DOCSLIB.ORG

The Last Theorem Free

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Last Theorem Free FREE THE LAST THEOREM PDF Arthur C. Clarke,Frederik Pohl | 448 pages | 12 Jan 2011 | HarperCollins Publishers | 9780007290024 | English | London, United Kingdom MathFiction: The Last Theorem (Arthur C. Clarke / Frederik Pohl) The Last Theorem Arthur C. Ranjit Subramanian, the protagonist in this science fiction novel, is a young Sri Lankan man who re discovers a short and elementary proof of Fermat's Last Theorem while enduring torture during an unjust imprisonment. The novel reads like a "classic" SF novel from the early latter half of the 20th Century, which is perhaps not surprising considering that its authors are two of the most famous authors from that period in the history of genre. The age of the authors does result in a few quaint anachronisms -- such as the The Last Theorem wife who has an advanced degree of her own but gives up her career to raise the kids and make eggs for her brilliant husband -- but I personally enjoyed the opportunity to read one more new novel written in this classic style. However, the authors do a surprisingly bad job with the mathematics, and repeatedly and unfairly defame Andrew Wiles' actual proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. The main underlying plot involves a plan by the great and advanced civilizations of the galaxy to destroy life on Earth before we can cause trouble for them. Throughout the novel, as other minor human plot lines are elaborated upon, we are reminded that the planned The Last Theorem is getting closer and closer. Other features of the story include the building of a space elevatorsports in space, religion primarily Hinduism and atheism, terrorism and "extraordinary rendition", the United Nations and another international organization which "peacefully" destroys their opponents' electronics with a nuclear blast. The Last Theorem primary mathematical content is the already mentioned "simple" proof of The Last Theorem Last Theorem which I will discuss further belowbut there are a few other features that deserve to be mentioned. Most interesting to me was the attempts of Subramanian to become a math professor. Since he was not an ideal student, and since all of his degrees are honorary ones that he received after becoming famous, he doesn't quite know how to do it. His initial failures at this and eventual success are an interesting glimpse of academia. Another mathematical subplot arises when Subramanian's youngest son who appears to be somewhat autistic impresses his father with his experimentation with Pentominos. The "Grand Galactics" are The Last Theorem as being interesting in mathematics, among other things, but not much is made of this as far as I could tell which surprised me And, there is a cute scene in which Subramanian impresses a young girl named Ada after Ada Lovelace with some mathematical "tricks" including The Last Theorem that allows him to state the exact combinatorial possibilities of The Last Theorem an unknown number of coins. Now, The Last Theorem me say a bit about Fermat's Last Theorem for those who may not know about this bit of real mathematical history. Many are also familiar with a common example of a right triangle which has sides of lengths 3, 4 and 5. So, as we see, there are positive, whole number solutions to this formula. But, what if the powers of two are replaced with higher powers, such as The Last Theorem, 4,or even higher? It does not seem at first that there is any reason to doubt that one could also find positive whole number solutions to those equations. However, inthe amateur The Last Theorem Pierre de Fermat The Last Theorem in the margin of a book he was reading that he had a mathematical proof that in fact there are no such solutions. Unfortunately, he did not tell us what this proof was. Moreover, for a very long time, mathematicians tried to prove this fact and were unable to find either a proof or a counter-example. During this period, the statement The Last Theorem quite famous and was frequently mentioned, not because it was particularly important but only because it seemed to be so challenging! Finally, inthe mathematician Andrew Wiles presented his proof of the "last theorem" at a conference in Cambridge. Although a small problem was found with the original proof, with the help of his former student, Richard Taylor, the problem was corrected and the theorem was at last proved. Unfortunately, the proof is not nearly The Last Theorem simple as the statement of the original conjecture. It depends on a lot of advanced mathematics, including the algebraic geometry of elliptic curves, which would certainly not have been among the tools available to Fermat. Most mathematicians now The Last Theorem to doubt that Fermat had a proof at all, but I The Last Theorem some small minority might believe that a simpler, elementary proof is still out. It is not unreasonable for the authors