From the reviews of the 1st edition:

"This book provides a comprehensive and detailed account of different topics in algorithmic 3-dimensional topology, culminating with the recognition procedure for Haken manifolds and including the up-to-date results in computer enumeration of 3-manifolds. Originating from lecture notes of various courses given by the author over a decade, the book is intended to combine the pedagogical approach of a graduate textbook (without exercises) with the completeness and reliability of a research monograph...

All the material, with few exceptions, is presented from the peculiar point of view of special polyhedra and special spines of 3-manifolds. This choice contributes to keep the level of the exposition really elementary.

In conclusion, the reviewer subscribes to the quotation from the back cover: "the book fills a gap in the existing literature and will become a standard reference for algorithmic 3-dimensional topology both for graduate students and researchers."

Zentralblatt fur Mathematik 2004

For this 2nd edition, new results, new proofs, and commentaries for a better orientation of the reader have been added. In particular, in Chapter 7 several new sections concerning applications of the computer program "3-Manifold Recognizer" have been included. "

Descriptive set theory has been one of the main areas of research in set theory for almost a century. This text attempts to present a largely balanced approach, which combines many elements of the different traditions of the subject. It includes a wide variety of examples, exercises (over 400), and applications, in order to illustrate the general concepts and results of the theory.
This text provides a first basic course in classical descriptive set theory and covers material with which mathematicians interested in the subject for its own sake or those that wish to use it in their field should be familiar. Over the years, researchers in diverse areas of mathematics, such as logic and set theory, analysis, topology, probability theory, etc., have brought to the subject of descriptive set theory their own intuitions, concepts, terminology and notation.

The text of this book has its origins more than twenty- ve years ago. In the seminar of the Dutch Singularity Theory project in 1982 and 1983, the second-named author gave a series of lectures on Mixed Hodge Structures and Singularities, accompanied by a set of hand-written notes. The publication of these notes was prevented by a revolution in the subject due to Morihiko Saito: the introduction of the theory of Mixed Hodge Modules around 1985. Understanding this theory was at the same time of great importance and very hard, due to the fact that it uni es many di erent theories which are quite complicated themselves: algebraic D-modules and perverse sheaves. The present book intends to provide a comprehensive text about Mixed Hodge Theory with a view towards Mixed Hodge Modules. The approach to Hodge theory for singular spaces is due to Navarro and his collaborators, whose results provide stronger vanishing results than Deligne s original theory. Navarro and Guill en also lled a gap in the proof that the weight ltration on the nearby cohomology is the right one. In that sense the present book corrects and completes the second-named author s thesis."

This is a relatively fast paced graduate level introduction to complex algebraic geometry, from the basics to the frontier of the subject. It covers sheaf theory, cohomology, some Hodge theory, as well as some of the more algebraic aspects of algebraic geometry. The author frequently refers the reader if the treatment of a certain topic is readily available elsewhere but goes into considerable detail on topics for which his treatment puts a twist or a more transparent viewpoint. His cases of exploration and are chosen very carefully and deliberately. The textbook achieves its purpose of taking new students of complex algebraic geometry through this a deep yet broad introduction to a vast subject, eventually bringing them to the forefront of the topic via a non-intimidating style.

This account of the History of General Topology has grown out of the special session on this topic at the American Mathematical Soeiety meeting in San Antonio, Texas, 1993. It was there that the idea grew to publish a book on the historical development of General Topology. Moreover it was feit that it was important to undertake this project while topologists who knew some of the early researchers were still active. Since the first paper by Frechet, "Generalisation d'un theoreme de Weier- strass", C.R.Acad. Sei. 139, 1904, 848-849, and Hausdorff's c1assic book, "Grundzuge der Mengenlehre", Leipzig, 1914, there have been numerous de- velopments in a multitude of directions and there have been many interactions with a great number of other mathematical fields. We have tried to cover as many of these as possible. Most contributions concern either individual topologists, speeific schools, speeific periods, speeific topics or a combination of these.

