This volume is a sequel to the books Fractals: Theory and Applications in Engineering (Springer-Verlag, 1999) and Fractals in Engineering. From Theory to Industrial Applications (Springer-Verlag, 1997), presenting some of the most recent advances in the ?eld. It is a fascinating exercise to follow the progress of knowledge in this interdisciplinary area, as witnessed by these three volumes. First,con?rmingprevioustrendsobservedin1997and1999,appliedma- ematical research on fractals has now reached a mature level, where beautiful theories are developed in direct contact with engineering concerns. The four papers in the Mathematical Aspects section constitute valuable additions to the set of tools needed by the engineer: Synthetic pictures modelling and rendering in computer graphics (Theory and Applications of Fractal Tops, by Michael Barnsley), curve approximation and "fractal B-splines" (Splines, Fractal Functions, and Besov and Triebel-Lizorkin Spaces, by Peter Mas- pust), deep understanding of the Hol .. derian properties of certain stochastic processes useful in a large number of applications (H.. olderian random fu- tions, by Antoine Ayache et al. ), and study of the invariant measure of a coupled discrete dynamical system (Fractal Stationary Density in Coupled Maps,byJu..rgen Jost et al. ). The second section of the book describes novel physical applications as well as recent progress on more classical ones. The paper A Network of Fr- tal Force Chains and Their E?ect in Granular Materials under Compression by Luis E. Vallejo et al.

Ordinary differential control thPory (the classical theory) studies input/output re lations defined by systems of ordinary differential equations (ODE). The various con cepts that can be introduced (controllability, observability, invertibility, etc. ) must be tested on formal objects (matrices, vector fields, etc. ) by means of formal operations (multiplication, bracket, rank, etc. ), but without appealing to the explicit integration (search for trajectories, etc. ) of the given ODE. Many partial results have been re cently unified by means of new formal methods coming from differential geometry and differential algebra. However, certain problems (invariance, equivalence, linearization, etc. ) naturally lead to systems of partial differential equations (PDE). More generally, partial differential control theory studies input/output relations defined by systems of PDE (mechanics, thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, plasma physics, robotics, etc. ). One of the aims of this book is to extend the preceding con cepts to this new situation, where, of course, functional analysis and/or a dynamical system approach cannot be used. A link will be exhibited between this domain of applied mathematics and the famous 'Backlund problem', existing in the study of solitary waves or solitons. In particular, we shall show how the methods of differ ential elimination presented here will allow us to determine compatibility conditions on input and/or output as a better understanding of the foundations of control the ory. At the same time we shall unify differential geometry and differential algebra in a new framework, called differential algebraic geometry."

Geometry is both elegantly simple and infinitely profound. Many professionals find they need to be able to draw geometric shapes accurately, and this unique book shows them how. It provides step-by-step instructions for constructing two-dimensional geometric shapes, which can be readily followed by a beginner, or used as an invaluable source book by students and professionals.

Over the past fifteen years, the geometrical and topological methods of the theory of manifolds have as- sumed a central role in the most advanced areas of pure and applied mathematics as well as theoretical physics. The three volumes of Modern Geometry - Methods and Applications contain a concrete exposition of these methods together with their main applications in mathematics and physics. This third volume, presented in highly accessible languages, concentrates in homology theory. It contains introductions to the contemporary methods for the calculation of homology groups and the classification of manifesto. Both scientists and students of mathematics as well as theoretical physics will find this book to be a valuable reference and text.

This well-organized and coherent collection of papers leads the reader to the frontiers of  present research in the theory of nonlinear partial differential equations and the calculus of variations and offers insight into some exciting developments. In addition, most articles also provide an excellent introduction to their background, describing extensively as they do the history of those problems presented, as well as the state of the art and offer a well-chosen guide to the literature. Part I contains the contributions of geometric nature: From spectral theory on regular and singular spaces to regularity theory of solutions of variational problems. Part II consists of articles on partial differential equations which originate from problems in physics, biology and stochastics. They cover elliptic, hyperbolic and parabolic cases.

