Math in Society

Math in Society
Author: David Lippman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012-09-07
Genre: Electronic books
ISBN: 9781479276530

Math in Society is a survey of contemporary mathematical topics, appropriate for a college-level topics course for liberal arts major, or as a general quantitative reasoning course.This book is an open textbook; it can be read free online at http://www.opentextbookstore.com/mathinsociety/. Editable versions of the chapters are available as well.

Where Have All the Textbooks Gone?

Where Have All the Textbooks Gone?
Author: Tony Read
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2015-07-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1464805733

This World Bank report is a rich compilation of information on teaching learning materials (TLM) in Africa based on the extensive and multi-faceted experience of the author's work in the education sector in Africa. The study examines a wide range of issues around TLM provision including curriculum, literacy and numeracy, language of instruction policy, procurement and distribution challenges, TLM development and production and their availability, management and usage in schools. It also looks at the role of information and communication technology (ICT) based TLMs and their availability. The study recognizes that improved TLM system management is a critical component in achieving affordable and sustainable TLM provision for all students. This study, which draws from more than 40 Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone, and Arabic-speaking countries will be particularly useful for policymakers, development partners, and other stakeholders attempting to understand the wide range of issues surrounding the complexity of textbook provision in Sub Saharan Africa.

Making up Numbers: A History of Invention in Mathematics

Making up Numbers: A History of Invention in Mathematics
Author: Ekkehard Kopp
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2020-10-23
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1800640978

Making up Numbers: A History of Invention in Mathematics offers a detailed but accessible account of a wide range of mathematical ideas. Starting with elementary concepts, it leads the reader towards aspects of current mathematical research. The book explains how conceptual hurdles in the development of numbers and number systems were overcome in the course of history, from Babylon to Classical Greece, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and so to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The narrative moves from the Pythagorean insistence on positive multiples to the gradual acceptance of negative numbers, irrationals and complex numbers as essential tools in quantitative analysis. Within this chronological framework, chapters are organised thematically, covering a variety of topics and contexts: writing and solving equations, geometric construction, coordinates and complex numbers, perceptions of ‘infinity’ and its permissible uses in mathematics, number systems, and evolving views of the role of axioms. Through this approach, the author demonstrates that changes in our understanding of numbers have often relied on the breaking of long-held conventions to make way for new inventions at once providing greater clarity and widening mathematical horizons. Viewed from this historical perspective, mathematical abstraction emerges as neither mysterious nor immutable, but as a contingent, developing human activity. Making up Numbers will be of great interest to undergraduate and A-level students of mathematics, as well as secondary school teachers of the subject. In virtue of its detailed treatment of mathematical ideas, it will be of value to anyone seeking to learn more about the development of the subject.

Algorithms

Algorithms
Author: Sanjoy Dasgupta
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2006
Genre: Computer algorithms
ISBN: 0077388496

This text, extensively class-tested over a decade at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, explains the fundamentals of algorithms in a story line that makes the material enjoyable and easy to digest. Emphasis is placed on understanding the crisp mathematical idea behind each algorithm, in a manner that is intuitive and rigorous without being unduly formal. Features include:The use of boxes to strengthen the narrative: pieces that provide historical context, descriptions of how the algorithms are used in practice, and excursions for the mathematically sophisticated. Carefully chosen advanced topics that can be skipped in a standard one-semester course but can be covered in an advanced algorithms course or in a more leisurely two-semester sequence.An accessible treatment of linear programming introduces students to one of the greatest achievements in algorithms. An optional chapter on the quantum algorithm for factoring provides a unique peephole into this exciting topic. In addition to the text DasGupta also offers a Solutions Manual which is available on the Online Learning Center."Algorithms is an outstanding undergraduate text equally informed by the historical roots and contemporary applications of its subject. Like a captivating novel it is a joy to read." Tim Roughgarden Stanford University

The Art of Doing Science and Engineering

The Art of Doing Science and Engineering
Author: Richard W. Hamming
Publisher: Stripe Press
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2020-05-26
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 195395331X

