Ripples in Mathematics


Book Description

This introduction to the discrete wavelet transform and its applications is based on a novel approach to discrete wavelets called lifting. After an elementary introduction, connections of filter theory are presented, and wavelet packet transforms are defined. The time-frequency plane is used for interpretation of signals, problems with finite length signals are detailed, and MATLAB is used for examples and implementation of transforms.




Mathematics in Nature


Book Description

From rainbows, river meanders, and shadows to spider webs, honeycombs, and the markings on animal coats, the visible world is full of patterns that can be described mathematically. Examining such readily observable phenomena, this book introduces readers to the beauty of nature as revealed by mathematics and the beauty of mathematics as revealed in nature. Generously illustrated, written in an informal style, and replete with examples from everyday life, Mathematics in Nature is an excellent and undaunting introduction to the ideas and methods of mathematical modeling. It illustrates how mathematics can be used to formulate and solve puzzles observed in nature and to interpret the solutions. In the process, it teaches such topics as the art of estimation and the effects of scale, particularly what happens as things get bigger. Readers will develop an understanding of the symbiosis that exists between basic scientific principles and their mathematical expressions as well as a deeper appreciation for such natural phenomena as cloud formations, halos and glories, tree heights and leaf patterns, butterfly and moth wings, and even puddles and mud cracks. Developed out of a university course, this book makes an ideal supplemental text for courses in applied mathematics and mathematical modeling. It will also appeal to mathematics educators and enthusiasts at all levels, and is designed so that it can be dipped into at leisure.




Modulated Waves


Book Description

Waves occur naturally in a vast number of scientific or engineering situations. Ripples on a pond, the light we see, and the oscillations of bridges and buildings can often be described as solitary or interacting waves. Wave theory is therefore one of the most important branches of pure and applied science. In Modulated Waves: Theory and Applications Lev Ostrovsky and Alexander Potapov consider linear and nonlinear waves such as solitons, waves in inhomogeneous media, and many others. They discuss modulated waves—those characterized by a slow variation of the macroscopic parameters of amplitude, frequency, and profile. Most of the fundamentals of wave theory may be understood by considering this class of waves. Theoretical analysis is supported by examples from different branches of physics: electrodynamics, fluid mechanics, acoustics, optics, and the mechanics of solids.




What's Happening in the Mathematical Sciences


Book Description

Mathematicians like to point out that mathematics is universal. In spite of this, most people continue to view it as either mundane (balancing a checkbook) or mysterious (cryptography). This fifth volume of the What's Happening series contradicts that view by showing that mathematics is indeed found everywhere-in science, art, history, and our everyday lives. Here is some of what you'll find in this volume: Mathematics and Science Mathematical biology: Mathematics was key tocracking the genetic code. Now, new mathematics is needed to understand the three-dimensional structure of the proteins produced from that code. Celestial mechanics and cosmology: New methods have revealed a multitude of solutions to the three-body problem. And other new work may answer one of cosmology'smost fundamental questions: What is the size and shape of the universe? Mathematics and Everyday Life Traffic jams: New models are helping researchers understand where traffic jams come from-and maybe what to do about them! Small worlds: Researchers have found a short distance from theory to applications in the study of small world networks. Elegance in Mathematics Beyond Fermat's Last Theorem: Number theorists are reaching higher ground after Wiles' astounding 1994 proof: new developments inthe elegant world of elliptic curves and modular functions. The Millennium Prize Problems: The Clay Mathematics Institute has offered a million dollars for solutions to seven important and difficult unsolved problems. These are just some of the topics of current interest that are covered in thislatest volume of What's Happening in the Mathematical Sciences. The book has broad appeal for a wide spectrum of mathematicians and scientists, from high school students through advanced-level graduates and researchers.




