According to the great mathematician Paul Erdös, God maintains perfect mathematical proofs in The Book. This book presents the authors candidates for such "perfect proofs," those which contain brilliant ideas, clever connections, and wonderful observations, bringing new insight and surprising perspectives to problems from number theory, geometry, analysis, combinatorics, and graph theory. As a result, this book will be fun reading for anyone with an interest in mathematics.
The gratifying response to Counterexamples in analysis (CEA) was followed, when the book went out of print, by expressions of dismay from those who were unable to acquire it. The connection of the present volume with CEA is clear, although the sights here are set higher. In the quarter-century since the appearance of CEA, mathematical education has taken some large steps reflected in both the undergraduate and graduate curricula. What was once taken as very new, remote, or arcane is now a well-established part of mathematical study and discourse. Consequently the approach here is designed to match the observed progress. The contents are intended to provide graduate and ad vanced undergraduate students as well as the general mathematical public with a modern treatment of some theorems and examples that constitute a rounding out and elaboration of the standard parts of algebra, analysis, geometry, logic, probability, set theory, and topology. The items included are presented in the spirit of a conversation among mathematicians who know the language but are interested in some of the ramifications of the subjects with which they routinely deal. Although such an approach might be construed as demanding, there is an extensive GLOSSARY jlNDEX where all but the most familiar notions are clearly defined and explained. The object ofthe body of the text is more to enhance what the reader already knows than to review definitions and notations that have become part of every mathematician's working context.
Like masterpieces of art, music, and literature, great mathematical theorems are creative milestones, works of genius destined to last forever. Now William Dunham gives them the attention they deserve. Dunham places each theorem within its historical context and explores the very human and often turbulent life of the creator — from Archimedes, the absentminded theoretician whose absorption in his work often precluded eating or bathing, to Gerolamo Cardano, the sixteenth-century mathematician whose accomplishments flourished despite a bizarre array of misadventures, to the paranoid genius of modern times, Georg Cantor. He also provides step-by-step proofs for the theorems, each easily accessible to readers with no more than a knowledge of high school mathematics. A rare combination of the historical, biographical, and mathematical, Journey Through Genius is a fascinating introduction to a neglected field of human creativity. “It is mathematics presented as a series of works of art; a fascinating lingering over individual examples of ingenuity and insight. It is mathematics by lightning flash.” —Isaac Asimov
The main content of this book is related to construction of analytical solutions of differential equations and systems of mathematical physics, to development of analytical methods for solving boundary value problems for such equations and the study of properties of their solutions. A wide class of equations (elliptic, parabolic, and hyperbolic) is considered here, on the basis of which complex wave processes in biological and physical media can be simulated.The method of generalized functions presented in the book for solving boundary value problems of mathematical physics is universal for constructing solutions of boundary value problems for systems of linear differential equations with constant coefficients of any type. In the last sections of the book, the issues of calculating functions based on Padé approximations, binomial expansions, and fractal representations are considered. The book is intended for specialists in the field of mathematical and theoretical physics, mechanics and biophysics, students of mechanics, mathematics, physics and biology departments of higher educational institutions.
Even the simplest mathematical abstraction of the phenomena of reality the real line-can be regarded from different points of view by different mathematical disciplines. For example, the algebraic approach to the study of the real line involves describing its properties as a set to whose elements we can apply" operations," and obtaining an algebraic model of it on the basis of these properties, without regard for the topological properties. On the other hand, we can focus on the topology of the real line and construct a formal model of it by singling out its" continuity" as a basis for the model. Analysis regards the line, and the functions on it, in the unity of the whole system of their algebraic and topological properties, with the fundamental deductions about them obtained by using the interplay between the algebraic and topological structures. The same picture is observed at higher stages of abstraction. Algebra studies linear spaces, groups, rings, modules, and so on. Topology studies structures of a different kind on arbitrary sets, structures that give mathe matical meaning to the concepts of a limit, continuity, a neighborhood, and so on. Functional analysis takes up topological linear spaces, topological groups, normed rings, modules of representations of topological groups in topological linear spaces, and so on. Thus, the basic object of study in functional analysis consists of objects equipped with compatible algebraic and topological structures.
This book consists of short descriptions of 106 mathematical theorems, which belong to the great achievements of 21st century mathematics but require relatively little mathematical background to understand their formulation and appreciate their importance. The selected theorems of this volume, chosen from the famous Annals of Mathematics journal, cover a broad range of topics from across mathematics. Each theorem description is essentially self-contained, can be read independently of the others, and requires as little preliminary knowledge as possible. Although the sections often start with an informal discussion and toy examples, all the necessary definitions are included and each description culminates in the precise formulation of the corresponding theorem. Filling the gap between surveys written for mathematicians and popular mathematics, this book is intended for readers with a keen interest in contemporary mathematics.
Covering the main fields of mathematics, this handbook focuses on the methods used for obtaining solutions of various classes of mathematical equations that underlie the mathematical modeling of numerous phenomena and processes in science and technology. The authors describe formulas, methods, equations, and solutions that are frequently used in scientific and engineering applications and present classical as well as newer solution methods for various mathematical equations. The book supplies numerous examples, graphs, figures, and diagrams and contains many results in tabular form, including finite sums and series and exact solutions of differential, integral, and functional equations.
This is a new and enlarged English edition of the book which, under the title "Formeln und Satze fur die Speziellen Funktionen der mathe matischen Physik" appeared in German in 1946. Much of the material (part of it unpublished) did not appear in the earlier editions. We hope that these additions will be useful and yet not too numerous for the purpose of locating .with ease any particular result. Compared to the first two (German) editions a change has taken place as far as the list of references is concerned. They are generally restricted to books and monographs and accomodated at the end of each individual chapter. Occasional references to papers follow those results to which they apply. The authors felt a certain justification for this change. At the time of the appearance of the previous edition nearly twenty years ago much of the material was scattered over a number of single contributions. Since then most of it has been included in books and monographs with quite exhaustive bibliographies. For information about numerical tables the reader is referred to "Mathematics of Computation", a periodical publis hed by the American Mathematical Society; "Handbook of Mathe matical Functions" with formulas, graphs and mathematical tables National Bureau of Standards Applied Mathematics Series, 55, 1964, 1046 pp., Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., and FLETCHER, MILLER, ROSENHEAD, Index of Mathematical Tables, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.) .. There is a list of symbols and abbreviations at the end of the book.
Handbook of Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics provides a comprehensive reference volume for mathematicians, computer scientists, engineers, as well as students and reference librarians. The material is presented so that key information can be located and used quickly and easily. Each chapter includes a glossary. Individual topics are covered in sections and subsections within chapters, each of which is organized into clearly identifiable parts: definitions, facts, and examples. Examples are provided to illustrate some of the key definitions, facts, and algorithms. Some curious and entertaining facts and puzzles are also included. Readers will also find an extensive collection of biographies. This second edition is a major revision. It includes extensive additions and updates. Since the first edition appeared in 1999, many new discoveries have been made and new areas have grown in importance, which are covered in this edition.
