February 2003, ISBN 0-306-47712-2, Hardbound
Book Series: UNIVERSITY SERIES IN MATHEMATICS
Problems in Set Theory, Mathematical Logic
and the Theory of
Algorithms by I. Lavrov & L. Maksimova
is an English
translation of the fourth edition of the
most popular student
problem book in mathematical logic in Russian.
It covers major
classical topics in proof theory and the
semantics of
propositional and predicate logic as well
as set theory and
computation theory. Each chapter begins with
1-2 pages of
terminology and definitions that make the
book self-contained.
Solutions are provided. The book is likely
to become an essential
part of curricula in logic.
Cloth | 2002 |ISBN: 0-691-09029-7
192 pp. | 6 x 9 | 7 tables. 21 line illus.
Asset pricing theory abounds with elegant
mathematical models.
The logic is so compelling that the models
are widely used in
policy, from banking, investments, and corporate
finance to
government. To what extent, however, can
these models predict
what actually happens in financial markets?
In The Paradox of
Asset Pricing, a leading financial researcher
argues forcefully
that the empirical record is weak at best.
Peter Bossaerts
undertakes the most thorough, technically
sound investigation in
many years into the scientific character
of the pricing of
financial assets. He probes this conundrum
by modeling a
decidedly volatile phenomenon that, he says,
the world of finance
has forgotten in its enthusiasm for the efficient
markets
hypothesis--speculation.
Bossaerts writes that the existing empirical
evidence may be
tainted by the assumptions needed to make
sense of historical
field data or by reanalysis of the same data.
To address the
first problem, he demonstrates that one central
assumption--that
markets are efficient processors of information,
that risk is a
knowable quantity, and so on--can be relaxed
substantially while
retaining core elements of the existing methodology.
The new
approach brings novel insights to old data.
As for the second
problem, he proposes that asset pricing theory
be studied through
experiments in which subjects trade purposely
designed assets for
real money. This book will be welcomed by
finance scholars and
all those math- and statistics-minded readers
interested in
knowing whether there is science beyond the
mathematics of
finance.
Peter Bossaerts is Professor of Finance and
Director of the
Laboratory for Experimental Finance at the
California Institute
of Technology, and Fellow of the Centre for
Economic Policy
Research in London. He is the coauthor of
Lectures on Corporate
Finance.
Endorsements:
"This book, whose rousing style drew
me in immediately, is
remarkable in how well it is able honestly
to convey the core of
modern finance theory and then to go on to
criticize it fairly."--Thomas
Sargent, Stanford University, Hoover Institution
"An important and timely book, The Paradox
of Asset Pricing
offers a fresh look at what the efficient
markets hypothesis
really implies. Summarizing forty years of
asset pricing tests,
it compels researchers to think deeply about
what they are doing."--Bernt
Arne Odegaard, Norwegian School of Management,
Central Bank of
Norway
Paper | January | ISBN: 0-691-09021-1
Cloth | January | ISBN: 0-691-09020-3
456 pp. | 5 x 8 | 13 tables. 59 line illus.
Why do organisms become extremely abundant
one year and then seem
to disappear a few years later? Why do population
outbreaks in
particular species happen more or less regularly
in certain
locations, but only irregularly (or never
at all) in other
locations? Complex population dynamics have
fascinated biologists
for decades. By bringing together mathematical
models,
statistical analyses, and field experiments,
this book offers a
comprehensive new synthesis of the theory
of population
oscillations.
Peter Turchin first reviews the conceptual
tools that ecologists
use to investigate population oscillations,
introducing
population modeling and the statistical analysis
of time series
data. He then provides an in-depth discussion
of several case
studies--including the larch budmoth, southern
pine beetle, red
grouse, voles and lemmings, snowshoe hare,
and ungulates--to
develop a new analysis of the mechanisms
that drive population
oscillations in nature. Through such work,
the author argues,
ecologists can develop general laws of population
dynamics that
will help turn ecology into a truly quantitative
and predictive
science.
Complex Population Dynamics integrates theoretical
and empirical
studies into a major new synthesis of current
knowledge about
population dynamics. It is also a pioneering
work that sets the
course for ecology's future as a predictive
science.
Peter Turchin is Professor of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology at
the University of Connecticut. He is the
author of Quantitative
Analysis of Movement and more than sixty
scientific articles,
including several in Nature and Science.
Endorsements:
"This book gives an excellent introduction
to our maturing
understanding of how ideas about nonlinear
dynamical systems can
shed light on the complex behavior of real
populations. Turchin
first presents the theoretical concepts,
next the data, and
finally brings the two together in thoughtfully
presented case
studies. He splendidly achieves his aim of
showing how ecological
problems can be illuminated by mathematical
models which are--in
Einstein's words--'as simple as possible,
but not more so.'