to suggest that a short proof still is out there waiting to be found. However, it is unreasonable of them to suggest that there is more wrong with Wiles' proof than The Last Theorem fact that Fermat couldn't possibly have come up with it. However, in the preface, in the text and in an appendix, they state incorrectly that the proof depends on steps that involve a computer and that it "cannot be read" by a human. I think they are simply repeating complaints that they have heard about some other high profile proofs and incorrectly applying them to FLT. There is a proof of the Four Color Theorem which depends on the use of computers to verify a large number of cases which cannot be checked by hand. And the classification of finite simple groups is a research program that is supposedly completed, although the proof has not yet been collected all in one place But, neither of these The Last Theorem apply to Wiles' proof of FLT! Moreover, the appendix states that one of the authors it doesn't say which believes that FLT is The Last Theorem undecideable This is a pretty serious accusation, and not one that should be made lightly. Their description of Wiles' proof is so confused that I suspect they do not understand it themselves. Really, the idea is not that complicated. But, Wiles' proved that The Last Theorem elliptic curves over the rationals are modular. Consequently, there cannot be any such x, y and z! This is not the only mathematical confusion present in the book The Last Theorem considering that it appears to be an insult to Wiles, I think it is the most serious problem. The lecture Subramanian gives on the infinitude of primes is -- at best -- unclear. I might think that they simply did not explain it well, except that their clear misconceptions everywhere suggest to me instead that they don't understand this The Last Theorem proof either. Also, their description of trapdoor codes completely misses the point, which is that given the number N that is a product of two very large primes it is possible to encrypt a message but not possible to decrypt the message unless the factors of the number are known. They suggest that the encryption could be achieved by adding the number N to the signal For my description of how these codes really work, see here. This novel was fun to read. It made me feel nostalgiac about the classic years The Last Theorem science fiction while still being current enough to seem new. However, I am troubled by the authors' apparent misconceptions, and so surprised that very little happens with the math that I think I must have missed something. Did you read this book and see an explicit connection made anywhere between FLT and the Grand Galactics? If so, let me know. Maybe this key plot point somehow got lost between the two authors? Contributed by Alex This is one more example of a mathematician proving an important result in prison. A short discussion of this topic was begun in my description of Ghost Dancer. Contributed by Andrew I was greatly disappointed by this book. The title and the mathematics implied don't connect to the story. It's just there to inform the reader that the main character is an uber-genius. Great, but does this really mean anything for the The Last Theorem Not really. Because of his proof he gets a professorship, a family, a government contract, awesome privileges and It doesn't move the alien plot at all. At the end, the whole book The Last Theorem meaningless. The main character and the aliens were two different stories and The Last Theorem didn't interact with each other, so what was the point? It's always fun to think that a "simple" solution exists for the FLT, but if that's going to be the title one should at least bother to make it matter. Fermat's Last The Last Theorem is famous because he didn't prove it. The title made you assume the FLT was important to the story in some way and they never provided the reader their proof, either. So maybe the title was apropos after all. I did find the binary finger counting trick to be entertaining, so I guess I got something out of it. Buy this work of mathematical fiction and read reviews at amazon. Note: This is The Last Theorem one work of mathematical fiction from the list. To see the entire The Last Theorem or to see more works of mathematical fiction, return to the Homepage. The Last Theorem - PathfinderWiki The Last Theorem is a treatise on the culture, philosophyand science of the Dominion of the Blackdisguised as one about mathematics.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • [The PROOF of FERMAT's LAST THEOREM] and [OTHER MATHEMATICAL MYSTERIES] the World's Most Famous Math Problem the World's Most Famous Math Problem
