Raymond G. Ayoub, Editor

Musings of the Masters
An Anthology of Miscellaneous Reflections

The anthology is a collection of articles contiguous to the humanities written by renowned mathematicians of the 20th Century. The articles cover a variety of topics that, for want of a better name, shall be referred to as ?humanistic.? An important criterion, thereby limiting the choice, is that the articles should be accessible to the literate reader who may or may not have technical knowledge of mathematics.

The articles span roughly a century in time and a wide range in subject. They are by mathematicians acknowledged by their peers as outstanding creators whose work has added richly to the discipline. Each article is preceded by a brief biographical sketch of the author and a brief indication of the content. In many articles there is a common theme?the attempt to define the role of intuition in mathematical activities. Intuition as contrasted with pure formalism can be briefly, if too simply, described by asking whether mathematics is invented or discovered.

One object of the anthology is to open to the reader some of the thoughts and speculations of noted mathematicians often discoursing on subjects outside the strict confines of mathematics. It is a way of revealing the humanistic aspects of a subject that has occupied the attention of humanity from the dawn of time. The material is accessible to a wide audience, lay as well as academic.

Contents:
I. Mathematics & the Intellect: Mathematics and Thinking Mathematically, Mary Cartwright; Mathematical Invention, Henri Poincare; Thought on the Heuristic Method, Jacques Hadamard; Mathematical Proof, G. H. Hardy; The Unity of Knowledge, Hermann Weyl. 2. Mathematics and Human Understanding: Mathematics and the Arts, Marston Morse; Intuition, Reason, and Faith in Science, George D. Birkhoff; Logic and the Understanding of Nature, David Hilbert; the Cultural Basis of Mathematics, Raymond Wilder. 3. Mathematics and Society: Presidential Address to the British Association, J. J. Sylvester; The Mathematician, J. von Neumann; The Community of Scholars, Andre Lichnerowica, History of Mathematics: Why and How, Andre Weil. 4. Miscellaneous: Does God Exist? Paul Levy, Goethe and Mathematics, Wilhelm Maak; Leonardo and Mathematics, Francesco Severi; The Highest Good, Norbert Wiener.

David F. Hayes and Tatiana Shubin, Editors

Mathematical Adventures for Students and Amateurs

How should you encode a message to an extraterrestrial? What do frogs and powers of 2 have in common? How many faces does the Stella Octangula have? Is a plane figure of constant diameter a circle, and what has this to do with NASA? 210 = 5 x 6 x 7 = 14 x 15, so just how many numbers can be the product of both two and of three consecutive integers? Is there any such thing as a truly correct map? What patterns are possible in juggling?

What do all of these questions have in common? They, and many others, are answered in this book.

The authors are distinguished mathematicians; some are bright newcomers while others have been well known in mathematical circles for decades.

This is a partial record of the Bay Area Math Adventures (BAMA), a lecture series for high school students (and incidentally their teachers, parents, and other interested adults) hosted by San Jose State and Santa Clara Universities in the San Francisco Bay Area. These lectures are aimed primarily at bright high school students, the emphasis on bright, and as a result, the mathematics in some cases is far from what one would expect to see in talks at this level. There are serious mathematical issues addressed here.

We hope that this book will capture some of the magic of these talks that have filled auditoriums at the host schools almost monthly for several years. Join the students in sharing these mathematical adventures.

Jan Achenbach / Ivan Hlavacek
Jan Chleboun / Ivo Babuska

Uncertain Input Data Problems and the Worst Scenario Method

Included in series
North-Holland Series in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, 46

Description

This book deals with the impact of uncertainty in input data on the outputs of mathematical models. Uncertain inputs as scalars, tensors, functions, or domain boundaries are considered. In practical terms, material parameters or constitutive laws, for instance, are uncertain, and quantities as local temperature, local mechanical stress, or local displacement are monitored. The goal of the worst scenario method is to extremize the quantity over the set of uncertain input data. A general mathematical scheme of the worst scenario method, including approximation by finite element methods, is presented, and then applied to various state problems modeled by differential equations or variational inequalities: nonlinear heat flow, Timoshenko beam vibration and buckling, plate buckling, contact problems in elasticity and thermoelasticity with and without friction, and various models of plastic deformation, to list some of the topics. Dozens of examples, figures, and tables are included. Although the book concentrates on the mathematical aspects of the subject, a substantial part is written in an accessible style and is devoted to various facets of uncertainty in modeling and to the state of the art techniques proposed to deal with uncertain input data. A chapter on sensitivity analysis and on functional and convex analysis is included for the reader's convenience.

