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Books > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics > Mathematical foundations > General
Anyone involved in the philosophy of science is naturally drawn
into the study of the foundations of probability. Different
interpretations of probability, based on competing philosophical
ideas, lead to different statistical techniques, and frequently to
mutually contradictory consequences. This unique book presents a new interpretation of probability, rooted in the traditional interpretation that was current in the 17th and 18th centuries. Mathematical models are constructed based on this interpretation, and statistical inference and decision theory are applied, including some examples in artificial intelligence, solving the main foundational problems. Nonstandard analysis is extensively developed for the construction of the models and in some of the proofs. Many nonstandard theorems are proved, some of them new, in particular, a representation theorem that asserts that any stochastic process can be approximated by a process defined over a space with equiprobable outcomes.
One criterion for classifying books is whether they are written for a single pur pose or for multiple purposes. This book belongs to the category of multipurpose books, but one of its roles is predominant-it is primarily a textbook. As such, it can be used for a variety ofcourses at the first-year graduate or upper-division undergraduate level. A common characteristic of these courses is that they cover fundamental systems concepts, major categories of systems problems, and some selected methods for dealing with these problems at a rather general level. A unique feature of the book is that the concepts, problems, and methods are introduced in the context of an architectural formulation of an expert system referred to as the general systems problem solver or aSPS-whose aim is to provide users ofall kinds with computer-based systems knowledge and methodo logy. Theasps architecture, which is developed throughout the book, facilitates a framework that is conducive to acoherent, comprehensive, and pragmaticcoverage ofsystems fundamentals-concepts, problems, and methods. A course that covers systems fundamentals is now offered not only in sys tems science, information science, or systems engineering programs, but in many programs in other disciplines as well. Although the level ofcoverage for systems science or engineering students is surely different from that used for students in other disciplines, this book is designed to serve both of these needs."
This is a continuation of Vol. 7 of Trends in Logic. It wil cover the wealth of recent developments of Lukasiewicz Logic and their algebras (Chang MV-algebras), with particular reference to (de Finetti) coherent evaluation of continuously valued events, (Renyi) conditionals for such events, related algorithms.
This volume tackles Goedel's two-stage project of first using Husserl's transcendental phenomenology to reconstruct and develop Leibniz' monadology, and then founding classical mathematics on the metaphysics thus obtained. The author analyses the historical and systematic aspects of that project, and then evaluates it, with an emphasis on the second stage. The book is organised around Goedel's use of Leibniz, Husserl and Brouwer. Far from considering past philosophers irrelevant to actual systematic concerns, Goedel embraced the use of historical authors to frame his own philosophical perspective. The philosophies of Leibniz and Husserl define his project, while Brouwer's intuitionism is its principal foil: the close affinities between phenomenology and intuitionism set the bar for Goedel's attempt to go far beyond intuitionism. The four central essays are `Monads and sets', `On the philosophical development of Kurt Goedel', `Goedel and intuitionism', and `Construction and constitution in mathematics'. The first analyses and criticises Goedel's attempt to justify, by an argument from analogy with the monadology, the reflection principle in set theory. It also provides further support for Goedel's idea that the monadology needs to be reconstructed phenomenologically, by showing that the unsupplemented monadology is not able to found mathematics directly. The second studies Goedel's reading of Husserl, its relation to Leibniz' monadology, and its influence on his publishe d writings. The third discusses how on various occasions Brouwer's intuitionism actually inspired Goedel's work, in particular the Dialectica Interpretation. The fourth addresses the question whether classical mathematics admits of the phenomenological foundation that Goedel envisaged, and concludes that it does not. The remaining essays provide further context. The essays collected here were written and published over the last decade. Notes have been added to record further thoughts, changes of mind, connections between the essays, and updates of references.
