Optimists believe this is the best of all possible worlds. And pessimists fear that might really be the case. But what is the best of all possible worlds? How do we define it? Is it the world that ope
"Not the least unexpected thing about Mathematics and the Unexpected is that a real mathematician should write not just a literate work, but a literary one."—Ian Stewart, New Scientist"In this brief,
Optimists believe this is the best of all possible worlds. And pessimists fear that might really be the case. But what is the best of all possible worlds? How do we define it? This question has preocc
At Mr. and Mrs. Hilbert’s Hotel Infinity, the resident cat is puzzled. The hotel is fully booked — the rooms are full of Numbers, both Odds and Evens — yet guests continue to arrive
This introductory text offers simple presentations of the fundamentals of nonlinear analysis, with direct proofs and clear applications. Its full treatment ranges from smooth to nonsmooth functions, f
Ivar Ekeland extends his consideration of the catastrophe theory of the universe begun in his widely acclaimed Mathematics and the Unexpected, by drawing on rich literary sources, particularly the Nor