Contents

Preface List of Figures List of Tables Introduction Acknowledgments I Reality, Mathematics, and Computation 1 Modeling, Uncertainty, Verification, and Validation 1.1 Modeling 1.2 1.2 Verification and Validation 1.3 Desirable Features of a Mathematical Model 2 Various Approaches to Uncertainty 2.1 Coupling the Worst Scenario Method with Fuzzy Sets, Evidence Theory, and Probability 2.1.1 Worst Scenario and Fuzzy Sets I 2.1.2 Worst Scenario and Evidence Theory 2.1.3 Worst Scenario and Probabilistic Methods 2.1.4 Worst Scenario and Fuzzy Sets II 2.2 Key Point: Admissible Set 2.3 How to Formulate Worst Scenario Problems 2.4 On the Origin of Data 2.5 Conclusions II General Abstract Scheme and the Analysis of the Worst Scenario Method 3 Formulation, Solvability, Approximation, Convergence 3.1 Worst Scenario Problem 3.2 Approximate Worst Scenario Problem 3.3 Convergence Analysis III Quasilinear Elliptic Boundary Value Problems 4 Uncertain Thermal Conductivity Problem 4.1 Setting of the Problem 4.2 Approximate Worst Scenario Problem 4.3 Convergence Analysis 4.4 Sensitivity Analysis 4.5 Numerical Examples 4.6 Heat Conduction: Special Case 5 Uncertain Nonlinear Newton Boundary Condition 5.1 Continuous Problem 5.2 Approximate Problem 5.3 Convergence of Approximate Solutions IV Parabolic Problems 6 Linear Parabolic Problems 6.1 Stability of Solutions to Parabolic Problems 6.2 Worst Scenario Problem 6.3 Approximate Worst Scenario Problem 6.4 Convergence Analysis 7 Parabolic Problems With a Unilateral Obstacle 7.1 Worst Scenario for a General Variational Inequality 7.2 Applications to Fourier Obstacle Problems V Elastic and Thermoelastic Beams 8 Transverse Vibration of Timoshenko Beams with an Uncertain Shear Correction Factor 8.1 Eigenvalue Problems 8.2 Worst Scenario Problems, Sensitivity Analysis 9 Buckling of a Timoshenko Beam on an Elastic Foundation 9.1 Buckling of a Timoshenko Beam 9.2 Buckling of a Simply Supported Timoshenko Beam on an Elastic Foundation 9.3 Singular and Negative Values of the Shear Correction Factor 9.4 Summary of the Analysis 9.5 Worst Scenario Problem 10 Bending of a Thermoelastic Beam with an Uncertain Coupling Coefficient 10.1 Approximations Bibliography and Comments on Chapter V VI Elastic Plates and Pseudoplates 11 Pseudoplates 11.1 Formulation of a State Problem 11.2 Stability of the Solution for a Class of Variational Inequalities 11.3 Application to a Unilateral Pseudoplate Problem 11.4 Criterion-Functionals and Worst Scenario Problems 11.5 Approximate State Problem 11.6 Approximate Worst Scenario Problems 11.7 Convergence of Approximate Solutions 12 Buckling of Elastic Plates 12.1 Buckling of a Rectangular Plate 12.2 Worst Scenario Problem 12.3 Initial Imperfection Combined from One and Two Halfsinewaves Bibliography and Comments on Chapter VI VII Contact Problems in Elasticity and Thermoelasticity 13 Signorini Contact Problem with Friction 13.1 Setting of the Worst Scenario Problems 13.2 Existence of a Worst Scenario 13.3 Approximate Worst Scenario Problems 13.4 Convergence Analysis 14 Unilateral Frictional Contact of Several Bodies in Quasi-Coupled Thermoelasticity 14.1 Setting of Thermoelastic Contact Problems 14.2 Sets of Uncertain Input Data 14.3 Worst Scenario Problems 14.4 Stability of Weak Solutions 14.5 Existence of a Solution 14.6 Comments on Unilateral Contact with Coulomb Friction Bibliography and Comments on Chapter VII VIII Hencky's and Deformation Theories of Plasticity 15 Timoshenko Beam in Hencky's Model with Uncertain Yield Function 15.1 Setting of the Problem in Terms of Bending Moment and Shear Forces 15.2 Worst Scenario Problems 15.3 Numerical Examples: von Mises Yield Function 16 Torsion in Hencky's Model with Uncertain Stress-Strain Law and Uncertain Yield Function 16.1 Problem Setting and Stability of the Solution 16.2 Worst Scenario Problems 16.3 Approximate Worst Scenario Problems 16.4 Convergence Analysis 17 Deformation Theory of Plasticity 17.1 Setting of the State Boundary Value Problem 17.2 Admissible Material Functions and the Unique Solvability of the State Problem 17.3 Continuous Dependence of the Solution 17.4 Worst Scenario Problems 17.5 Approximate Worst Scenario Problems 17.6 Convergence Analysis Bibliography and Comments on Chapter VIII IX Flow Theories of Plasticity 18 Perfect Plasticity 18.1 State Problem 18.2 Worst Scenario Problems 18.3 Approximate Problems 19 Flow Theory with Isotropic Hardening 19.1 Formulation of the State Problem 19.2 Uncertain Input Data 19.3 Approximate State Problem 19.4 Approximate Worst Scenario Problems 20 Flow Theory with Isotropic Hardening in Strain Space 20.1 Variational Formulation of the State Problem 20.2 Uncertain Input Data 20.3 Regularizations of Problem P by Kinematic Hardening 20.4 Stability of the Solution of the Regularized Problem 20.5 Stability of the Stress Tensor 20.6 Worst Scenario Problems 21 Combined Linear Kinematic and Isotropic Hardening 21.1 Variational Formulation of the State Problem 21.2 Uncertain Input Data 21.3 Stability of the State Solution 21.4 Worst Scenario Problems 22 Validation of an ElastoPlastic Plane Stress Model Bibliography and Comments on Chapter IX X Domains With Uncertain Boundary 23 Neumann Boundary Value Problem 23.1 Instability of Solutions 23.2 Reformulated Newton Boundary Value Problem 23.3 Convergence with Respect to Sequences of Domains 23.4 Difference Between Two Solutions 23.5 Closing Remarks 24 Dirichlet Boundary Value Problem 24.1 Stability of Solutions 24.2 Difference Between Two Solutions 24.3 Numerical Example XI Essentials of Sensitivity and Functional Analysis 25 Essentials of Sensitivity Analysis 25.1 Matrix-Based State Problems 25.2 Weakly Formulated Elliptic State Problems 25.3 General Theorem 26 Essentials of Functional and Convex Analysis 26.1 Functional Analysis 26.2 Function Spaces Appendix V&V in Computational Engineering Introduction Definitions A View of V&V Process and Rules for Model Selection Summary