Two prisoners are told that they will be brought to a room and seated so that each can see the other. Hats will be placed on their heads; each hat is either red or green. The two prisoners must simultaneously submit a guess of their own hat color, and they both go free if at least one of them guesses correctly. While no communication is allowed once the hats have been placed, they will, however, be allowed to have a strategy session before being brought to the room. Is there a strategy ensuring their release? The answer turns out to be yes, and this is the simplest non-trivial example of a hat problem. This book deals with the question of how successfully one can predict the value of an arbitrary function at one or more points of its domain based on some knowledge of its values at other points. Topics range from hat problems that are accessible to everyone willing to think hard, to some advanced topics in set theory and infinitary combinatorics. For example, there is a method of predicting the value "f"("a") of a function f mapping the reals to the reals, based only on knowledge of "f"'s values on the open interval ("a" 1, "a"), and for every such function the prediction is incorrect only on a countable set that is nowhere dense. The monograph progresses from topics requiring fewer prerequisites to those requiring more, with most of the text being accessible to any graduate student in mathematics. The broad range of readership includes researchers, postdocs, and graduate students in the fields of set theory, mathematical logic, and combinatorics. The hope is that this book will bring together mathematicians from different areas to think about set theory via a very broad array of coordinated inference problems. "
Graph Theory, Combinatorics and Algorithms: Interdisciplinary Applications focuses on discrete mathematics and combinatorial algorithms interacting with real world problems in computer science, operations research, applied mathematics and engineering. The book contains eleven chapters written by experts in their respective fields, and covers a wide spectrum of high-interest problems across these discipline domains. Among the contributing authors are Richard Karp of UC Berkeley and Robert Tarjan of Princeton; both are at the pinnacle of research scholarship in Graph Theory and Combinatorics. The chapters from the contributing authors focus on "real world" applications, all of which will be of considerable interest across the areas of Operations Research, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, and Engineering. These problems include Internet congestion control, high-speed communication networks, multi-object auctions, resource allocation, software testing, data structures, etc. In sum, this is a book focused on major, contemporary problems, written by the top research scholars in the field, using cutting-edge mathematical and computational techniques.
The book is an authoritative and up-to-date introduction to the field of analysis and potential theory dealing with the distribution zeros of classical systems of polynomials such as orthogonal polynomials, Chebyshev, Fekete and Bieberbach polynomials, best or near-best approximating polynomials on compact sets and on the real line. The main feature of the book is the combination of potential theory with conformal invariants, such as module of a family of curves and harmonic measure, to derive discrepancy estimates for signed measures if bounds for their logarithmic potentials or energy integrals are known a priori.
This book presents eleven peer-reviewed papers from the 3rd International Conference on Applications of Mathematics and Informatics in Natural Sciences and Engineering (AMINSE2017) held in Tbilisi, Georgia in December 2017. Written by researchers from the region (Georgia, Russia, Turkey) and from Western countries (France, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, Spain, USA), it discusses key aspects of mathematics and informatics, and their applications in natural sciences and engineering. Featuring theoretical, practical and numerical contributions, the book appeals to scientists from various disciplines interested in applications of mathematics and informatics in natural sciences and engineering.
Intuitionistic type theory can be described, somewhat boldly, as a partial fulfillment of the dream of a universal language for science. This book expounds several aspects of intuitionistic type theory, such as the notion of set, reference vs. computation, assumption, and substitution. Moreover, the book includes philosophically relevant sections on the principle of compositionality, lingua characteristica, epistemology, propositional logic, intuitionism, and the law of excluded middle. Ample historical references are given throughout the book.
The fundamental theorem of algebra states that any complex polynomial must have a complex root. This book examines three pairs of proofs of the theorem from three different areas of mathematics: abstract algebra, complex analysis and topology. The first proof in each pair is fairly straightforward and depends only on what could be considered elementary mathematics. However, each of these first proofs leads to more general results from which the fundamental theorem can be deduced as a direct consequence. These general results constitute the second proof in each pair. To arrive at each of the proofs, enough of the general theory of each relevant area is developed to understand the proof. In addition to the proofs and techniques themselves, many applications such as the insolvability of the quintic and the transcendence of e and pi are presented. Finally, a series of appendices give six additional proofs including a version of Gauss'original first proof. The book is intended for junior/senior level undergraduate mathematics students or first year graduate students, and would make an ideal "capstone" course in mathematics.
Starting with a simple formulation accessible to all mathematicians, this second edition is designed to provide a thorough introduction to nonstandard analysis. Nonstandard analysis is now a well-developed, powerful instrument for solving open problems in almost all disciplines of mathematics; it is often used as a 'secret weapon' by those who know the technique. This book illuminates the subject with some of the most striking applications in analysis, topology, functional analysis, probability and stochastic analysis, as well as applications in economics and combinatorial number theory. The first chapter is designed to facilitate the beginner in learning this technique by starting with calculus and basic real analysis. The second chapter provides the reader with the most important tools of nonstandard analysis: the transfer principle, Keisler's internal definition principle, the spill-over principle, and saturation. The remaining chapters of the book study different fields for applications; each begins with a gentle introduction before then exploring solutions to open problems. All chapters within this second edition have been reworked and updated, with several completely new chapters on compactifications and number theory. Nonstandard Analysis for the Working Mathematician will be accessible to both experts and non-experts, and will ultimately provide many new and helpful insights into the enterprise of mathematics.