As the title suggests, this book is concerned with the elementary portion of the subject of homotopy theory. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the fundamental group and with singular homology theory, including the Universal Coefficient and Kiinneth Theorems. Some acquaintance with manifolds and Poincare duality is desirable, but not essential. Anyone who has taught a course in algebraic topology is familiar with the fact that a formidable amount of technical machinery must be introduced and mastered before the simplest applications can be made. This phenomenon is also observable in the more advanced parts of the subject. I have attempted to short-circuit it by making maximal use of elementary methods. This approach entails a leisurely exposition in which brevity and perhaps elegance are sacrificed in favor of concreteness and ease of application. It is my hope that this approach will make homotopy theory accessible to workers in a wide range of other subjects-subjects in which its impact is beginning to be felt. It is a consequence of this approach that the order of development is to a certain extent historical. Indeed, if the order in which the results presented here does not strictly correspond to that in which they were discovered, it nevertheless does correspond to an order in which they might have been discovered had those of us who were working in the area been a little more perspicacious.

An ultrafilter is a truth-value assignment to the family of subsets of a set, and a method of convergence to infinity. From the first (logical) property arises its connection with two-valued logic and model theory; from the second (convergence) property arises its connection with topology and set theory. Both these descriptions of an ultrafilter are connected with compactness. The model-theoretic property finds its expression in the construction of the ultraproduct and the compactness type of theorem of Los (implying the compactness theorem of first-order logic); and the convergence property leads to the process of completion by the adjunction of an ideal element for every ultrafilter-i. e., to the Stone-Cech com pactification process (implying the Tychonoff theorem on the compact ness of products). Since these are two ways of describing the same mathematical object, it is reasonable to expect that a study of ultrafilters from these points of view will yield results and methods which can be fruitfully crossbred. This unifying aspect is indeed what we have attempted to emphasize in the present work."

The main purpose of the present volume is to give a survey of some of the most significant achievements obtained by topological methods in nonlin ear analysis during the last three decades. It is intended, at least partly, as a continuation of Topological Nonlinear Analysis: Degree, Singularity and Varia tions, published in 1995. The survey articles presented are concerned with three main streams of research, that is topological degree, singularity theory and variational methods, They reflect the personal taste of the authors, all of them well known and distinguished specialists. A common feature of these articles is to start with a historical introduction and conclude with recent results, giving a dynamic picture of the state of the art on these topics. Let us mention the fact that most of the materials in this book were pre sented by the authors at the "Second Topological Analysis Workshop on Degree, Singularity and Variations: Developments of the Last 25 Years," held in June 1995 at Villa Tuscolana, Frascati, near Rome. Michele Matzeu Alfonso Vignoli Editors Topological Nonlinear Analysis II Degree, Singularity and Variations Classical Solutions for a Perturbed N-Body System Gianfausto Dell 'A ntonio O. Introduction In this review I shall consider the perturbed N-body system, i.e., a system composed of N point bodies of masses ml, ... mN, described in cartesian co ordinates by the system of equations (0.1) where f) V'k, m == - l--' m = 1, 2, 3."

Topological tools in Nonlinear Analysis had a tremendous develop ment during the last few decades. The three main streams of research in this field, Topological Degree, Singularity Theory and Variational Meth ods, have lately become impetuous rivers of scientific investigation. The process is still going on and the achievements in this area are spectacular. A most promising and rapidly developing field of research is the study of the role that symmetries play in nonlinear problems. Symmetries appear in a quite natural way in many problems in physics and in differential or symplectic geometry, such as closed orbits for autonomous Hamiltonian systems, configurations of symmetric elastic plates under pressure, Hopf Bifurcation, Taylor vortices, convective motions of fluids, oscillations of chemical reactions, etc . . . Some of these problems have been tackled recently by different techniques using equivariant versions of Degree, Singularity and Variations. The main purpose of the present volume is to give a survey of some of the most significant achievements obtained by topological methods in Nonlinear Analysis during the last two-three decades. The survey articles presented here reflect the personal taste and points of view of the authors (all of them well-known and distinguished specialists in their own fields) on the subject matter. A common feature of these papers is that of start ing with an historical introductory background of the different disciplines under consideration and climbing up to the heights of the most recent re sults."

