Field Research Laboratory, Socony Mobil Oil Company, Colloquium Lectures In The Pure And Applied Science, No. 2. Additional Contributing Author S. R. Faris.

Field Research Laboratory, Socony Mobil Oil Company, Colloquium Lectures In The Pure And Applied Science, No. 2. Additional Contributing Author S. R. Faris.

This is a volume of essays and reviews that delightfully explores mathematics in all its moods - from the light and the witty, and humorous to serious, rational, and cerebral. These beautifully written articles from three great modern mathematicians will provide a source for supplemental reading for almost any math class. Topics include: logic, combinatorics, statistics, economics, artificial intelligence, computer science, and broad applications of mathematics. Readers will also find coverage of history and philosophy, including discussion of the work of Ulam, Kant, and Heidegger, among others.

This is a volume of essays and reviews that delightfully explores mathematics in all its moods - from the light and the witty, and humorous to serious, rational, and cerebral. These beautifully written articles from three great modern mathematicians will provide a source for supplemental reading for almost any math class. Topics include: logic, combinatorics, statistics, economics, artificial intelligence, computer science, and broad applications of mathematics. Readers will also find coverage of history and philosophy, including discussion of the work of Ulam, Kant, and Heidegger, among others.

Professor Kac's monograph is designed to illustrate how simple observations can be made the starting point of rich and fruitful theories and how the same theme recurs in seemingly unrelated disciplines. An elementary but thorough discussion of the game of ""heads or tails,"" including the normal law and the laws of large numbers, is presented in a setting in which a variety of purely analytic results appear natural and inevitable. The chapter ""Primes Play a Game of Chance"" uses the same setting in dealing with problems of the distribution of values of arithmetic functions. The final chapter ""From Kinetic Theory to Continued Fractions"" deals with a spectacular application of the ergodic theorems to continued fractions. Mark Kac conveyed his infectious enthusiasm for mathematics and its applications in his lectures, papers, and books. Two of his papers won Chauvenet awards for expository excellence.

Integral geometry originated with problems on geometrical probability and convex bodies. Its later developments have proved to be useful in several fields ranging from pure mathematics (measure theory, continuous groups) to technical and applied disciplines (pattern recognition, stereology). The book is a systematic exposition of the theory and a compilation of the main results in the field. The volume can be used to complement courses on differential geometry, Lie groups, or probability or differential geometry. It is ideal both as a reference and for those wishing to enter the field.