    0Eft- [The PROOF of FERMAT'S LAST THEOREM] and [OTHER MATHEMATICAL MYSTERIES] The World's Most Famous Math Problem The World's Most Famous Math Problem [ THE PROOF OF FERMAT'S LAST THEOREM AND OTHER MATHEMATICAL MYSTERIES I Marilyn vos Savant ST. MARTIN'S PRESS NEW YORK For permission to reprint copyrighted material, grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources: The American Association for the Advancement of Science: Excerpts from Science, Volume 261, July 2, 1993, C 1993 by the AAAS. Reprinted by permission. Birkhauser Boston: Excerpts from The Mathematical Experience by Philip J. Davis and Reuben Hersh © 1981 Birkhauser Boston. Reprinted by permission of Birkhau- ser Boston and the authors. The Chronicleof Higher Education: Excerpts from The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 7, 1993, C) 1993 Chronicle of HigherEducation. Reprinted by permission. The New York Times: Excerpts from The New York Times, June 24, 1993, X) 1993 The New York Times. Reprinted by permission. Excerpts from The New York Times, June 29, 1993, © 1993 The New York Times. Reprinted by permission. Cody Pfanstieh/ The poem on the subject of Fermat's last theorem is reprinted cour- tesy of Cody Pfanstiehl. Karl Rubin, Ph.D.: The sketch of Dr. Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem in- cluded in the Appendix is reprinted courtesy of Karl Rubin, Ph.D. Wesley Salmon, Ph.D.: Excerpts from Zeno's Paradoxes by Wesley Salmon, editor © 1970. Reprinted by permission of the editor. Scientific American: Excerpts from "Turing Machines," by John E. Hopcroft, Scientific American, May 1984, (D 1984 Scientific American, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • San Diego Public Library New Additions September 2008
    San Diego Public Library New Additions September 2008 Adult Materials 000 - Computer Science and Generalities California Room 100 - Philosophy & Psychology CD-ROMs 200 - Religion Compact Discs 300 - Social Sciences DVD Videos/Videocassettes 400 - Language eAudiobooks & eBooks 500 - Science Fiction 600 - Technology Foreign Languages 700 - Art Genealogy Room 800 - Literature Graphic Novels 900 - Geography & History Large Print Audiocassettes Newspaper Room Audiovisual Materials Biographies Fiction Call # Author Title FIC/ABE Abé, Shana. The dream thief FIC/ABRAHAMS Abrahams, Peter, 1947- Delusion [SCI-FI] FIC/ADAMS Adams, Douglas, 1952- Dirk Gently's holistic detective agency FIC/ADAMSON Adamson, Gil, 1961- The outlander : a novel FIC/ADLER Adler, Elizabeth (Elizabeth A.) Meet me in Venice FIC/AHERN Ahern, Cecelia, 1981- There's no place like here FIC/ALAM Alam, Saher, 1973- The groom to have been FIC/ALEXANDER Alexander, Robert, 1952- The Romanov bride FIC/ALI Ali, Tariq. Shadows of the pomegranate tree FIC/ALLEN Allen, Preston L., 1964- All or nothing [SCI-FI] FIC/ALLSTON Allston, Aaron. Star wars : legacy of the force : betrayal [SCI-FI] FIC/ANDERSON Anderson, Kevin J. Darksaber FIC/ARCHER Archer, Jeffrey, 1940- A prisoner of birth FIC/ARCHER Archer, Jeffrey, 1940- A prisoner of birth FIC/ARCHER Archer, Jeffrey, 1940- Cat o'nine tales and other stories FIC/ASARO Asaro, Catherine. The night bird FIC/AUSTEN Austen, Jane, 1775-1817. Emma FIC/AUSTEN Austen, Jane, 1775-1817. Mansfield Park FIC/AUSTEN Austen, Jane, 1775-1817. Minor works FIC/AUSTEN Austen, Jane, 1775-1817. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion FIC/AUSTEN Austen, Jane, 1775-1817. Sense and sensibility FIC/BAHAL Bahal, Aniruddha, 1967- Bunker 13 FIC/BALDACCI Baldacci, David.
    [Show full text]
  • Bantam Books, 1977 Frederik Pohl Was
    Yue Wang Team 2B Before The Universe Frederik Pohl. & C.M. Kornbluth New York: Bantam Books, 1977 Frederik Pohl was one of the early members of The Futurian Society of New York in the 1930s, Cyril Kornbluth, a bright fellow from the farthest north part of Manhattan joined later around 1938. Pohl became editor of two profession science fiction magazines called Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories. Both of the magazines were low-budget projects that the magazines were sold for a dime and fifty cents. Pohl often needed to find cheap talents for stories to fill the blank pages. The Futurian Society was the first place where Pohl could seek help. Before The Universe is one of the Futurian collaborations by Frederik Pohl and Cyril Kornbluth. Furthermore, the two names have appeared on many other science fiction books. The book compiled with eight individual science fiction stories. One of the stores called Mars-Tube is about an expedition team on Mars from earth after a half century interplanetary war that Mars was eventually defeated and the entire Martian population was annihilated. The story began with the three members of the expedition team, Ray Stanton, Annamarie Hudgins, and Ogden Josey a roentgenologist encountered a Mars robot on an underground train, that the robot blocked them from exiting the train at a certain stop, which arose their curiosity. The three in the next day exited the train at a near by stop and walked back to the stop where they were blocked from exiting the train. At the suspicious train stop, the three expeditors encountered some spider-like robots and were attacked by those robots.
