A World Without Time: The Forgotten Legacy of Gödel And Einstein


Palle Yourgrau - 2004
    By 1949, Godel had produced a remarkable proof: In any universe described by the Theory of Relativity, time cannot exist. Einstein endorsed this result reluctantly but he could find no way to refute it, since then, neither has anyone else. Yet cosmologists and philosophers alike have proceeded as if this discovery was never made. In A World Without Time, Palle Yourgrau sets out to restore Godel to his rightful place in history, telling the story of two magnificent minds put on the shelf by the scientific fashions of their day, and attempts to rescue the brilliant work they did together.

Statistical Mechanics


R.K. Pathria - 1972
    Highly recommended for graduate-level libraries.' ChoiceThis highly successful text, which first appeared in the year 1972 and has continued to be popular ever since, has now been brought up-to-date by incorporating the remarkable developments in the field of 'phase transitions and critical phenomena' that took place over the intervening years. This has been done by adding three new chapters (comprising over 150 pages and containing over 60 homework problems) which should enhance the usefulness of the book for both students and instructors. We trust that this classic text, which has been widely acclaimed for its clean derivations and clear explanations, will continue to provide further generations of students a sound training in the methods of statistical physics.

The Joy of Game Theory: An Introduction to Strategic Thinking


Presh Talwalkar - 2013
    Articles from Game Theory Tuesdays have been referenced in The Freakonomics Blog, Yahoo Finance, and CNN.com. The second edition includes many streamlined explanations and incorporates suggestions from readers of the first edition. Game theory is the study of interactive decision making--that is, in situations where each person's action affects the outcome for the whole group. Game theory is a beautiful subject and this book will teach you how to understand the theory and practically implement solutions through a series of stories and the aid of over 30 illustrations. This book has two primary objectives. (1) To help you recognize strategic games, like the Prisoner's Dilemma, Bertrand Duopoly, Hotelling's Game, the Game of Chicken, and Mutually Assured Destruction. (2) To show you how to make better decisions and change the game, a powerful concept that can transform no-win situations into mutually beneficial outcomes. You'll learn how to negotiate better by making your threats credible, sometimes limiting options or burning bridges, and thinking about new ways to create better outcomes. As these goals indicate, game theory is about more than board games and gambling. It all seems so simple, and yet that definition belies the complexity of game theory. While it may only take seconds to get a sense of game theory, it takes a lifetime to appreciate and master it. This book will get you started.

On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems


Kurt Gödel - 1992
    Kurt Giidel maintained, and offered detailed proof, that in any arithmetic system, even in elementary parts of arithmetic, there are propositions which cannot be proved or disproved within the system. It is thus uncertain that the basic axioms of arithmetic will not give rise to contradictions. The repercussions of this discovery are still being felt and debated in 20th-century mathematics.The present volume reprints the first English translation of Giidel's far-reaching work. Not only does it make the argument more intelligible, but the introduction contributed by Professor R. B. Braithwaite (Cambridge University}, an excellent work of scholarship in its own right, illuminates it by paraphrasing the major part of the argument.This Dover edition thus makes widely available a superb edition of a classic work of original thought, one that will be of profound interest to mathematicians, logicians and anyone interested in the history of attempts to establish axioms that would provide a rigorous basis for all mathematics. Translated by B. Meltzer, University of Edinburgh. Preface. Introduction by R. B. Braithwaite.

Linear Algebra


Georgi E. Shilov - 1971
    Shilov, Professor of Mathematics at the Moscow State University, covers determinants, linear spaces, systems of linear equations, linear functions of a vector argument, coordinate transformations, the canonical form of the matrix of a linear operator, bilinear and quadratic forms, Euclidean spaces, unitary spaces, quadratic forms in Euclidean and unitary spaces, finite-dimensional algebras and their representations, with an appendix on categories of finite-dimensional spaces.The author begins with elementary material and goes easily into the advanced areas, covering all the standard topics of an advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate course. The material is presented in a consistently clear style. Problems are included, with a full section of hints and answers in the back.Keeping in mind the unity of algebra, geometry and analysis in his approach, and writing practically for the student who needs to learn techniques, Professor Shilov has produced one of the best expositions on the subject. Because it contains an abundance of problems and examples, the book will be useful for self-study as well as for the classroom.

A Concise History of Mathematics


Dirk Jan Struik - 1948
    Students, researchers, historians, specialists — in short, everyone with an interest in mathematics — will find it engrossing and stimulating.Beginning with the ancient Near East, the author traces the ideas and techniques developed in Egypt, Babylonia, China, and Arabia, looking into such manuscripts as the Egyptian Papyrus Rhind, the Ten Classics of China, and the Siddhantas of India. He considers Greek and Roman developments from their beginnings in Ionian rationalism to the fall of Constantinople; covers medieval European ideas and Renaissance trends; analyzes 17th- and 18th-century contributions; and offers an illuminating exposition of 19th century concepts. Every important figure in mathematical history is dealt with — Euclid, Archimedes, Diophantus, Omar Khayyam, Boethius, Fermat, Pascal, Newton, Leibniz, Fourier, Gauss, Riemann, Cantor, and many others.For this latest edition, Dr. Struik has both revised and updated the existing text, and also added a new chapter on the mathematics of the first half of the 20th century. Concise coverage is given to set theory, the influence of relativity and quantum theory, tensor calculus, the Lebesgue integral, the calculus of variations, and other important ideas and concepts. The book concludes with the beginnings of the computer era and the seminal work of von Neumann, Turing, Wiener, and others."The author's ability as a first-class historian as well as an able mathematician has enabled him to produce a work which is unquestionably one of the best." — Nature Magazine.

The Mathematics of Poker


Bill Chen - 2006
    By the mid-1990s the old school grizzled traders had been replaced by a new breed of quantitative analysts, applying mathematics to the "art" of trading and making of it a science. A similar phenomenon is happening in poker. The grizzled "road gamblers" are being replaced by a new generation of players who have challenged many of the assumptions that underlie traditional approaches to the game. One of the most important features of this new approach is a reliance on quantitative analysis and the application of mathematics to the game. This book provides an introduction to quantitative techniques as applied to poker and to a branch of mathematics that is particularly applicable to poker, game theory, in a manner that makes seemingly difficult topics accessible to players without a strong mathematical background.

Worlds Hidden in Plain Sight: The Evolving Idea of Complexity at the Santa Fe Institute, 1984–2019


David C. KrakauerJennifer Dunne - 2019
     Ignoring the boundaries of disciplines and schools and searching for novel fundamental ideas, theories, and practices, this international community integrates the full range of scientific inquiries that will help us to understand and survive on a complex planet. This volume collects essays from the past thirty years of research, in which contributors explain in clear and accessible language many of the deepest challenges and insights of complexity science. Explore the evolution of complex systems science with chapters from Nobel Laureates Murray Gell-Mann and Kenneth Arrow, as well as numerous pioneering complexity researchers, including John Holland, Brian Arthur, Robert May, Richard Lewontin, Jennifer Dunne, and Geoffrey West.

Fields of Color: The theory that escaped Einstein


Rodney A. Brooks - 2010
    QFT is the only physics theory that makes sense and that dispels or resolves the paradoxes of relativity and quantum mechanics that have confused and mystified so many people.