"--Robert M. May, President, Royal Society
"This book is a true landmark in the
study of population
ecology. Never before has a lucid synthesis
of the basic
principles and models of population dynamics
been so effectively
merged with insightful analyses of some of
the best data for
populations of insects, birds and mammals.
Peter Turchin writes
with admirable clarity and authority, always
retaining a focus on
issues that really matter for population
ecology."--Ilkka
Hanski, University of Helsinki
"Turchin has done an outstanding job
and produced a
significant milestone in our understanding
of population dynamics.
I have long been seeking a book like this.
It is readable and
accessible while going into a good depth
that so many
undergraduate texts fail. All people working
in the field will
use it, and professors will use it in courses
on population
dynamics. The presentation is superb--the
text gallops along."--Peter
Hudson, University of Stirling
Series: Monographs in Population Biology
2nd ed. 2003 XIII, 544 p. 71 illus. Hardcover
3-540-44134-4
This book is an introduction to the methods
of designing
algorithms for hard computing tasks. This
area has developed very
dynamically in the last years and is one
of the kernels of
current research in algorithm and complexity
theory. The book
focuses on approximate, randomized and heuristic
algorithms, and
on the theoretical and experimental comparison
of these
approaches according to the requirements
of the practice; it
systematically explains and compares all
main possibilities of
attacking hard computing problems. Since
the topic is fundamental
for academic education and research and essential
for the
transfer of formal methods to practice, the
book bridges this gap
by providing both, a textbook for graduate
students as well as a
handbook for practitioners dealing with hard
computing problems.
The second edition adds new material to two
fundamental algorithm
design methods - to the method of relaxation
to linear
programming and of abundance of witnesses
for primality testing.
Keywords: Boolean circuits, Boolean functions,
Boolesche
Funktionen, Boolesche Schaltkreise, Complexity,
Formale Sprachen,
Heuristics, Kommunikationskomplexitat, Parallele
Berechnungen,
Randomized and Approximation Algorithms,
VLSI circuits, VLSI-Schaltkreise,
communication complexity, formal languages,
parallel computations
Series: Texts in Theoretical Computer Science.
An EATCS Series.
2003 XII, 362 p. 47 illus. Softcover
1-85233-552-1
A Concise Approach to Mathematical Analysis
introduces the
undergraduate student to the more abstract
concepts of advanced
calculus. The main aim of the book is to
smooth the transition
from the problem-solving approach of standard
calculus to the
more rigorous approach of proof-writing and
a deeper
understanding of mathematical analysis. The
first half of the
textbook deals with the basic foundation
of analysis on the real
line; the second half introduces more abstract
notions in
mathematical analysis. Each topic begins
with a brief
introduction followed by detailed examples.
A selection of
exercises, ranging from the routine to the
more challenging, then
gives students the opportunity to practise
writing proofs. The
book is designed to be accessible to students
with appropriate
backgrounds from standard calculus courses
but with limited or no
previous experience in rigorous proofs. It
is written primarily
for advanced students of mathematics - in
the 3rd or 4th year of
their degree - who wish to specialise in
pure and applied
mathematics, but it will also prove useful
to students of
physics, engineering and computer science
who also use advanced
mathematical techniques.
Keywords: Advanced calculus, Mathematical
analysis
Contents: Numbers and Functions.- Sequences.-
Series.- Limits and
Continuity.- Differentiation.- Elements of
Integration.-
Sequences and Series of Functions.- Local
Structure on the Real
Line.- Continuous Functions.- Introduction
to Lebesgue Integral.-
Elements of Fourier Analysis.-Appendix.-
Hints for Selected
Exercises.- Bibliography.- Index
2003 VII, 253 p. Softcover
3-540-00295-2
The theory of stochastic processes indexed
by a partially ordered
set has been the subject of much research
over the past twenty
years. The objective of this CIME International
Summer School was
to bring to a large audience of young probabilists
the general
theory of spatial processes, including the
theory of set-indexed
martingales and to present the different
branches of applications
of this theory, including stochastic geometry,
spatial
statistics, empirical processes, spatial
estimators and survival
analysis. This theory has a broad variety
of applications in
environmental sciences, social sciences,
structure of material
and image analysis. In this volume, the reader
will find
different approaches which foster the development
of tools to
modelling the spatial aspects of stochastic
problems.
Contents:
Preface.- Capasso V., Micheletti A.: Stochastic
Geometry of
Spatially Structured Birth and Growth Processes.
Application to
Crystallization Processes.- Merzbach, E.:
An Introduction to the
General Theory of Set-Indexed Martingales.-
Ivanoff, B.G.: Set-Indexed
Processes: Distributions and Weak Convergence.-
Dozzi, M.:
Occupation Density and Sample Path Properties
of N-Parameter
Processes.- Dalang, R.C.: Level Sets and
Excursions of the
Brownian Sheet.- Mountford, T.S.: Critical
Reversible Attractive
Nearest Particle Systems.
Series: Lecture Notes in Mathematics. Volume.
1802