    [Show full text]
  • Jerey Allen Tucker the Necessity of Models, of Alternatives: Samuel R
    Je!rey Allen Tucker The Necessity of Models, of Alternatives: Samuel R. Delany’s Stars in My Pocket like Grains of Sand “Boy loses world, boy meets boy, boy loses boy, boy saves world” In Reading by Starlight: Postmodern Science Fiction, Damien Broderick provides the %rst thorough analysis of Samuel R. Delany’s last sci- ence %ction novel, Stars in My Pocket like Grains of Sand (1984). He notes that despite—or perhaps, as a result of—its conceptual accomplishments, the novel’s plot is “scant indeed.”& The prologue, “A World Apart,” is set on the planet Rhyonon and tells the story of Rat Korga, an illiterate nineteen-year-old male who undergoes a loboto- mizing procedure known as Radical Anxiety Termination (RAT), after which he is sold to do the menial work and su'er the degradations of a porter at a polar research station. Suddenly, all life on the surface of Rhyonon is eradicated by %re. The mechanics, purpose, and attribution of this planetwide holocaust are never fully explained to the reader; one possibility is that Rhyonon experi- enced a phenomenon called Cultural Fugue that was triggered either locally or by a mysterious and threatening alien race known as the Xlv. Most of the rest of the novel is organized under the title “Monologues” and is narrated by Marq South Atlantic Quarterly 109!2, Spring 2010 "#$ 10.1215/00382876-2009-034 © 2010 Duke University Press 250 Je!rey Allen Tucker Dyeth, an aristocratic “industrial diplomat” whose job frequently requires him to leave his homeworld o( Velm to travel across the galaxy, interact- ing with its myriad peoples and their cultures.
    [Show full text]
  • A Course Whose Time Has Come
    A course whose time has come Paul R. Joseph Law is a central component of the democratic State. It defines the relation between the government and its people and sets the rules (and limits) of the restrained warfare of politics. Law becomes the battle­ ground for moral debates about issues such as abortion, discrimination, euthanasia, pornography and religion. Today we also debate the role Using science fiction and functioning of the legal system itself. Are lawyers ethical? Do judges usurp the legislative role? Are there too many ‘frivolous’ law materials to teach law. suits? Law and popular culture Where do the masses of people learn about the law? What shapes their views? Some peruse learned treatises, others read daily newspapers or tune in to the nightly news. Some watch key events, such as Supreme Court confirmation hearings, live, as they happen. Some have even been to law school. Many people also rely (whether consciously or not) on popular culture for their understanding of law and the legal system. Movies, television programs and other popular culture elements play a dual role, both shaping and reflecting our beliefs about the law. If popular culture helps to shape the public’s view about legal issues, it also reflects those views. By its nature as a mass commercial product, popular culture is unlikely to depart radically from images which the public will accept. By examining popular culture, we, the legally trained, can get an idea about how we and the things we do are understood and viewed by the rest of the body politic.
    [Show full text]
  • PRESS RELEASE Breaking News from SFWRITER.COM Robert J
    PRESS RELEASE Breaking News from SFWRITER.COM Robert J. Sawyer Wins World’s Top Juried Prize for Science Fiction Robert J. Sawyer, 46, of Toronto, has just won the world’s top juried award for science fiction: the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel of the Year. The award, which Sawyer won for his latest novel, Mindscan, was presented Friday night, July 7, 2006, at a banquet at the J. Wayne and Elsie M. Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. With this award win—his 38th for his fiction—Robert J. Sawyer now joins the most- select club in all of science fiction: the seven writers who have won all three of the field’s top awards for best novel of the year: • the World Science Fiction Society’s Hugo Award, which he won in 2003 for his novel Hominids; • the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s Nebula Award, which he won in 1996 for his novel The Terminal Experiment; • and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, which he has now won for Mindscan. (The full list of winners of all three awards: David Brin, Arthur C. Clarke, Joe Haldeman, Frederik Pohl, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer, and Connie Willis; Sawyer is the only Canadian to win all three.) The John W. Campbell Memorial Award was created to honor the late editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazine (renamed Analog Science Fiction and Fact in 1960). Campbell, who edited the magazine from 1937 until his death in 1971, is often called the father of modern science fiction.