This book gives a comprehensive treatment of the fundamental necessary and sufficient conditions for optimality for finite-dimensional, deterministic, optimal control problems. The emphasis is on the geometric aspects of the theory and on illustrating how these methods can be used to solve optimal control problems. It provides tools and techniques that go well beyond standard procedures and can be used to obtain a full understanding of the global structure of solutions for the underlying problem. The text includes a large number and variety of fully worked out examples that range from the classical problem of minimum surfaces of revolution to cancer treatment for novel therapy approaches. All these examples, in one way or the other, illustrate the power of geometric techniques and methods. The versatile text contains material on different levels ranging from the introductory and elementary to the advanced. Parts of the text can be viewed as a comprehensive textbook for both advanced undergraduate and all level graduate courses on optimal control in both mathematics and engineering departments. The text moves smoothly from the more introductory topics to those parts that are in a monograph style were advanced topics are presented. While the presentation is mathematically rigorous, it is carried out in a tutorial style that makes the text accessible to a wide audience of researchers and students from various fields, including the mathematical sciences and engineering. Heinz Schattler is an Associate Professor at Washington University in St. Louis in the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, Urszula Ledzewicz is a Distinguished Research Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

The present publication contains a special collection of research and review articles on deformations of surface singularities, that put together serve as an introductory survey of results and methods of the theory, as well as open problems and examples. The aim is to collect material that will help mathematicians already working or wishing to work in this area to deepen their insight and eliminate the technical barriers in this learning process. Additionally, we introduce some material which emphasizes the newly found relationship with the theory of Stein fillings and symplectic geometry. This links two main theories of mathematics: low dimensional topology and algebraic geometry.

The theory of normal surface singularities is a distinguished part of analytic or algebraic geometry with several important results, its own technical machinery, and several open problems. Recently several connections were established with low dimensional topology, symplectic geometry and theory of Stein fillings. This created an intense mathematical activity with spectacular bridges between the two areas. The theory of deformation of singularities is the key object in these connections.

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The present volume grew out of the Heidelberg Knot Theory Semester, organized by the editors in winter 2008/09 at Heidelberg University. The contributed papers bring the reader up to date on the currently most actively pursued areas of mathematical knot theory and its applications in mathematical physics and cell biology. Both original research and survey articles are presented; numerous illustrations support the text. The book will be of great interest to researchers in topology, geometry, and mathematical physics, graduate students specializing in knot theory, and cell biologists interested in the topology of DNA strands.

This work presents some classical as well as some very recent results and techniques concerning the spectral geometry corresponding to the Laplace-Beltrami operator and the Hodge-de Rham operators. It treats many topics that are not usually dealt with in this field, such as the continuous dependence of the eigenvalues with respect to the Riemannian metric in the CINFINITY-topology, and some of their consequences, such as Uhlenbeck's genericity theorem; examples of non-isometric flat tori in all dimensions greater than or equal to four; Gordon's classical technique for constructing isospectral closed Riemannian manifolds; a detailed presentation of Sunada's technique and Pesce's approach to isospectrality; Gordon and Webb's example of non-isometric convex domains in Rn (n>=4) that are isospectral for both Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions; the Chanillo-TrA]ves estimate for the first positive eigenvalue of the Hodge-de Rham operator, etc. Significant applications are developed, and many open problems, references and suggestions for further reading are given. Several themes for additional research are pointed out. Audience: This volume is designed as an introductory text for mathematicians and physicists interested in global analysis, analysis on manifolds, differential geometry, linear and multilinear algebra, and matrix theory. It is accessible to readers whose background includes basic Riemannian geometry and functional analysis. These mathematical prerequisites are covered in the first two chapters, thus making the book largely self-contained.

This book presents very recent results involving an extensive use of analytical tools in the study of geometrical and topological properties of complete Riemannian manifolds. It analyzes in detail an extension of the Bochner technique to the non compact setting, yielding conditions which ensure that solutions of geometrically significant differential equations either are trivial (vanishing results) or give rise to finite dimensional vector spaces (finiteness results). The book develops a range of methods from spectral theory and qualitative properties of solutions of PDEs to comparison theorems in Riemannian geometry and potential theory.

All needed tools are described in detail, often with an original approach. Some of the applications presented concern the topology at infinity of submanifolds, Lp cohomology, metric rigidity of manifolds with positive spectrum, and structure theorems for KAhler manifolds.