The book gives a systematic exposition of the diverse ideas and methods in the area, from algebraic topology of manifolds to invariants arising from quantum field theories. The main topics covered include: constructions and classification of homology 3-spheres, Rokhlin invariant, Casson invariant and its extensions, and Floer homology and gauge-theoretical invariants of homology cobordism. Many of the topics covered in the book appear in monograph form for the first time. The book gives a rather broad overview of ideas and methods and provides a comprehensive bibliography. The text will be a valuable source for both the graduate student and researcher in mathematics and theoretical physics.

Recent progress in research, teaching and communication has arisen from the use of new tools in visualization. To be fruitful, visualization needs precision and beauty. This book is a source of mathematical illustrations by mathematicians as well as artists. It offers examples in many basic mathematical fields including polyhedra theory, group theory, solving polynomial equations, dynamical systems and differential topology.
For a long time, arts, architecture, music and painting have been the source of new developments in mathematics. And vice versa, artists have often found new techniques, themes and inspiration within mathematics. Here, while mathematicians provide mathematical tools for the analysis of musical creations, the contributions from sculptors emphasize the role of mathematics in their work.

The content of this monograph is situated in the intersection of important branches of mathematics like the theory of one complex variable, algebraic geometry, low dimensional topology and, from the point of view of the techniques used, com- natorial group theory. The main tool comes from the Uniformization Theorem for Riemannsurfaces, whichrelatesthetopologyofRiemannsurfacesandholomorphic or antiholomorphic actions on them to the algebra of classical cocompact Fuchsian groups or, more generally, non-euclidean crystallographic groups. Foundations of this relationship were established by A. M. Macbeath in the early sixties and dev- oped later by, among others, D. Singerman. Another important result in Riemann surface theory is the connection between Riemannsurfacesandtheir symmetrieswith complexalgebraiccurvesandtheirreal forms. Namely, there is a well known functorial bijective correspondence between compact Riemann surfaces and smooth, irreducible complex projective curves. The fact that a Riemann surface has a symmetry means, under this equivalence, that the corresponding complex algebraic curve has a real form, that is, it is the complex- cation of a real algebraic curve. Moreover, symmetries which are non-conjugate in the full group of automorphisms of the Riemann surface, correspond to real forms which are birationally non-isomorphic over the reals. Furthermore, the set of points xedbyasymmetryishomeomorphictoaprojectivesmoothmodeloftherealform

This book is designed as an introduction into what I call 'abstract' Topological Dynamics (TO): the study of topological transformation groups with respect to problems that can be traced back to the qualitative theory of differential equa is in the tradition of the books GH] and EW. The title tions. So this book (, Elements . . . ' rather than 'Introduction . . . ') does not mean that this book should be compared, either in scope or in (intended) impact, with the 'Ele ments' of Euclid or Bourbaki. Instead, it reflects the choice and organisation of the material in this book: elementary and basic (but sufficient to understand recent research papers in this field). There are still many challenging prob lems waiting for a solution, and especially among general topologists there is a growing interest in this direction. However, the technical inaccessability of many research papers makes it almost impossible for an outsider to under stand what is going on. To a large extent, this inaccessability is caused by the lack of a good and systematic exposition of the fundamental methods and techniques of abstract TO. This book is an attempt to fill this gap. The guiding principle for the organization of the material in this book has been the exposition of methods and techniques rather than a discussion of the leading problems and their solutions. though the latter are certainly not neglected: they are used as a motivation wherever possible."

The aim of this book is a detailed study of topological effects related to continuity of the dependence of solutions on initial values and parameters. This allows us to develop cheaply a theory which deals easily with equations having singularities and with equations with multivalued right hand sides (differential inclusions). An explicit description of corresponding topological structures expands the theory in the case of equations with continuous right hand sides also. In reality, this is a new science where Ordinary Differential Equations, General Topology, Integration theory and Functional Analysis meet. In what concerns equations with discontinuities and differential inclu sions, we do not restrict the consideration to the Cauchy problem, but we show how to develop an advanced theory whose volume is commensurable with the volume of the existing theory of Ordinary Differential Equations. The level of the account rises in the book step by step from second year student to working scientist."