Mathematical Problems in the Theory of Water Waves


Book Description

The proceedings featured in this book grew out of a conference attended by 40 applied mathematicians and physicists which was held at the International Center for Research in Mathematics in Luminy, France, in May 1995. This volume reviews recent developments in the mathematical theory of water waves. The following aspects are considered: modeling of various wave systems, mathematical and numerical analysis of the full water wave problem (the Euler equations with a free surface) and of asymptotic models (Korteweg-de Vries, Boussinesq, Benjamin-Ono, Davey-Stewartson, Kadomtsev-Petviashvili, etc.), and existence and stability of solitary waves.




The Mathematical Theory of Permanent Progressive Water-Waves


Book Description

This book is a self-contained introduction to the theory of periodic, progressive, permanent waves on the surface of incompressible inviscid fluid. The problem of permanent water-waves has attracted a large number of physicists and mathematicians since Stokes' pioneering papers appeared in 1847 and 1880. Among many aspects of the problem, the authors focus on periodic progressive waves, which mean waves traveling at a constant speed with no change of shape. As a consequence, everything about standing waves are excluded and solitary waves are studied only partly. However, even for this restricted problem, quite a number of papers and books, in physics and mathematics, have appeared and more will continue to appear, showing the richness of the subject. In fact, there remain many open questions to be answered. The present book consists of two parts: numerical experiments and normal form analysis of the bifurcation equations. Prerequisite for reading it is an elementary knowledge of the Euler equations for incompressible inviscid fluid and of bifurcation theory. Readers are also expected to know functional analysis at an elementary level. Numerical experiments are reported so that any reader can re-examine the results with minimal labor: the methods used in this book are well-known and are described as clearly as possible. Thus, the reader with an elementary knowledge of numerical computation will have little difficulty in the re-examination.




Engineering Mathematics


Book Description




The Big Questions


Book Description

In the wake of his enormously popular books The Armchair Economist and More Sex Is Safer Sex, Steven Landsburg uses concepts from mathematics, economics, and physics to address the big questions in philosophy: What is real? What can we know? What is the difference between right and wrong? And how should we live? Widely renowned for his lively explorations of economics, in his fourth book Landsburg branches out into mathematics and physics as well—disciplines that, like economics, the author loves for their beauty, their logical clarity, and their profound and indisputable truth—to take us on a provocative and utterly entertaining journey through the questions that have preoccupied philosophers through the ages. The author begins with the broadest possible categories—Reality and Unreality; Knowledge and Belief; Right and Wrong—and then focuses his exploration on specific concerns: from a mathematical analysis of the arguments for the existence of God; to the real meaning of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the Godel Incompleteness Theorem; to the moral choices we face in the marketplace and the voting booth. Stimulating, illuminating, and always surprising, The Big Questions challenges readers to re-evaluate their most fundamental beliefs and reveals the relationship between the loftiest philosophical quests and our everyday lives.




Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics


Book Description

V.1. A.N. v.2. O.Z. Apendices and indexes.




Introduction to Mathematics


Book Description

This textbook is designed for an Introduction to Proofs course organized around the themes of number and space. Concepts are illustrated using both geometric and number examples, while frequent analogies and applications help build intuition and context in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Sophisticated mathematical ideas are introduced early and then revisited several times in a spiral structure, allowing students to progressively develop rigorous thinking. Throughout, the presentation is enlivened with whimsical illustrations, apt quotations, and glimpses of mathematical history and culture. Early chapters integrate an introduction to sets, logic, and beginning proof techniques with a first exposure to more advanced mathematical structures. The middle chapters focus on equivalence relations, functions, and induction. Carefully chosen examples elucidate familiar topics, such as natural and rational numbers and angle measurements, as well as new mathematics, such as modular arithmetic and beginning graph theory. The book concludes with a thorough exploration of the cardinalities of finite and infinite sets and, in two optional chapters, brings all the topics together by constructing the real numbers and other complete metric spaces. Designed to foster the mental flexibility and rigorous thinking needed for advanced mathematics, Introduction to Mathematics suits either a lecture-based or flipped classroom. A year of mathematics, statistics, or computer science at the university level is assumed, but the main prerequisite is the willingness to engage in a new challenge.