The book is essentially self-contained and supplies in an original presentation the necessary background material not easily available in book form.

After A. Ungar had introduced vector algebra and Cartesian coordinates into hyperbolic geometry in his earlier books, along with novel applications in Einstein's special theory of relativity, the purpose of his new book is to introduce hyperbolic barycentric coordinates, another important concept to embed Euclidean geometry into hyperbolic geometry. It will be demonstrated that, in full analogy to classical mechanics where barycentric coordinates are related to the Newtonian mass, barycentric coordinates are related to the Einsteinian relativistic mass in hyperbolic geometry. Contrary to general belief, Einstein's relativistic mass hence meshes up extraordinarily well with Minkowski's four-vector formalism of special relativity. In Euclidean geometry, barycentric coordinates can be used to determine various triangle centers. While there are many known Euclidean triangle centers, only few hyperbolic triangle centers are known, and none of the known hyperbolic triangle centers has been determined analytically with respect to its hyperbolic triangle vertices. In his recent research, the author set the ground for investigating hyperbolic triangle centers via hyperbolic barycentric coordinates, and one of the purposes of this book is to initiate a study of hyperbolic triangle centers in full analogy with the rich study of Euclidean triangle centers. Owing to its novelty, the book is aimed at a large audience: it can be enjoyed equally by upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, researchers and academics in geometry, abstract algebra, theoretical physics and astronomy. For a fruitful reading of this book, familiarity with Euclidean geometry is assumed. Mathematical-physicists and theoretical physicists are likely to enjoy the study of Einstein's special relativity in terms of its underlying hyperbolic geometry. Geometers may enjoy the hunt for new hyperbolic triangle centers and, finally, astronomers may use hyperbolic barycentric coordinates in the velocity space of cosmology.

The theory of elliptic curves and modular forms provides a fruitful meeting ground for such diverse areas as number theory, complex analysis, algebraic geometry, and representation theory. This book starts out with a problem from elementary number theory and proceeds to lead its reader into the modern theory, covering such topics as the Hasse-Weil L-function and the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer. The second edition of this text includes an updated bibliography indicating the latest, dramatic changes in the direction of proving the Birch and Swinnerton conjecture. It also discusses the current state of knowledge of elliptic curves.

In a broad sense design science is the grammar of a language of images rather than of words. Modem communication techniques enable us to transmit and reconstitute images without needing to know a specific verbal sequence language such as the Morse code or Hungarian. Inter national traffic signs use international image symbols which are not An image language differs specific to any particular verbal language. from a verbal one in that the latter uses a linear string of symbols, whereas the former is multidimensional. Architectural renderings commonly show projections onto three mutually perpendicular planes, or consist of cross sections at different altitudes capable of being stacked and representing different floor plans. Such renderings make it difficult to imagine buildings compris ing ramps and other features which disguise the separation between and consequently limit the creative process of the architect. floors, Analogously, we tend to analyze natural structures as if nature had used similar stacked renderings, rather than, for instance, a system of packed spheres, with the result that we fail to perceive the system of organization determining the form of such structures."

Simplicial Structures in Topology provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to the subject. Ideas are developed in the first four chapters. The fifth chapter studies closed surfaces and gives their classification. The last chapter of the book is devoted to homotopy groups, which are used in short introduction on obstruction theory. The text is more in tune with the original development of algebraic topology as given by Henry Poincare (singular homology is discussed). Illustrative examples throughout and extensive exercises at the end of each chapter for practice enhance the text. Advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students will benefit from this book. Researchers and professionals interested in topology and applications of mathematics will also find this book useful.

This book is a visually compelling journey through the unique geometric discoveries of Frank Chester, a contemporary sacred geometer, artist, and sculptor. This art-style book with highly polished design elements leads the reader from discovery to discovery, complemented by original text from the author, a PhD who has studied Frank's work from its inception, when it was just seven sticks in a ball of mud on the banks of the American River... From the back cover: The ancient tradition of Sacred Geometry is still alive and well in the person of Frank Chester. He has discovered a new geometric form that unites the five Platonic solids and provides some startling indications about the form and function of the human heart. This new form, called the Chestahedron, was discovered in 2000, and is a seven-sided polyhedron with surfaces of equal area. Frank has been exploring the form and its significance for over a decade. His work has potential implications across a number of areas, from physiology to architecture, sculpture, geology, and beyond. Inspired by the work of Rudolf Steiner, Frank sees a deep connection between form and spirit. This book gives a brief, highly visual overview of some of Frank's discoveries, and presents a compelling series of indications for future research.

