Logic/Math


8
Jan 10

Poincaré Conjecture: Controversy and Eccentricity

Evidently there’s a newish biography out about Grigori Perelman, the man primarily responsible for solving the Poincaré Conjecture. Masha Gessen, a Russian journalist and author, has released “Perfect Rigor: A Genius + the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century”, a work about the life of the curious mathematician who has vanished from the professional math community. She explains her work in an interview with failuremag.com, in which she describes the rationale behind the work, and gives some insights into both the Poincaré Conjecture and the life of Perelman.

There’s no doubt that Perelman’s response to solving one of math’s longest standing problems is part of what is so intriguing to the lay reader. He turned down a Field’s medal and withdrew from professional mathematics. Pieces on him tend to accentuate his eccentricities. Part of what makes the story so very interesting is Perelman’s response, as well as the other cast of characters involved in the solving of the problem. Though it came out in mid-2006, the New Yorker has a fantastic article about the solving of the Poincaré Conjecture and the controversy surrounding it. If you’d like to understand to a greater extent Perelman’s response to his solution, read this article. It’s long, but extremely informative and complete.


6
Oct 09

Comics and Math

adaThere have been a few posts I’ve seen recently about math related comics. First, Boing Boing clued me into The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, which is pretty much exactly what is sounds like. This webcomic gives some great info (both truth and pseudo-truth) about both Charles and Ada. Sydney Padua, the author of the comic, explains:

It’s a punchline.  As in “Wouldn’t it be hee-larious if there was a comic about Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage fighting crime? Thanks, I’ll be here all week!”  The imaginary comic was the punchline to Lovelace: The Origin, drawn because my good buddy Suw Charman got me drunk started a Noble Enterprise called Ada Lovelace Day.

Secondly, Jim Holt wrote a book review last Sunday that introduced me to Logicomix, which the official website describes as follows:

Covering a span of sixty years, the graphic novel Logicomix was inspired by the epic story of the quest for the Foundations of Mathematics.

This was a heroic intellectual adventure most of whose protagonists paid the price of knowledge with extreme personal suffering and even insanity. The book tells its tale in an engaging way, at the same time complex and accessible. It grounds the philosophical struggles on the undercurrent of personal emotional turmoil, as well as the momentous historical events and ideological battles which gave rise to them.

The role of narrator is given to the most eloquent and spirited of the story’s protagonists, the great logician, philosopher and pacifist Bertrand Russell. It is through his eyes that the plights of such great thinkers as Frege, Hilbert, Poincaré, Wittgenstein and Gödel come to life, and through his own passionate involvement in the quest that the various narrative strands come together.

VERY cool. I’ll definitely be picking this up before too long. The art looks fantastic, and I’m sure the story matches up! Check out the review linked to above for a fuller introduction to the story.


6
Oct 09

Apology to Alan Turing

turingI’m rather late on the draw in regard to this note, but I just wanted to say that I was profoundly glad to hear that the Prime Minister of England released a letter of apology on September 10 recognizing Alan Turing for his monumental “contribution to humankind”, including work in computation, mathematics, and code-breaking.

Despite his contributions, Turing was convicted under English homophobic laws and sentenced to chemical castration. As PM Brown writes, “In 1952, he was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ – in effect, tried for being gay.” Given the choice between going to prison and undergoing hormone treatments, he chose the latter. Less than three years later Turing was found dead, apparently the result of a cyanide overdose. His death was judged to be a suicide.

While the note obviously cannot change the past, I’m glad to see the British government deliver the note. And I’m extremely proud of those individuals who lobbied the government to acknowledge this terrible mistake. Again, as PM Brown wrote, “So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.” So very true.


9
Jul 09

Mathematical Typesetting in Wolfram Alpha

I came across a great little tip on David Bau’s blog today about using Wolfram Alpha to create quick GIF images of mathematical formulae to be included in a blog. For example, by typing “integrate sin x dx from x=0 to pi” into the Wolfram Alpha search box, you’re presented with both of graph of the curve as well as a typeset version:

wolframalpha2

wolframalpha1

I’ve written a few times about using LaTeX in Wordpress, but this is certainly an easy way to include typeset equations in a blog. I’m not sure why this hadn’t occurred to me when I first started playing with Wolfram Alpha, but I suppose that’s why people like David write great tips like this!


6
Jul 09

Carnival of Mathematics @ Todd and Vishal’s Blog

I rarely post to issues of the Carnival of Mathematics from my blog, and I really don’t have a good reason for it. The 54th edition was released yesterday on Todd and Vishal’s blog here, and there are some interesting posts. First, I enjoyed the post and the comments on the Gödel’s ontological proof, which Wikipedia tells us “is a formalization of Saint Anselm’s ontological argument for God’s existence.” Secondly, there is a link to The Lebombo Bone, which may be the oldest mathematical artifact in the world. Good stuff. Check out the carnival itself for links to these posts.

I must admit that the contents of these carnivals I enjoy the most are ones that take an interesting piece of the math world and make it accessible to a wide reaching audience. Which, I suppose, is generally what I try to do on this blog. The hardcore math is also good, but I like the immediate mystery present in the more accessible posts. I suppose this is because the mystery drew me to math in the first place. Alas.