You Failed Your Math Test, Comrade Einstein
You Failed Your Math Test, Comrade Einstein

Author: Mikhail A. Shifman

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 981256358X

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This groundbreaking work features two essays written by the renowned mathematician Ilan Vardi. The first essay presents a thorough analysis of contrived problems suggested to “undesirable” applicants to the Department of Mathematics of Moscow University. His second essay gives an in-depth discussion of solutions to the Year 2000 International Mathematical Olympiad, with emphasis on the comparison of the olympiad problems to those given at the Moscow University entrance examinations.The second part of the book provides a historical background of a unique phenomenon in mathematics, which flourished in the 1970s-80s in the USSR. Specially designed math problems were used not to test students' ingenuity and creativity but, rather, as “killer problems,” to deny access to higher education to “undesirable” applicants. The focus of this part is the 1980 essay, “Intellectual Genocide”, written by B Kanevsky and V Senderov. It is being published for the first time. Also featured is a little-known page of the Soviet history, a rare example of the oppressed organizing to defend their dignity. This is the story of the so-called Jewish People's University, the inception of which is associated with Kanevsky, Senderov and Bella Subbotovskaya.

You Failed Your Math Test, Comrade Einstein: Adventures And Misadventures Of Young Mathematicians
You Failed Your Math Test, Comrade Einstein: Adventures And Misadventures Of Young Mathematicians

Author: Misha Shifman

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2005-04-27

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 9814338141

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This groundbreaking work features two essays written by the renowned mathematician Ilan Vardi. The first essay presents a thorough analysis of contrived problems suggested to “undesirable” applicants to the Department of Mathematics of Moscow University. His second essay gives an in-depth discussion of solutions to the Year 2000 International Mathematical Olympiad, with emphasis on the comparison of the olympiad problems to those given at the Moscow University entrance examinations.The second part of the book provides a historical background of a unique phenomenon in mathematics, which flourished in the 1970s-80s in the USSR. Specially designed math problems were used not to test students' ingenuity and creativity but, rather, as “killer problems,” to deny access to higher education to “undesirable” applicants. The focus of this part is the 1980 essay, “Intellectual Genocide”, written by B Kanevsky and V Senderov. It is being published for the first time. Also featured is a little-known page of the Soviet history, a rare example of the oppressed organizing to defend their dignity. This is the story of the so-called Jewish People's University, the inception of which is associated with Kanevsky, Senderov and Bella Subbotovskaya.

Love and Math
Love and Math

Author: Edward Frenkel

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2013-10-01

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 0465069959

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An awesome, globe-spanning, and New York Times bestselling journey through the beauty and power of mathematics What if you had to take an art class in which you were only taught how to paint a fence? What if you were never shown the paintings of van Gogh and Picasso, weren't even told they existed? Alas, this is how math is taught, and so for most of us it becomes the intellectual equivalent of watching paint dry. In Love and Math, renowned mathematician Edward Frenkel reveals a side of math we've never seen, suffused with all the beauty and elegance of a work of art. In this heartfelt and passionate book, Frenkel shows that mathematics, far from occupying a specialist niche, goes to the heart of all matter, uniting us across cultures, time, and space. Love and Math tells two intertwined stories: of the wonders of mathematics and of one young man's journey learning and living it. Having braved a discriminatory educational system to become one of the twenty-first century's leading mathematicians, Frenkel now works on one of the biggest ideas to come out of math in the last 50 years: the Langlands Program. Considered by many to be a Grand Unified Theory of mathematics, the Langlands Program enables researchers to translate findings from one field to another so that they can solve problems, such as Fermat's last theorem, that had seemed intractable before. At its core, Love and Math is a story about accessing a new way of thinking, which can enrich our lives and empower us to better understand the world and our place in it. It is an invitation to discover the magic hidden universe of mathematics.

The Art of Mathematics – Take Two
The Art of Mathematics – Take Two

Author: Béla Bollobás

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-06-30

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 1108833276

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Entertaining, surprising and challenging mathematics problems of the sort pondered by generations during afternoon tea.

Russian Mathematics Education
Russian Mathematics Education

Author: Alexander P. Karp

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 9814277061

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This anthology, consisting of two volumes, is intended to equip background researchers, practitioners and students of international mathematics education with intimate knowledge of mathematics education in Russia. Volume I, entitled The History and Relevance of Russian Mathematics Education, consists of several chapters written by distinguished authorities like Jeremy Kilpatrick and Bruce Vogeli. It examines the history of mathematics education in Russia and its relevance to mathematics education throughout the world. The second volume, entitled Programs and Practices will examine specific Russian programs in mathematics, their impact and methodological innovations. Although Russian mathematics education is highly respected for its achievements and was once very influential internationally, it has never been explored in depth. This publication does just that.

