Mathematics

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Pierre Schapira

[long_description] In the mid-1980s, an enigmatic document began circulating in French mathematical circles. Entitled Récoltes et Semailles, it was a lengthy, philosophical and deeply personal tract from the elusive mathematician Alexander Grothendieck, by then living in self-imposed seclusion. Now published officially for the first time, Pierre Schapira casts a critical eye over the book and some notable omissions.

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Reflections on an Essay by Wigner

Sergiu Klainerman

[short_description] In a new essay, Sergiu Klainerman retraces the development of modern mathematics, unexpected consequences in physics, and the perennial question of whether mathematics is itself a science.

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A Christmas Chrestomathy

The Editors

[short_description] As the year draws to a close, we are delighted to present our second annual Christmas Chrestomathy, highlighting the essays that best represent our aims, ambitions, attitudes, and even our animadversions.

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The Game of Life

Daniel Kleitman

[short_description] The late John Horton Conway had a gift for making complicated mathematics appear simple. His contributions included a solution for the major problem of group theory and the concept of surreal numbers.

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At Lunch with Freeman Dyson

William Press

[short_description] The prisoner’s dilemma, played once, involves limited strategy. But consider the iterated prisoner’s dilemma. Using information from the previous plays, each player can try to outwit their accomplice.

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Exponential Growth

Sheldon Lee Glashow

[short_description] Exponential growth features frequently in epidemiological projections. Because of carelessness or ignorance, its implications can be easily, and sometimes grievously, underestimated.

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A Gentle Giant

Robert MacLean Losee

[short_description] Claude Shannon was an unmatched problem-solver, whether in electrical engineering, mathematics, or cryptography, but he is chiefly implicated in the creation of information theory.

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Points and Lines

Daniel Kleitman

[short_description] In Forbidden Configurations in Discrete Geometry, David Eppstein examines simple problems in plain geometry. Although most of the problems are relatively easy to grasp, general solutions are unknown.

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The Unity of Partial Differential Equations

Sergiu Klainerman & Jean-Michel Kantor

[short_description] Sergiu Klainerman is interviewed about his education in Romania; his interest in partial differential equations, general relativity, fluid mechanics; and his expectations for research in the future.

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A Remembrance

David Campbell

[short_description] On June 30, 2019, the physicist Mitchell Feigenbaum died in New York City at the age of 74. His friend and colleague David Campbell offers this tribute to Feigenbaum’s life and work.

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The Director’s Cut

David Berlinski

[short_description] One of the twentieth century’s great intellectual achievements is Kurt Gödel’s first incompleteness theorem. For many mathematicians, Gödel’s work remains difficult, uncanny in its power.

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Only Connect

Daniel Kleitman

[short_description] Fibonacci numbers, cellular automata, and an extension of the Erdős–Ko–Rado theorem: Daniel Kleitman reviews highlights from a volume honoring the mathematician Ron Graham on his eightieth birthday.

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