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An Introduction to Bayesian Scientific Computing: Ten Lectures on Subjective Computing / Edition 1
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An Introduction to Bayesian Scientific Computing: Ten Lectures on Subjective Computing / Edition 1
Current price: $49.99
Barnes and Noble
An Introduction to Bayesian Scientific Computing: Ten Lectures on Subjective Computing / Edition 1
Current price: $49.99
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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 definition 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“Amathematicianisamachinethattransformscoffeeinto 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 different 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 coffee? This is our first open question. Exactness is an interesting concept.