Author is well-known and established book author (all Serge Lang books are now published by Springer); Presents a brief introduction to the subject; All manifolds are assumed finite dimensional in order not to frighten some readers; Complete proofs are given; Use of manifolds cuts across disciplines and includes physics, engineering and economics

This book is a course in general topology, intended for students in the first year of the second cycle (in other words, students in their third univer sity year). The course was taught during the first semester of the 1979-80 academic year (three hours a week of lecture, four hours a week of guided work). Topology is the study of the notions of limit and continuity and thus is, in principle, very ancient. However, we shall limit ourselves to the origins of the theory since the nineteenth century. One of the sources of topology is the effort to clarify the theory of real-valued functions of a real variable: uniform continuity, uniform convergence, equicontinuity, Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem (this work is historically inseparable from the attempts to define with precision what the real numbers are). Cauchy was one of the pioneers in this direction, but the errors that slip into his work prove how hard it was to isolate the right concepts. Cantor came along a bit later; his researches into trigonometric series led him to study in detail sets of points of R (whence the concepts of open set and closed set in R, which in his work are intermingled with much subtler concepts). The foregoing alone does not justify the very general framework in which this course is set. The fact is that the concepts mentioned above have shown themselves to be useful for objects other than the real numbers."

From the 28th of February through the 3rd of March, 2001, the Department of Math ematics of the University of Florida hosted a conference on the many aspects of the field of Ordered Algebraic Structures. Officially, the title was "Conference on Lattice Ordered Groups and I-Rings," but its subject matter evolved beyond the limitations one might associate with such a label. This volume is officially the proceedings of that conference, although, likewise, it is more accurate to view it as a complement to that event. The conference was the fourth in wh at has turned into aseries of similar conferences, on Ordered Algebraic Structures, held in consecutive years. The first, held at the University of Florida in Spring, 1998, was a modest and informal affair. The fifth is in the final planning stages at this writing, for March 7-9, 2002, at Vanderbilt University. And although these events remain modest and reasonably informal, their scope has broadened, as they have succeeded in attracting mathematicians from other, related fields, as weIl as from more distant lands."

The theory and applications of infinite dimensional dynamical systems have attracted the attention of scientists for quite some time. Dynamical issues arise in equations which attempt to model phenomena that change with time, and the infinite dimensional aspects occur when forces that describe the motion depend on spatial variables. This book may serve as an entree for scholars beginning their journey into the world of dynamical systems, especially infinite dimensional spaces. The main approach involves the theory of evolutionary equations. It begins with a brief essay on the evolution of evolutionary equations and introduces the origins of the basic elements of dynamical systems, flow and semiflow.

This book collects survey papers in the fields of entropy, search and complexity, summarizing the latest developments in their respective areas. More than half of the papers belong to search theory which lies on the borderline of mathematics and computer science, information theory and combinatorics, respectively. The book will be useful to experienced researchers as well as young scientists and students both in mathematics and computer science.

Projective duality is a very classical notion naturally arising in various areas of mathematics, such as algebraic and differential geometry, combinatorics, topology, analytical mechanics, and invariant theory, and the results in this field were until now scattered across the literature. Thus the appearance of a book specifically devoted to projective duality is a long-awaited and welcome event.

Projective Duality and Homogeneous Spaces covers a vast and diverse range of topics in the field of dual varieties, ranging from differential geometry to Mori theory and from topology to the theory of algebras. It gives a very readable and thorough account and the presentation of the material is clear and convincing. For the most part of the book the only prerequisites are basic algebra and algebraic geometry.

This book will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students as well as professional mathematicians working in algebra, geometry and analysis.

In this book, several world experts present (one part of) the mathematical heritage of Kolmogorov. Each chapter treats one of his research themes or a subject invented as a consequence of his discoveries. The authors present his contributions, his methods, the perspectives he opened to us, and the way in which this research has evolved up to now. Coverage also includes examples of recent applications and a presentation of the modern prospects.