Over the last decade and particularly in recent years, the macroscopic porous media theory has made decisive progress concerning the fundamentals of the theory and the development of mathematical models in various fields of engineering and biomechanics. This progress has attracted some attention, and therefore conferences devoted almost exclusively to the macrosopic porous media theory have been organized in order to collect all findings, to present new results, and to discuss new trends. Many important contributions have also been published in national and international journals, which have brought the porous media theory, in some parts, to a close. Therefore, the time seems to be ripe to review the state of the art and to show new trends in the continuum mechanical treatment of saturated and unsaturated capillary and non-capillary porous solids. This book addresses postgraduate students and scientists working in engineering, physics, and mathematics. It provides an outline of modern theory of porous media and shows some trends in theory and in applications.
The book "Foundational Theories of Classical and Constructive Mathematics" is a book on the classical topic of foundations of mathematics. Its originality resides mainly in its treating at the same time foundations of classical and foundations of constructive mathematics. This confrontation of two kinds of foundations contributes to answering questions such as: Are foundations/foundational theories of classical mathematics of a different nature compared to those of constructive mathematics? Do they play the same role for the resp. mathematics? Are there connections between the two kinds of foundational theories? etc. The confrontation and comparison is often implicit and sometimes explicit. Its great advantage is to extend the traditional discussion of the foundations of mathematics and to render it at the same time more subtle and more differentiated. Another important aspect of the book is that some of its contributions are of a more philosophical, others of a more technical nature. This double face is emphasized, since foundations of mathematics is an eminent topic in the philosophy of mathematics: hence both sides of this discipline ought to be and are being paid due to.
Take the mystery out of basic math with the latest edition of BarCharts best-selling Math Review QuickStudy(r) guide. With updated content and an additional panel of information, Math Review includes hard-to-remember formulas and properties, along with numerous examples and illustrations to improve understanding. This comprehensive math guide will assist you way beyond your high school and college years. "
Written by one of the subject's foremost experts, this book focuses on the central developments and modern methods of the advanced theory of abelian groups, while remaining accessible, as an introduction and reference, to the non-specialist. It provides a coherent source for results scattered throughout the research literature with lots of new proofs. The presentation highlights major trends that have radically changed the modern character of the subject, in particular, the use of homological methods in the structure theory of various classes of abelian groups, and the use of advanced set-theoretical methods in the study of un decidability problems. The treatment of the latter trend includes Shelah's seminal work on the un decidability in ZFC of Whitehead's Problem; while the treatment of the former trend includes an extensive (but non-exhaustive) study of p-groups, torsion-free groups, mixed groups and important classes of groups arising from ring theory. To prepare the reader to tackle these topics, the book reviews the fundamentals of abelian group theory and provides some background material from category theory, set theory, topology and homological algebra. An abundance of exercises are included to test the reader's comprehension, and to explore noteworthy extensions and related sidelines of the main topics. A list of open problems and questions, in each chapter, invite the reader to take an active part in the subject's further development.
Exploring new variations of classical methods as well as recent approaches appearing in the field, Computational Fluid Dynamics demonstrates the extensive use of numerical techniques and mathematical models in fluid mechanics. It presents various numerical methods, including finite volume, finite difference, finite element, spectral, smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), mixed-element-volume, and free surface flow. Taking a unified point of view, the book first introduces the basis of finite volume, weighted residual, and spectral approaches. The contributors present the SPH method, a novel approach of computational fluid dynamics based on the mesh-free technique, and then improve the method using an arbitrary Lagrange Euler (ALE) formalism. They also explain how to improve the accuracy of the mesh-free integration procedure, with special emphasis on the finite volume particle method (FVPM). After describing numerical algorithms for compressible computational fluid dynamics, the text discusses the prediction of turbulent complex flows in environmental and engineering problems. The last chapter explores the modeling and numerical simulation of free surface flows, including future behaviors of glaciers. The diverse applications discussed in this book illustrate the importance of numerical methods in fluid mechanics. With research continually evolving in the field, there is no doubt that new techniques and tools will emerge to offer greater accuracy and speed in solving and analyzing even more fluid flow problems.