    [Show full text]
  • Newsletter Spring 2007 Final
    Institute to Host Poet Laureate he Humanities Institute is currently Rosenkranz four poets will read and dis- T will host the Pulitzer writer-in-residence at Yale cuss their poetry, giving the Prize-winning poet and University. Her other honors audience an opportunity to ask United States Poet Laureate include the Bollingen Prize in questions about their poetry for 2003-2004 Louise Glück Poetry, the Lannan Literary and creative processes. on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at Award for Poetry, Sara Teas- 7:00pm in Traditions Hall, dale Memorial Prize, and fel- Streckfus is on the faculty of Alumni Center. She is the lowships from the Guggen- Western Connecticut State author of numerous books of heim and Rockefeller founda- University’s Low Residence poetry, including The Seven tions and from the National MFA in Professional Writing Ages (2001); Vita Nova Endowment for the Arts. In program and also teaches at (1999), winner of The New 2003, she was City Col- Yorker Magazine’s Book named as the “Averno ...demonstrates lege of San Award in Poetry; Meadow- new judge for that she is writing at the Francisco. lands (1996); The Wild Iris the Yale Series He is a (1992), which received the of Younger peak of her powers” graduate of Pulitzer Prize and the Poetry Poets, serving George Society of American’s Wil- through 2007. The Yale Se- Mason University’s MFA pro- liam Carlos Williams Award, ries of Younger Poets is the gram in creative writing and a and her latest Averno (2006), oldest annual literary award in recipient of fellowships from which the New York Times the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Fundamental Theorems in Mathematics
    SOME FUNDAMENTAL THEOREMS IN MATHEMATICS OLIVER KNILL Abstract. An expository hitchhikers guide to some theorems in mathematics. Criteria for the current list of 243 theorems are whether the result can be formulated elegantly, whether it is beautiful or useful and whether it could serve as a guide [6] without leading to panic. The order is not a ranking but ordered along a time-line when things were writ- ten down. Since [556] stated “a mathematical theorem only becomes beautiful if presented as a crown jewel within a context" we try sometimes to give some context. Of course, any such list of theorems is a matter of personal preferences, taste and limitations. The num- ber of theorems is arbitrary, the initial obvious goal was 42 but that number got eventually surpassed as it is hard to stop, once started. As a compensation, there are 42 “tweetable" theorems with included proofs. More comments on the choice of the theorems is included in an epilogue. For literature on general mathematics, see [193, 189, 29, 235, 254, 619, 412, 138], for history [217, 625, 376, 73, 46, 208, 379, 365, 690, 113, 618, 79, 259, 341], for popular, beautiful or elegant things [12, 529, 201, 182, 17, 672, 673, 44, 204, 190, 245, 446, 616, 303, 201, 2, 127, 146, 128, 502, 261, 172]. For comprehensive overviews in large parts of math- ematics, [74, 165, 166, 51, 593] or predictions on developments [47]. For reflections about mathematics in general [145, 455, 45, 306, 439, 99, 561]. Encyclopedic source examples are [188, 705, 670, 102, 192, 152, 221, 191, 111, 635].
    [Show full text]
  • The New Heinlein Opus List
    Nhol.fm Page 253 Wednesday, March 22, 2000 7:21 PM Excerpted from the book Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader’s Companion. This excerpt is from the final press version of the book, and the numbering scheme herein can be considered final. Any updates or changes to this list will use the addendum numbering described on the second page. ©1996–2000 James Gifford. All Rights Reserved. May be duplicated and quoted from according to the terms described in “Reproduction & Use of the Hew Heinlein Opus List” within. The author may be contacted at: [email protected] www.nitrosyncretic.com Nitrosyncretic Press PO Box 4313, Citrus Heights, CA 95611 916-723-4765 voice & fax The New Heinlein Opus List This section presents a complete listing of every known work by Robert A. Heinlein, in the order of creation. Each work is prefaced by a unique identify- ing number, the New Heinlein Opus Number. These numbers, in the format ‘G.nnn,’ have been used throughout this book to identify the work in ques- tion. These numbers have not been used previously for Heinlein’s works. Those readers who are familiar with Heinlein’s opus list may wonder why I did not use Heinlein’s own numbers for these works. The answer is simple: Heinlein’s list was developed and maintained as the core of a filing system for the business management of his works. It was not created until about 1948, with the number of existing works approaching three digits. It is neither complete nor completely accurate in its numbering: there are minor works that do not appear on it, as well as some works that appear out of sequence.
