QUOTES
Philip
J. Davis & Reuben Hersh
The universe has imposed mathematics upon humanity.
William J. Adams
The Central Limit is one of the most remarkable results in all of mathematics.
Mark Kac
In my dreams I saw the normal law coming out naturally in contexts close
to some kind of physical reality.
David Mumford
Probability theory and statistical inference will affect virtually all
of mathematics in the next century.
Daniel
Z. Freedman
A physical law must possess mathematical beauty
W.J. Youden
The Normal Law of Error (typesetting by the author)
ARTICLES
Student
Seminars on “Famous Equations,”
by Richard Mongomery
The ideas captured by these germinal equations are body and soul for much of
mathematics. They evoke reactions such as “That's neat!,” “Clever!,” “I
don't believe it!,” “Hmm...” or “Curious!” (pdf)
On the Law of Normal Probability,
by Abraham De Moivre
The first statement of the formula for the “normal curve.” (pdf)
Leibniz medallion comes to life after 300 years in celebration of Greg
Chaitin’s career
Anime Ex Machina
In the mid 1960s, while still a teenager, Chaitin created algorithmic information
theory (AIT). In the three decades since, he has been
the principal architect of AIT. See also Greg
Chaitlin's website.
Alice's adventures in algebra: Wonderland solved
by Melanie Bayley
The 19th century was a turbulent time for mathematics, with many new and
controversial concepts, like imaginary numbers, becoming widely accepted
in the mathematical community. Putting Alice's Adventures
in Wonderland in this context, it becomes clear that Lewis Carroll, a stubbornly conservative
mathematician, used some scenes to satirise these radical new ideas. (full
text online)
BOOKS
The Fourth Dimension Simply Explained
ed. Henry P. Manning
A collection of essays selected from those submitted in Scientific American's
prize competition. (full text online)
Meta Math! The Quest for Omega
by Gregory Chaitin
An opportunity to get inside the head of a creative mathematician and see
what makes him tick. Full text online
How Mathematicians Think
by William Byers
You enter the first room of the mansion and it’s completely dark. You stumble
around bumping into the furniture, but gradually you learn where each piece
of furniture is. Finally after six months or so, you find the light switch,
you turn it on, and suddenly it’s all illuminated. Then you move into the
next room and spend another six months in the dark. (Introduction online)
BOOK REVIEWS
Creating
Modern Probability: Its Mathematics, Physics, and Philosophy in Historical
Perspective, by Jan von Plato
review by Glenn Shafer
Combining a sweeping vision with a sympathetic and thorough marshaling of
sources, it brings to life the emergence of measure-theoretic probability
in the first third of the twentieth century.
COURSES
Mathematics, Philosophy and the Real World
by Judith Grabiner
A 36-lecture series that explores mathematical concepts and practices that
can be applied to a fascinating range of areas and experiences.
Full
text lectures
Video lectures
POWER POINT
A Very Brief and Shallow Introduction to:
Chaos Theory and
Fractals
by Faisal Hosein
VIDEOS
Gaussian probability distribution curve demonstration
Demonstration of the bell curve and its appearance in nature, even in the
simplest phenomena.
Is God a Mathematician?
by Michio Kaku
“The mind of God we believe is cosmic music, the music of strings resonating
through 11 dimensional hyperspace."
The
Joy of Stats
Hans Rosling explores the history of statistics, how stats work mathematically,
and how, using statistics, we can take the massive deluge of data of today's
computer age and use it to see the world as it really is.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Pascal's
Triangle
An animation demonstrating the construction of the famous geometric arrangement
of integers.
Estimating
Experiencing Mathematics Exhibition
Are most of us average? If we classify the inhabitants of a town, the leaves
on a tree..., according to a characteristic (size, weight, IQ, level of competence...)
the more one approaches the average for each criterion the more individuals
there are. The further from the average, the fewer they are. At the extremities,
there is almost no one. The graphic representation of this fact is called
a Gaussian curve.
LINKS TO BOOK DESCRIPTIONS
The Fabulous Fibonacci Numbers
by Alfred S. Posamentier and Ingmar Lehmann
An utterly fscinating tour of the many ramifications of the Fibonacci numbers.
Pascal's Arithmetical Triangle: The Story of a Mathematical Idea
by A. W. F. Edwards
This book traces the Arithmetical Triangle back to its roots, and gives an
account of the progressive solution of combinatorial problems.
LINKS
Math
Subject Guide
The Subject Guide of Mathematics Resources provided by Ying Zhong, Subject Librarian
at Walter W. Stiern Library.
The Gaussian Distribution
The Gaussian Distribution, also called the Frequency Curve, Bell Curve, or
Normal Distribution, is one of the most widely studied topics in all mathematics.
National
Curve Bank
Mapping the landscape of mathematics.
The
Code
A mathematics-based documentary for BBC Two presented by Marcus du Sautoy.