An Introduction to Bayesian Scientific Computing: Ten Lectures on Subjective Computing

di Daniela Calvetti (Autore)

E. Somersalo (Autore)

Springer-Verlag New York Inc., 2007

The book of nature, according to Galilei, is written in the language of mat- matics. The nature of mathematics is being exact, and its exactness is und- lined by the formalism used by mathematicians to write it. This formalism, characterized by theorems and proofs, and syncopated with occasional l- mas, remarks and corollaries, is so deeply ingrained that mathematicians feel uncomfortable when the pattern is broken, to the point of giving the - pression that the attitude of mathematicians towards the way mathematics should be written is almost moralistic. There is a de?nition often quoted, “A mathematician is a person who proves theorems”, and a similar, more alchemistic one, credited to Paul Erd? os, but more likely going back to Alfr´ ed R´ enyi,statingthat“Amathematicianisamachinethattransformsco?eeinto 1 theorems ”. Therefore it seems to be the form, not the content, that char- terizes mathematics, similarly to what happens in any formal moralistic code wherein form takes precedence over content. This book is deliberately written in a very di?erent manner, without a single theorem or proof. Since morality has its subjective component, to pa- phrase Manuel Vasquez Montalban, we could call it Ten Immoral Mathemat- 2 ical Recipes . Does the lack of theorems and proofs mean that the book is more inaccurate than traditional books of mathematics? Or is it possibly just a sign of lack of co?ee? This is our ?rst open question. Exactness is an interesting concept.

• Autore: Daniela Calvetti, E. Somersalo
• Editore: Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
• Collana: Surveys and Tutorials in the Applied Mathematical Sciences
• Anno: 2007
• Rilegatura: Paperback / softback
• Pagine: 202 p.
• Dimensioni: 235 x 155 mm
• EAN: 9780387733937

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