Edited by Stewart Shapiro

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic

0-19-514877-0, hardback, 856 pages Feb 2005,

Description

Mathematics and logic have been central topics of concern since the dawn of philosophy. Since logic is the study of correct reasoning, it is a fundamental branch of epistemology and a priority in any philosophical system. Philosophers have focused on mathematics as a case study for general philosophical issues and for its role in overall knowledge- gathering. Today, philosophy of mathematics and logic remain central disciplines in contemporary philosophy, as evidenced by the regular appearance of articles on these topics in the best mainstream philosophical journals; in fact, the last decade has seen an explosion of scholarly work in these areas.

This volume covers these disciplines in a comprehensive and accessible manner, giving the reader an overview of the major problems, positions, and battle lines. The 26 contributed chapters are by established experts in the field, and their articles contain both exposition and criticism as well as substantial development of their own positions. The essays, which are substantially self-contained, serve both to introduce the reader to the subject and to engage in it at its frontiers. Certain major positions are represented by two chapters--one supportive and one critical.

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Math and Logic is a ground-breaking reference like no other in its field. It is a central resource to those wishing to learn about the philosophy of mathematics and the philosophy of logic, or some aspect thereof, and to those who actively engage in the discipline, from advanced undergraduates to professional philosophers, mathematicians, and historians.

Product Details
856 pages; 9 line illus.; 6-3/4 x 9-3/4; 0-19-514877-0

About the Author(s)
Stewart Shapiro is O'Donnell Professor of Philosophy at The Ohio State University and Professorial Fellow at the Arche Centre, University of St. Andrews.