Loving and Hating Mathematics
Loving and Hating Mathematics

Author: Reuben Hersh

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2010-12-13

Total Pages: 429

ISBN-13: 1400836115

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An exploration of the hidden human, emotional, and social dimensions of mathematics Mathematics is often thought of as the coldest expression of pure reason. But few subjects provoke hotter emotions—and inspire more love and hatred—than mathematics. And although math is frequently idealized as floating above the messiness of human life, its story is nothing if not human; often, it is all too human. Loving and Hating Mathematics is about the hidden human, emotional, and social forces that shape mathematics and affect the experiences of students and mathematicians. Written in a lively, accessible style, and filled with gripping stories and anecdotes, Loving and Hating Mathematics brings home the intense pleasures and pains of mathematical life. These stories challenge many myths, including the notions that mathematics is a solitary pursuit and a "young man's game," the belief that mathematicians are emotionally different from other people, and even the idea that to be a great mathematician it helps to be a little bit crazy. Reuben Hersh and Vera John-Steiner tell stories of lives in math from their very beginnings through old age, including accounts of teaching and mentoring, friendships and rivalries, love affairs and marriages, and the experiences of women and minorities in a field that has traditionally been unfriendly to both. Included here are also stories of people for whom mathematics has been an immense solace during times of crisis, war, and even imprisonment—as well as of those rare individuals driven to insanity and even murder by an obsession with math. This is a book for anyone who wants to understand why the most rational of human endeavors is at the same time one of the most emotional.

Modern Theory of Dynamical Systems
Modern Theory of Dynamical Systems

Author: Anatole Katok

Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.

Published: 2017-06-19

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 1470425602

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This volume is a tribute to one of the founders of modern theory of dynamical systems, the late Dmitry Victorovich Anosov. It contains both original papers and surveys, written by some distinguished experts in dynamics, which are related to important themes of Anosov's work, as well as broadly interpreted further crucial developments in the theory of dynamical systems that followed Anosov's original work. Also included is an article by A. Katok that presents Anosov's scientific biography and a picture of the early development of hyperbolicity theory in its various incarnations, complete and partial, uniform and nonuniform.

The Mathematician's Brain
The Mathematician's Brain

Author: David Ruelle

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2018-06-26

Total Pages: 173

ISBN-13: 0691190305

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The Mathematician's Brain poses a provocative question about the world's most brilliant yet eccentric mathematical minds: were they brilliant because of their eccentricities or in spite of them? In this thought-provoking and entertaining book, David Ruelle, the well-known mathematical physicist who helped create chaos theory, gives us a rare insider's account of the celebrated mathematicians he has known-their quirks, oddities, personal tragedies, bad behavior, descents into madness, tragic ends, and the sublime, inexpressible beauty of their most breathtaking mathematical discoveries. Consider the case of British mathematician Alan Turing. Credited with cracking the German Enigma code during World War II and conceiving of the modern computer, he was convicted of "gross indecency" for a homosexual affair and died in 1954 after eating a cyanide-laced apple--his death was ruled a suicide, though rumors of assassination still linger. Ruelle holds nothing back in his revealing and deeply personal reflections on Turing and other fellow mathematicians, including Alexander Grothendieck, René Thom, Bernhard Riemann, and Felix Klein. But this book is more than a mathematical tell-all. Each chapter examines an important mathematical idea and the visionary minds behind it. Ruelle meaningfully explores the philosophical issues raised by each, offering insights into the truly unique and creative ways mathematicians think and showing how the mathematical setting is most favorable for asking philosophical questions about meaning, beauty, and the nature of reality. The Mathematician's Brain takes you inside the world--and heads--of mathematicians. It's a journey you won't soon forget.

Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security
Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security

Author: Roman V. Yampolskiy

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2018-07-27

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 1351251376

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The history of robotics and artificial intelligence in many ways is also the history of humanity’s attempts to control such technologies. From the Golem of Prague to the military robots of modernity, the debate continues as to what degree of independence such entities should have and how to make sure that they do not turn on us, its inventors. Numerous recent advancements in all aspects of research, development and deployment of intelligent systems are well publicized but safety and security issues related to AI are rarely addressed. This book is proposed to mitigate this fundamental problem. It is comprised of chapters from leading AI Safety researchers addressing different aspects of the AI control problem as it relates to the development of safe and secure artificial intelligence. The book is the first edited volume dedicated to addressing challenges of constructing safe and secure advanced machine intelligence. The chapters vary in length and technical content from broad interest opinion essays to highly formalized algorithmic approaches to specific problems. All chapters are self-contained and could be read in any order or skipped without a loss of comprehension.

Felix Berezin: Life And Death Of The Mastermind Of Supermathematics
Felix Berezin: Life And Death Of The Mastermind Of Supermathematics

Author: Misha Shifman

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2007-04-27

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 9814476072

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Felix Berezin was an outstanding Soviet mathematician who in the 1960s and 70s was the driving force behind the emergence of the branch of mathematics now known as supermathematics. The integral over the anticommuting Grassmann variables that he introduced in the 1960s laid the foundation for the path integral formulation of quantum field theory with fermions, the heart of modern supersymmetric field theories and superstrings. The Berezin integral is named for him, as is the closely related construction of the Berezinian, which may be regarded as the superanalog of the determinant.This book features a masterfully written memoir by Berezin's widow, Elena Karpel, who narrates a remarkable account of Berezin's life and his struggle for survival under the totalitarian Soviet regime. Supplemented with recollections by his close friends and colleagues, Berezin's accomplishments in mathematics, his novel ideas and breakthrough works, are reviewed in two articles written by Andrei Losev and Robert Minlos.