Beginning graduate students in mathematical sciences and related areas in physical and computer sciences and engineering are expected to be familiar with a daunting breadth of mathematics, but few have such a background. This bestselling book helps students fill in the gaps in their knowledge. Thomas A. Garrity explains the basic points and a few key results of all the most important undergraduate topics in mathematics, emphasizing the intuitions behind the subject. The explanations are accompanied by numerous examples, exercises and suggestions for further reading that allow the reader to test and develop their understanding of these core topics. Featuring four new chapters and many other improvements, this second edition of All the Math You Missed is an essential resource for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students who need to learn some serious mathematics quickly.

Featuring the work of twenty-three internationally-recognized experts, this volume explores the trace formula, spectra of locally symmetric spaces, p-adic families, and other recent techniques from harmonic analysis and representation theory. Each peer-reviewed submission in this volume, based on the Simons Foundation symposium on families of automorphic forms and the trace formula held in Puerto Rico in January-February 2014, is the product of intensive research collaboration by the participants over the course of the seven-day workshop. The goal of each session in the symposium was to bring together researchers with diverse specialties in order to identify key difficulties as well as fruitful approaches being explored in the field. The respective themes were counting cohomological forms, p-adic trace formulas, Hecke fields, slopes of modular forms, and orbital integrals.

The theories of V. V. Wagner (1908-1981) on abstractions of systems of binary relations are presented here within their historical and mathematical contexts. This book contains the first translation from Russian into English of a selection of Wagner's papers, the ideas of which are connected to present-day mathematical research. Along with a translation of Wagner's main work in this area, his 1953 paper 'Theory of generalised heaps and generalised groups,' the book also includes translations of three short precursor articles that provide additional context for his major work. Researchers and students interested in both algebra (in particular, heaps, semiheaps, generalised heaps, semigroups, and groups) and differential geometry will benefit from the techniques offered by these translations, owing to the natural connections between generalised heaps and generalised groups, and the role played by these concepts in differential geometry. This book gives examples from present-day mathematics where ideas related to Wagner's have found fruitful applications.

Writing a new book on the classic subject of Special Relativity, on which numerous important physicists have contributed and many books have already been written, can be like adding another epicycle to the Ptolemaic cosmology. Furthermore, it is our belief that if a book has no new elements, but simply repeats what is written in the existing literature, perhaps with a different style, then this is not enough to justify its publication. However, after having spent a number of years, both in class and research with relativity, I have come to the conclusion that there exists a place for a new book. Since it appears that somewhere along the way, mathem- ics may have obscured and prevailed to the degree that we tend to teach relativity (and I believe, theoretical physics) simply using "heavier" mathematics without the inspiration and the mastery of the classic physicists of the last century. Moreover current trends encourage the application of techniques in producing quick results and not tedious conceptual approaches resulting in long-lasting reasoning. On the other hand, physics cannot be done a la carte stripped from philosophy, or, to put it in a simple but dramatic context A building is not an accumulation of stones As a result of the above, a major aim in the writing of this book has been the distinction between the mathematics of Minkowski space and the physics of r- ativity."