    [Show full text]
  • The Project Gutenberg Ebook #31061: a History of Mathematics
    The Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of Mathematics, by Florian Cajori This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: A History of Mathematics Author: Florian Cajori Release Date: January 24, 2010 [EBook #31061] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS *** Produced by Andrew D. Hwang, Peter Vachuska, Carl Hudkins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net transcriber's note Figures may have been moved with respect to the surrounding text. Minor typographical corrections and presentational changes have been made without comment. This PDF file is formatted for screen viewing, but may be easily formatted for printing. Please consult the preamble of the LATEX source file for instructions. A HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS A HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS BY FLORIAN CAJORI, Ph.D. Formerly Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Tulane University of Louisiana; now Professor of Physics in Colorado College \I am sure that no subject loses more than mathematics by any attempt to dissociate it from its history."|J. W. L. Glaisher New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 1909 All rights reserved Copyright, 1893, By MACMILLAN AND CO. Set up and electrotyped January, 1894. Reprinted March, 1895; October, 1897; November, 1901; January, 1906; July, 1909. Norwood Pre&: J. S. Cushing & Co.|Berwick & Smith.
    [Show full text]
  • Arnold: Swimming Against the Tide / Boris Khesin, Serge Tabachnikov, Editors
    ARNOLD: Real Analysis A Comprehensive Course in Analysis, Part 1 Barry Simon Boris A. Khesin Serge L. Tabachnikov Editors http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/mbk/086 ARNOLD: AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY Photograph courtesy of Svetlana Tretyakova Photograph courtesy of Svetlana Vladimir Igorevich Arnold June 12, 1937–June 3, 2010 ARNOLD: Boris A. Khesin Serge L. Tabachnikov Editors AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY Providence, Rhode Island Translation of Chapter 7 “About Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin” and Chapter 21 “Several Thoughts About Arnold” provided by Valentina Altman. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 01A65; Secondary 01A70, 01A75. For additional information and updates on this book, visit www.ams.org/bookpages/mbk-86 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Arnold: swimming against the tide / Boris Khesin, Serge Tabachnikov, editors. pages cm. ISBN 978-1-4704-1699-7 (alk. paper) 1. Arnold, V. I. (Vladimir Igorevich), 1937–2010. 2. Mathematicians–Russia–Biography. 3. Mathematicians–Soviet Union–Biography. 4. Mathematical analysis. 5. Differential equations. I. Khesin, Boris A. II. Tabachnikov, Serge. QA8.6.A76 2014 510.92–dc23 2014021165 [B] Copying and reprinting. Individual readers of this publication, and nonprofit libraries acting for them, are permitted to make fair use of the material, such as to copy select pages for use in teaching or research. Permission is granted to quote brief passages from this publication in reviews, provided the customary acknowledgment of the source is given. Republication, systematic copying, or multiple reproduction of any material in this publication is permitted only under license from the American Mathematical Society. Permissions to reuse portions of AMS publication content are now being handled by Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service.
    [Show full text]
  • ADVENTURES with MATHEMATICS Ann Kitchen TO'wing Icebergs
    © ATM 2010 • No reproduction (including Internet) except for legitimate academic purposes • [email protected] for permissions. Sixth Form College. Just looking at in whichy is the elevation of the water what was in everyday use not so long surface above or below the average ago gives some amusement. Did you level, x is distance, t is time and C is know that one slug was 14,606 the velocity of the waves'. The analysis kilograms? (I know that those in my carries on from there. garden are rather smaller). Or that the Although the author's back­ density of air is 0.00233 slugs per ground is in mechanics and fluid cubic foot? Rather more worrying is dynamics, the examples given in the the fact that a respected academic in book range far more widely, from the States does not recognise that population statistics to geography and things have changed this side of the economics. Some chapters take a Atlantic. single theoretical background with a ADVENTURESWITH This aside, the book takes a variety of applications. Thus, falling number of everyday and more dominoes are linked to tidal surges MATHEMATICS unusual situations and explores them. and wave motion. Ann Kitchen What happens and why does it The format of each chapter is the happen? How can the theory be used same. So chapter 14 deals with in other related situations? His style is skipping ropes and wind turbines. light and in places perhaps he over­ Now, to you and I there might not be Towing icebergs. falling simplifies, but those willing to read much connection between the two, dominoes and other adventures with care will find a wealth of starting but Professor Banks takes us through in applied mathematics points suggested.
    [Show full text]