This volume brings together a collection of essays on the history and philosophy of probability and statistics by one of the eminent scholars in these subjects. Written over the last fifteen years, they fall into three broad categories. The first deals with the use of symmetry arguments in inductive probability, in particular, their use in deriving rules of succession. The second group deals with three outstanding individuals who made lasting contributions to probability and statistics in very different ways: Frank Ramsey, R.A. Fisher, Alan Turing, and Abraham de Moivre. The last group of essays deals with the problem of "predicting the unpredictable."
Fearful Symmetries investigates the sociological, medical, legal, and religious justifications for male circumcision and female excision while it points to various symmetries and asymmetries in their discursive representation in cultural anthropology, law, medicine, and literature.
Explains structure of nine regular solids and many semiregular solids and demonstrates how they can be used to explain mathematics. Instructions for cardboard models. Over 300 illustrations. 1971 edition.
This is a textbook that derives the fundamental theories of physics from symmetry. It starts by introducing, in a completely self-contained way, all mathematical tools needed to use symmetry ideas in physics. Thereafter, these tools are put into action and by using symmetry constraints, the fundamental equations of Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Field Theory, Electromagnetism, and Classical Mechanics are derived. As a result, the reader is able to understand the basic assumptions behind, and the connections between the modern theories of physics. The book concludes with first applications of the previously derived equations. Thanks to the input of readers from around the world, this second edition has been purged of typographical errors and also contains several revised sections with improved explanations.
to our own also needs to be understood. Such unification may also require that the supersymmetry group possess irreducible representations with infinite reductiori on the Poincare subgroup, to accommodate an infinite set of particles. Such possibilities were 5 envisaged long ago and have recently reappeared in Kaluza-Klein . 6 d' . th 7 S . l' th supergraVlty an m superstnng eory. upersymmetry Imp Ies at forces that are mediated by bose exchange must be complemented by forces that are due to the exchange of fermions. The masslessness of neutrinos is suggestive-we continue to favor the idea that neutrinos are fundamental to weak interactions, that they will finally play a more central role than the bit part assigned to them in Weinberg-Salam theory. There seems to be little room for doubting that supersymmetry is badly broken-so where should one be looking for the first tangible manifestations of it? It is remarkable that the successes that can be legitimately claimed for supersymmetry are all in the domain of massless particles and fields. Supergravity is not renormalizable, but it is an improvement (in this respect) over ordinary quantum gravity. Finite super Yang-Mills theories are not yet established, but there is now a strong concensus that they soon will be. In both cases massless fields are involved in an essential way.
Absorbing essays demonstrate the charms of mathematics. Stimulating and thought-provoking treatment of geometry's crucial role in a wide range of mathematical applications, for students and mathematicians.