This book is about the interplay between algebraic topology and the theory of infinite discrete groups. It is a hugely important contribution to the field of topological and geometric group theory, and is bound to become a standard reference in the field. To keep the length reasonable and the focus clear, the author assumes the reader knows or can easily learn the necessary algebra, but wants to see the topology done in detail. The central subject of the book is the theory of ends. Here the author adopts a new algebraic approach which is geometric in spirit.

Each undergraduate course of algebra begins with basic notions and results concerning groups, rings, modules and linear algebra. That is, it begins with simple notions and simple results. Our intention was to provide a collection of exercises which cover only the easy part of ring theory, what we have named the "Basics of Ring Theory." This seems to be the part each student or beginner in ring theory (or even algebra) should know - but surely trying to solve as many of these exercises as possible independently. As difficult (or impossible) as this may seem, we have made every effort to avoid modules, lattices and field extensions in this collection and to remain in the ring area as much as possible. A brief look at the bibliography obviously shows that we don't claim much originality (one could name this the folklore of ring theory) for the statements of the exercises we have chosen (but this was a difficult task: indeed, the 28 titles contain approximatively 15.000 problems and our collection contains only 346). The real value of our book is the part which contains all the solutions of these exercises. We have tried to draw up these solutions as detailed as possible, so that each beginner can progress without skilled help. The book is divided in two parts each consisting of seventeen chapters, the first part containing the exercises and the second part the solutions.

The present volume contains the proceedings of the workshop on "Minimax Theory and Applications" that was held during the week 30 September - 6 October 1996 at the "G. Stampacchia" International School of Mathematics of the "E. Majorana" Centre for Scientific Cul ture in Erice (Italy) . The main theme of the workshop was minimax theory in its most classical meaning. That is to say, given a real-valued function f on a product space X x Y, one tries to find conditions that ensure the validity of the equality sup inf f(x, y) = inf sup f(x, y). yEY xEX xEX yEY This is not an appropriate place to enter into the technical details of the proofs of minimax theorems, or into the history of the contribu tions to the solution of this basic problem in the last 7 decades. But we do want to stress its intrinsic interest and point out that, in spite of its extremely simple formulation, it conceals a great wealth of ideas. This is clearly shown by the large variety of methods and tools that have been used to study it. The applications of minimax theory are also extremely interesting. In fact, the need for the ability to "switch quantifiers" arises in a seemingly boundless range of different situations. So, the good quality of a minimax theorem can also be judged by its applicability. We hope that this volume will offer a rather complete account of the state of the art of the subject."

Classicalexamples of moreand more oscillatingreal-valued functions on a domain N ?of R are the functions u (x)=sin(nx)with x=(x ,...,x ) or the so-called n 1 1 n n+1 Rademacherfunctionson]0,1[,u (x)=r (x) = sgn(sin(2 ?x))(seelater3.1.4). n n They may appear as the gradients?v of minimizing sequences (v ) in some n n n?N variationalproblems. Intheseexamples,thefunctionu convergesinsomesenseto n ameasure on ? xR, called Young measure. In Functional Analysis formulation, this is the narrow convergence to of the image of the Lebesgue measure on ? by ? ? (?,u (?)). In the disintegrated form ( ) ,the parametrized measure n ? ??? ? captures the possible scattering of the u around ?. n Curiously if (X ) is a sequence of random variables deriving from indep- n n?N dent ones, the n-th one may appear more and more far from the k ?rst ones as 2 if it was oscillating (think of orthonormal vectors in L which converge weakly to 0). More precisely when the laws L(X ) narrowly converge to some probability n measure , it often happens that for any k and any A in the algebra generated by X ,...,X , the conditional law L(X|A) still converges to (see Chapter 9) 1 k n which means 1 ??? C (R) ?(X (?))dP(?)?? ?d b n P(A) A R or equivalently, ? denoting the image of P by ? ? (?,X (?)), n X n (1l ??)d? ?? (1l ??)d[P? ].