring, by groping and stumbling.” He shows how commerce, war, and religion led to advances in math, and he recounts the stories of individuals whose breakthroughs expanded the concept of number and created the mathematics that we know today.

Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality


Max Tegmark - 2012
    Our Big Bang, our distant future, parallel worlds, the sub-atomic and intergalactic - none of them are what they seem. But there is a way to understand this immense strangeness - mathematics. Seeking an answer to the fundamental puzzle of why our universe seems so mathematical, Tegmark proposes a radical idea: that our physical world not only is described by mathematics, but that it is mathematics. This may offer answers to our deepest questions: How large is reality? What is everything made of? Why is our universe the way it is?Table of ContentsPreface 1 What Is Reality? Not What It Seems • What’s the Ultimate Question? • The Journey Begins Part One: Zooming Out 2 Our Place in Space Cosmic Questions • How Big Is Space? • The Size of Earth • Distance to the Moon • Distance to the Sun and the Planets • Distance to the Stars • Distance to the Galaxies • What Is Space? 3 Our Place in TimeWhere Did Our Solar System Come From? • Where Did theGalaxies Come From? • Where Did the Mysterious MicrowavesCome From? • Where Did the Atoms Come From? 4 Our Universe by NumbersWanted: Precision Cosmology • Precision Microwave-Background Fluctuations • Precision Galaxy Clustering • The Ultimate Map of Our Universe • Where Did Our Big Bang Come From? 5 Our Cosmic Origins What’s Wrong with Our Big Bang? • How Inflation Works • The Gift That Keeps on Giving • Eternal Inflation 6 Welcome to the Multiverse The Level I Multiverse • The Level II Multiverse • Multiverse Halftime Roundup Part Two: Zooming In 7 Cosmic Legos Atomic Legos • Nuclear Legos • Particle-Physics Legos • Mathematical Legos • Photon Legos • Above the Law? • Quanta and Rainbows • Making Waves • Quantum Weirdness • The Collapse of Consensus • The Weirdness Can’t Be Confined • Quantum Confusion 8 The Level III Multiverse The Level III Multiverse • The Illusion of Randomness • Quantum Censorship • The Joys of Getting Scooped • Why Your Brain Isn’t a Quantum Computer • Subject, Object and Environment • Quantum Suicide • Quantum Immortality? • Multiverses Unified • Shifting Views: Many Worlds or Many Words? Part Three: Stepping Back 9 Internal Reality, External Reality and Consensus Reality External Reality and Internal Reality • The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth • Consensus Reality • Physics: Linking External to Consensus Reality 10 Physical Reality and Mathematical Reality Math, Math Everywhere! • The Mathematical Universe Hypothesis • What Is a Mathematical Structure? 11 Is Time an Illusion? How Can Physical Reality Be Mathematical? • What Are You? • Where Are You? (And What Do You Perceive?) • When Are You? 12 The Level IV Multiverse Why I Believe in the Level IV Multiverse • Exploring the Level IV Multiverse: What’s Out There? • Implications of the Level IV Multiverse • Are We Living in a Simulation? • Relation Between the MUH, the Level IV Multiverse and Other Hypotheses •Testing the Level IV Multiverse 13 Life, Our Universe and Everything How Big Is Our Physical Reality? • The Future of Physics • The Future of Our Universe—How Will It End? • The Future of Life •The Future of You—Are You Insignificant? Acknowledgments Suggestions for Further Reading Index

Introduction to the Theory of Computation


Michael Sipser - 1996
    Sipser's candid, crystal-clear style allows students at every level to understand and enjoy this field. His innovative "proof idea" sections explain profound concepts in plain English. The new edition incorporates many improvements students and professors have suggested over the years, and offers updated, classroom-tested problem sets at the end of each chapter.

Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics


Frederick W. Byron Jr. - 1969
    Organized around the central concept of a vector space, the book includes numerous physical applications in the body of the text as well as many problems of a physical nature. It is also one of the purposes of this book to introduce the physicist to the language and style of mathematics as well as the content of those particular subjects with contemporary relevance in physics.Chapters 1 and 2 are devoted to the mathematics of classical physics. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 — the backbone of the book — cover the theory of vector spaces. Chapter 6 covers analytic function theory. In chapters 7, 8, and 9 the authors take up several important techniques of theoretical physics — the Green's function method of solving differential and partial differential equations, and the theory of integral equations. Chapter 10 introduces the theory of groups. The authors have included a large selection of problems at the end of each chapter, some illustrating or extending mathematical points, others stressing physical application of techniques developed in the text.Essentially self-contained, the book assumes only the standard undergraduate preparation in physics and mathematics, i.e. intermediate mechanics, electricity and magnetism, introductory quantum mechanics, advanced calculus and differential equations. The text may be easily adapted for a one-semester course at the graduate or advanced undergraduate level.