This book covers work written by leading scholars from different schools within the research area of paraconsistency. The authors critically investigate how contemporary paraconsistent logics can be used to better understand human reasoning in science and mathematics. Offering a variety of perspectives, they shed a new light on the question of whether paraconsistent logics can function as the underlying logics of inconsistent but useful scientific and mathematical theories. The great variety of paraconsistent logics gives rise to various, interrelated questions, such as what are the desiderata a paraconsistent logic should satisfy, is there prospect of a universal approach to paraconsistent reasoning with axiomatic theories, and to what extent is reasoning about sets structurally analogous to reasoning about truth. Furthermore, the authors consider paraconsistent logic's status as either a normative or descriptive discipline (or one which falls in between) and which inconsistent but non-trivial axiomatic theories are well understood by which types of paraconsistent approaches. This volume addresses such questions from different perspectives in order to (i) obtain a representative overview of the state of the art in the philosophical debate on paraconsistency, (ii) come up with fresh ideas for the future of paraconsistency, and most importantly (iii) provide paraconsistent logic with a stronger philosophical foundation, taking into account the developments within the different schools of paraconsistency.
Problems in decision making and in other areas such as pattern recogni tion, control, structural engineering etc. involve numerous aspects of uncertainty. Additional vagueness is introduced as models become more complex but not necessarily more meaningful by the added details. During the last two decades one has become more and more aware of the fact that not all this uncertainty is of stochastic (random) cha racter and that, therefore, it can not be modelled appropriately by probability theory. This becomes the more obvious the more we want to represent formally human knowledge. As far as uncertain data are concerned, we have neither instru ments nor reasoning at our disposal as well defined and unquestionable as those used in the probability theory. This almost infallible do main is the result of a tremendous work by the whole scientific world. But when measures are dubious, bad or no longer possible and when we really have to make use of the richness of human reasoning in its variety, then the theories dealing with the treatment of uncertainty, some quite new and other ones older, provide the required complement, and fill in the gap left in the field of knowledge representation. Nowadays, various theories are widely used: fuzzy sets, belief function, the convenient associations between probability and fuzzines~ etc *** We are more and more in need of a wide range of instruments and theories to build models that are more and more adapted to the most complex systems.
We see numbers on automobile license plates, addresses, weather reports, and, of course, on our smartphones. Yet we look at these numbers for their role as descriptors, not as an entity in and unto themselves. Each number has its own history of meaning, usage, and connotation in the larger world. The Secret Lives of Numbers takes readers on a journey through integers, considering their numerological assignments as well as their significance beyond mathematics and in the realm of popular culture. Of course we all know that the number 13 carries a certain value of unluckiness with it. The phobia of the number is called Triskaidekaphobia; Franklin Delano Roosevelt was known to invite and disinvite guests to parties to avoid having 13 people in attendance; high-rise buildings often skip the 13th floor out of superstition. There are many explanations as to how the number 13 received this negative honor, but from a mathematical point of view, the number 13 is also the smallest prime number that when its digits are reversed is also a prime number. It is honored with a place among the Fibonacci numbers and integral Pythagorean triples, as well as many other interesting and lesser-known occurrences. In The Secret Lives of Numbers, popular mathematician Alfred S. Posamentier provides short and engaging mini-biographies of more than 100 numbers, starting with 1 and featuring some especially interesting numbers -like 6,174, a number with most unusual properties -to provide readers with a more comprehensive picture of the lives of numbers both mathematically and socially.
This impressive volume is dedicated to Mel Nathanson, a leading authoritative expert for several decades in the area of combinatorial and additive number theory. For several decades, Mel Nathanson's seminal ideas and results in combinatorial and additive number theory have influenced graduate students and researchers alike. The invited survey articles in this volume reflect the work of distinguished mathematicians in number theory, and represent a wide range of important topics in current research.
Iterative Splitting Methods for Differential Equations explains how to solve evolution equations via novel iterative-based splitting methods that efficiently use computational and memory resources. It focuses on systems of parabolic and hyperbolic equations, including convection-diffusion-reaction equations, heat equations, and wave equations. In the theoretical part of the book, the author discusses the main theorems and results of the stability and consistency analysis for ordinary differential equations. He then presents extensions of the iterative splitting methods to partial differential equations and spatial- and time-dependent differential equations. The practical part of the text applies the methods to benchmark and real-life problems, such as waste disposal, elastics wave propagation, and complex flow phenomena. The book also examines the benefits of equation decomposition. It concludes with a discussion on several useful software packages, including r3t and FIDOS. Covering a wide range of theoretical and practical issues in multiphysics and multiscale problems, this book explores the benefits of using iterative splitting schemes to solve physical problems. It illustrates how iterative operator splitting methods are excellent decomposition methods for obtaining higher-order accuracy. |
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