A groundbreaking treatise by one of the great mathematicians of our time, who argues that highly effective thinking can be learned. What spurs on and inspires a great idea? Can we train ourselves to think in a way that will enable world-changing understandings and insights to emerge? Richard Hamming said we can, and first inspired a generation of engineers, scientists, and researchers in 1986 with "You and Your Research," an electrifying sermon on why some scientists do great work, why most don't, why he did, and why you should, too. The Art of Doing Science and Engineering is the full expression of what "You and Your Research" outlined. It's a book about thinking; more specifically, a style of thinking by which great ideas are conceived. The book is filled with stories of great people performing mighty deeds––but they are not meant to simply be admired. Instead, they are to be aspired to, learned from, and surpassed. Hamming consistently returns to Shannon’s information theory, Einstein’s relativity, Grace Hopper’s work on high-level programming, Kaiser’s work on digital fillers, and his own error-correcting codes. He also recounts a number of his spectacular failures as clear examples of what to avoid. Originally published in 1996 and adapted from a course that Hamming taught at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, this edition includes an all-new foreword by designer, engineer, and founder of Dynamicland Bret Victor, and more than 70 redrawn graphs and charts. The Art of Doing Science and Engineering is a reminder that a childlike capacity for learning and creativity are accessible to everyone. Hamming was as much a teacher as a scientist, and having spent a lifetime forming and confirming a theory of great people, he prepares the next generation for even greater greatness.

Sustainability Indicators

Sustainability Indicators
Author: Simon Bell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2012-05-04
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 113655601X

Praise for the first edition: 'This book should be of interest to anyone interested in sustainable development, and especially sustainability indicators. Bell and Morse easily succeed in exposing the fundamental paradoxes of these concepts and, more importantly, they offer us a way forward. Readers ... will find their practical recommendations for those attempting to do sustainability analysis in the field most welcome, which is also the book's greatest strength.' Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability 'This book makes a valuable contribution to the theory and practice of using indicators for sustainability. It introduces systems ideas and a range of tools and techniques that have the potential to broaden and deepen our understanding of a whole range of complex situations. Well worth a closer look.' Christine Blackmore, Open University 'This is a book that explores new ways of thinking about how to measure sustainability... It offers stimulating food for thought for environmental educators and researchers.' Environmental Education Research 'This book tells me, as an SI 'practitioner', where I have been and why, and more importantly how I should be thinking in order to effectively present to and empower the local community in the years ahead.' David Ellis, Principal Pollution Monitoring Officer, Norwich City Council 'A practical guide to the development of sustainability indicators which offers a systemic and participative way to use them at local scale. Our preliminary results are highly positive and the approach is applicable in many contexts.' Elisabeth Coudert, Programme Officer Prospective and Regional Development, Blue Plan The groundbreaking first edition of Sustainability Indicators reviewed the development and value of sustainability indicators and discussed the advantage of taking a holistic and qualitative approach rather than focusing on strictly quantitative measures. In the new edition the authors bring the literature up to date and show that the basic requirement for a systemic approach is now well grounded in the evidence. They examine the origins and development of Systemic Sustainability Analysis (SSA) as a theoretical approach to sustainability which has been developed in practice in a number of countries on an array of projects since the first edition. They look at how SSA has evolved into the practical approaches of Systemic Prospective Sustainability Analysis (SPSA) and IMAGINE, and, in particular, how a wide range of participatory methodologies have been adopted over the years. They also provide an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of projects that undertake work in the general field of sustainable development.

Rock Slope Engineering

Rock Slope Engineering
Author: Duncan C. Wyllie
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 803
Release: 2017-09-18
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1498786286

Rock Slope Engineering covers the investigation, design, excavation and remediation of man-made rock cuts and natural slopes, primarily for civil engineering applications. It presents design information on structural geology, shear strength of rock and ground water, including weathered rock. Slope design methods are discussed for planar, wedge, circular and toppling failures, including seismic design and numerical analysis. Information is also provided on blasting, slope stabilization, movement monitoring and civil engineering applications. This fifth edition has been extensively up-dated, with new chapters on weathered rock, including shear strength in relation to weathering grades, and seismic design of rock slopes for pseudo-static stability and Newmark displacement. It now includes the use of remote sensing techniques such as LiDAR to monitor slope movement and collect structural geology data. The chapter on numerical analysis has been revised with emphasis on civil applications. The book is written for practitioners working in the fields of transportation, energy and industrial development, and undergraduate and graduate level courses in geological engineering.

A Brief History of Computing

A Brief History of Computing
Author: Gerard O'Regan
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2012-03-05
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 144712359X

This lively and fascinating text traces the key developments in computation – from 3000 B.C. to the present day – in an easy-to-follow and concise manner. Topics and features: ideal for self-study, offering many pedagogical features such as chapter-opening key topics, chapter introductions and summaries, exercises, and a glossary; presents detailed information on major figures in computing, such as Boole, Babbage, Shannon, Turing, Zuse and Von Neumann; reviews the history of software engineering and of programming languages, including syntax and semantics; discusses the progress of artificial intelligence, with extension to such key disciplines as philosophy, psychology, linguistics, neural networks and cybernetics; examines the impact on society of the introduction of the personal computer, the World Wide Web, and the development of mobile phone technology; follows the evolution of a number of major technology companies, including IBM, Microsoft and Apple.