Approach your problems from the right end It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is and begin with the answers. Then one day, that they can't see the problem. perhaps you will find the final question. G. K. Chesterton. The Scandal of Father 'The Hermit Gad in Crane Feathers' in R. Brown'The point of a Pin'. van Gulik's TheChinese Maze Murders. Growing specialization and diversification have brought a host of monographs and textbooks on increasingly specialized topics. However, the "tree" of knowledge of mathematics and related fields does not grow only by putting forth new branches. It also happens, quite often in fact, that branches which were thought to be completely disparate are suddenly seen to be related. Further, the kind and level of sophistication of mathematics applied in various sciences has changed drastically in recent years: measure theory is used (non-trivially) in regional and theoretical economics; algebraic geometry interacts with physics; the Minkowsky lemma, coding theory and the structure of water meet one another in packing and covering theory; quantum fields, crystal defects and mathematical programming profit from homotopy theory; Lie algebras are relevant to filtering; and prediction and electrical engineering can use Stein spaces. And in addition to this there are such new emerging SUbdisciplines as "experimental mathematics," "CFD," "completely integrable systems," "chaos, synergetics and large-scale order," which are almost impossible to fit into the existing classification schemes. They draw upon widely different sections of mathematics.

The purpose of this book is twofold: to present some basic ideas in commutative algebra and algebraic geometry and to introduce topics of current research, centered around the themes of Groebner bases, resultants and syzygies. The presentation of the material combines definitions and proofs with an emphasis on concrete examples. The authors illustrate the use of software such as Mathematica and Singular. The design of the text in each chapter consists of two parts: the fundamentals and the applications, which make it suitable for courses of various lengths, levels, and topics based on the mathematical background of the students. The fundamentals portion of the chapter is intended to be read with minimal outside assistance, and to learn some of the most useful tools in commutative algebra. The applications of the chapter are to provide a glimpse of the advanced mathematical research where the topics and results are related to the material presented earlier. In the applications portion, the authors present a number of results from a wide range of sources without detailed proofs. The applications portion of the chapter is suitable for a reader who knows a little commutative algebra and algebraic geometry already, and serves as a guide to some interesting research topics. This book should be thought of as an introduction to more advanced texts and research topics. Its novelty is that the material presented is a unique combination of the essential methods and the current research results. The goal is to equip readers with the fundamental classical algebra and geometry tools, ignite their research interests, and initiate some potential research projects in the related areas.

Codes on Euclidean spheres are often referred to as spherical codes. They are of interest from mathematical, physical and engineering points of view. Mathematically the topic belongs to the realm of algebraic combinatorics, with close connections to number theory, geometry, combinatorial theory, and - of course - to algebraic coding theory. The connections to physics occur within areas like crystallography and nuclear physics. In engineering spherical codes are of central importance in connection with error-control in communication systems. In that context the use of spherical codes is often referred to as "coded modulation."

The book offers a first complete treatment of the mathematical theory of codes on Euclidean spheres. Many new results are published here for the first time. Engineering applications are emphasized throughout the text. The theory is illustrated by many examples. The book also contains an extensive table of best known spherical codes in dimensions 3-24, including exact constructions.

This volume, dedicated to Bertram Kostant on the occasion of his 65th birthday, is a collection of 22 invited papers by leading mathematicians working in Lie theory, geometry, algebra, and mathematical physics. Kostant 's fundamental work in all these areas has provided deep new insights and connections, and has created new fields of research. The papers gathered here present original research articles as well as expository papers, broadly reflecting the range of Kostant 's work.

This is a monograph on fixed point theory, covering the purely metric aspects of the theory-particularly results that do not depend on any algebraic structure of the underlying space. Traditionally, a large body of metric fixed point theory has been couched in a functional analytic framework. This aspect of the theory has been written about extensively. There are four classical fixed point theorems against which metric extensions are usually checked. These are, respectively, the Banach contraction mapping principal, Nadler's well known set-valued extension of that theorem, the extension of Banach's theorem to nonexpansive mappings, and Caristi's theorem. These comparisons form a significant component of this book. This book is divided into three parts. Part I contains some aspects of the purely metric theory, especially Caristi's theorem and a few of its many extensions. There is also a discussion of nonexpansive mappings, viewed in the context of logical foundations. Part I also contains certain results in hyperconvex metric spaces and ultrametric spaces. Part II treats fixed point theory in classes of spaces which, in addition to having a metric structure, also have geometric structure. These specifically include the geodesic spaces, length spaces and CAT(0) spaces. Part III focuses on distance spaces that are not necessarily metric. These include certain distance spaces which lie strictly between the class of semimetric spaces and the class of metric spaces, in that they satisfy relaxed versions of the triangle inequality, as well as other spaces whose distance properties do not fully satisfy the metric axioms.