Discrete Thoughts: Essays on Mathematics, Science and Philosophy

ISBN-13: 9780817636364 / Angielski / Miękka / 1993 / 266 str.

Mark Kac; Gian-Carlo Rota; Jacob T. Schwartz

Opis

as anywhere today, it is becoming more d- ficult to tell the truth. To be sure, our store of accurate facts is more plentiful now than it has ever been, and the minutest details of history are being thoroughly recorded. Scientists, - men and scholars vie with each other in publishing excruciatingly definitive accounts of all that happens on the natural, political and historical scenes. Unfortunately, telling the truth is not quite the same thing as reciting a rosary of facts. Jos6 Ortega y Gasset, in an adm- able lesson summarized by Antonio Machado's three-line poem, prophetically warned us that the reason people so often lie is that they lack imagination: they don't realize that the truth, too, is a matter of invention. Sometime, in a future that is knocking at our door, we shall have to retrain ourselves or our children to properly tell the truth. The exercise will be particularly painful in mathematics. The enrapturing discoveries of our field systematically conceal, like footprints erased in the sand, the analogical train of thought that is the authentic life of mathematics. Shocking as it may be to a conservative logician, the day will come when currently MATHEMATICS, IN vague concepts such as motivation and purpose will be made formal and accepted as constituents of a revamped logic, where they will at last be allotted the equal status they deserve, si- by-side with axioms and theorems.

Recenzje

From the reviews of the second edition:

"...These papers reflect on mathematics and its influence on human society. They can help the specialist to notice what is going on around him, and they may lead educated people from other domains to a better understanding of mathematics. Many of these papers can advise educators how to form a modern mathematics education, which develops approved ideas and institutions...I admire the stimulating perspectives of the authors"

--American Mathematical Society

"Kac, Rota, and Schwartz have collected here: occasional essays about mathematics, mathematicians, and surrounding subjects. ... The essays are fun to read, light in manner but serious in content. Many of them are provocative. ... As a result, the book would make wonderful fodder for a reading course or seminar. ... Discrete Thoughts is a classic indeed." (Fernando Q. Gouvêa, MathDL, January, 2008)

Spis treści

Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Discrete thoughts.- Mathematics: Tensions.- The Pernicious Influence of Mathematics on Science.- Statistics.- Statistics and Its History.- Combinatorics.- Computer Science.- Mathematics: Trends.- The Future of Computer Science.- Economics, Mathematical and Empirical.- Complicating Mathematics.- Mathematics and Its History.- Academic Responsibility.- Husserl and the Reform of Logic.- Husserl.- Artificial Intelligence.- Computing and Its History.- Will Computers Replace Humans?.- Computer-Aided Instruction.- Misreading the History of Mathematics.- The Wonderful World of Uncle Stan.- Ulam.- Kant.- Heidegger.- Doing Away with Science.- More Discrete Thoughts

Blurb

This is a volume of essays and reviews that delightfully explore mathematics in all its moods — from the light and the witty, and humorous to serious, rational, and cerebral. Topics include: logic, combinatorics, statistics, economics, artificial intelligence, computer science, and applications of mathematics broadly. You will also find history and philosophy covered, including discussion of the work of Ulam, Kant, Heidegger among others.

"...these papers reflect on mathematics and its influence on human society. They can help the specialist to notice what is going on around him, and they may lead educated people from other domains to a better understanding of mathematics. Many of these papers can advise educators how to form a modern mathematics education, which develops approved ideas and institutions...I admire the stimulating perspectives of the authors."---American Mathematical Society

"‘Mathematicians, like Proust and everyone else, are at their best when writing about their first love’ … They are among the very best we have; and their best is very good indeed. … One approaches this book with high hopes. Happily, one is not disappointed."--- From The Mathematical Intelligencer

"Mathematics is shaped by the consistent concerns and styles of powerful minds —three of which are represented here. Kac’s work is marked by deep commitment and breadth of inquiry. Rota is the easiest of these authors to read…a delight: witty and urbane, with a clear and interesting agenda and an astonishing intellectual range. To read him is to be a part of a pleasant and rewarding conversation.—Mathematics Magazine