Giancarlo Travaglini - Böcker

Over the course of the last century, the systematic exploration of the relationship between Fourier analysis and other branches of mathematics has lead to important advances in geometry, number theory, and analysis, stimulated in part by Hurwitz’s proof of the isoperimetric inequality using Fourier series. This unified, self-contained book presents both a broad overview of Fourier analysis and convexity, as well as an intricate look at applications in some specific settings; it will be useful to graduate students and researchers in harmonic analysis, convex geometry, functional analysis, number theory, computer science, and combinatorial analysis. A wide audience will benefit from the careful demonstration of how Fourier analysis is used to distill the essence of many mathematical problems in a natural and elegant way.

The study of geometric discrepancy, which provides a framework for quantifying the quality of a distribution of a finite set of points, has experienced significant growth in recent decades. This book provides a self-contained course in number theory, Fourier analysis and geometric discrepancy theory, and the relations between them, at the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level. It starts as a traditional course in elementary number theory, and introduces the reader to subsequent material on uniform distribution of infinite sequences, and discrepancy of finite sequences. Both modern and classical aspects of the theory are discussed, such as Weyl's criterion, Benford's law, the Koksma-Hlawka inequality, lattice point problems, and irregularities of distribution for convex bodies. Fourier analysis also features prominently, for which the theory is developed in parallel, including topics such as convergence of Fourier series, one-sided trigonometric approximation, the Poisson summation formula, exponential sums, decay of Fourier transforms, and Bessel functions.

The study of geometric discrepancy, which provides a framework for quantifying the quality of a distribution of a finite set of points, has experienced significant growth in recent decades. This book provides a self-contained course in number theory, Fourier analysis and geometric discrepancy theory, and the relations between them, at the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level. It starts as a traditional course in elementary number theory, and introduces the reader to subsequent material on uniform distribution of infinite sequences, and discrepancy of finite sequences. Both modern and classical aspects of the theory are discussed, such as Weyl's criterion, Benford's law, the Koksma-Hlawka inequality, lattice point problems, and irregularities of distribution for convex bodies. Fourier analysis also features prominently, for which the theory is developed in parallel, including topics such as convergence of Fourier series, one-sided trigonometric approximation, the Poisson summation formula, exponential sums, decay of Fourier transforms, and Bessel functions.

Over the course of the last century, the systematic exploration of the relationship between Fourier analysis and other branches of mathematics has lead to important advances in geometry, number theory, and analysis, stimulated in part by Hurwitz’s proof of the isoperimetric inequality using Fourier series. This unified, self-contained book presents both a broad overview of Fourier analysis and convexity, as well as an intricate look at applications in some specific settings; it will be useful to graduate students and researchers in harmonic analysis, convex geometry, functional analysis, number theory, computer science, and combinatorial analysis. A wide audience will benefit from the careful demonstration of how Fourier analysis is used to distill the essence of many mathematical problems in a natural and elegant way.

One of the great charms of mathematics is uncovering unexpected connections. In Numbers and Figures, Giancarlo Travaglini provides six conversations that do exactly that by talking about several topics in elementary number theory and some of their connections to geometry, calculus, and real-life problems such as COVID-19 vaccines or fiscal frauds. Each conversation is in two parts--an introductory essay which provides a gentle introduction to the topic and a second section that delves deeper and requires study by the reader. The topics themselves are extremely appealing and include, for example, Pick's theorem, Simpson's paradox, Farey sequences, the Frobenius problem, and Benford's Law.

This book is dedicated to preparing prospective college students for the study of mathematics. It can be used at the end of high school or during the first year of college, for personal study or for introductory courses. It aims to set a meeting between two relatives who rarely speak to each other: the Mathematics of Beauty, which shows up in some popular books and films, and the Mathematics of Toil, which is widely known. Toil can be overcome through an appropriate method of work. Beauty will be found in the achievement of a way of thinking.The first part concerns the mathematical language: the expressions “for all”, “there exists”, “implies”, “is false”, ...; what is a proof by contradiction; how to use indices, sums, induction.The second part tackles specific difficulties: to study a definition, to understand an idea and apply it, to fix a slightly wrong argument, to discuss suggestions, to explain a proof.The third part presentscustomary techniques and points of view in college mathematics.The reader can choose one of three difficulty levels (A, B, C).

This is the first work on Discrepancy Theory to show the present variety of points of view and applications covering the areas Classical and Geometric Discrepancy Theory, Combinatorial Discrepancy Theory and  Applications and Constructions. It consists of several chapters, written by experts in their respective fields and focusing on the different aspects of the theory.Discrepancy theory concerns the problem of replacing a continuous object with a discrete sampling and is currently located at the crossroads of number theory, combinatorics, Fourier analysis, algorithms and complexity, probability theory and numerical analysis. This book presents an invitation to researchers and students to explore the different methods and is meant to motivate interdisciplinary research.