Modern Birkhäuser Classics - Böcker

Number Theory or arithmetic, as some prefer to call it, is the oldest, purest, liveliest, most elementary yet sophisticated field of mathematics. It is no coincidence that the fundamental science of numbers has come to be known as the "Queen of Mathematics." Indeed some of the most complex conventions of the mathematical mind have evolved from the study of basic problems of number theory.André Weil, one of the outstanding contributors to number theory, has written an historical exposition of this subject; his study examines texts that span roughly thirty-six centuries of arithmetical work – from an Old Babylonian tablet, datable to the time of Hammurapi to Legendre’s Essai sur la Théorie des Nombres (1798). Motivated by a desire to present the substance of his field to the educated reader, Weil employs an historical approach in the analysis of problems and evolving methods of number theory and their significance within mathematics. In the course of his study Weil accompanies the reader into the workshops of four major authors of modern number theory (Fermat, Euler, Lagrange and Legendre) and there he conducts a detailed and critical examination of their work. Enriched by a broad coverage of intellectual history, Number Theory represents a major contribution to the understanding of our cultural heritage.

This three-volume work contains articles collected on the occasion of Alexander Grothendieck's sixtieth birthday and originally published in 1990. The articles were offered as a tribute to one of the world's greatest living mathematicians. Many of the groundbreaking contributions in these volumes contain material that is now considered foundational to the subject. Topics addressed by these top-notch contributors match the breadth of Grothendieck's own interests, including: functional analysis, algebraic geometry, algebraic topology, number theory, representation theory, K-theory, category theory, and homological algebra.

This three-volume work contains articles collected on the occasion of Alexander Grothendieck's sixtieth birthday and originally published in 1990. The articles were offered as a tribute to one of the world's greatest living mathematicians. Many of the groundbreaking contributions in these volumes contain material that is now considered foundational to the subject. Topics addressed by these top-notch contributors match the breadth of Grothendieck's own interests, including: functional analysis, algebraic geometry, algebraic topology, number theory, representation theory, K-theory, category theory, and homological algebra.

This three-volume work contains articles collected on the occasion of Alexander Grothendieck's sixtieth birthday and originally published in 1990. The articles were offered as a tribute to one of the world's greatest living mathematicians. Many of the groundbreaking contributions in these volumes contain material that is now considered foundational to the subject. Topics addressed by these top-notch contributors match the breadth of Grothendieck's own interests, including: functional analysis, algebraic geometry, algebraic topology, number theory, representation theory, K-theory, category theory, and homological algebra.

The second in a series of three volumes that survey the theory of theta functions, this volume emphasizes the special properties of the theta functions associated with compact Riemann surfaces and how they lead to solutions of the Korteweg-de-Vries equations.

This volume contains the first two out of four chapters which are intended to survey a large part of the theory of theta functions. These notes grew out of a series of lectures given at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in the period October, 1978, to March, 1979, on which notes were taken and excellently written up by C. Musili and M. Nori. I subsequently lectured at greater length on the contents of Chapter III at Harvard in the fall of 1979 and at a Summer School in Montreal in August, 1980, and again notes were very capably put together by E. Previato and M. Stillman, respectively. Both the Tata Institute and the University of Montreal publish lecture note series in which I had promised to place write-ups of my lectures there. However, as the project grew, it became clear that it was better to tie all these results together, rearranging and consolidating the material, and to make them available from one place. I am very grateful to the Tata Institute and the University of Montreal for permission to do this, and to Birkhauser-Boston for publishing the final result. The first 2 chapters study theta functions strictly from the viewpoint of classical analysis. In particular, in Chapter I, my goal was to explain in the simplest cases why the theta functions attracted attention.

This book is an English translation of the famous "Green Book" by Lafontaine and Pansu (1979). It has been enriched and expanded with new material to reflect recent progress.

The term convexity used to describe these lectures given at the Univer­ sity of Lund in 1991-92 should be understood in a wide sense. Only Chap­ ters I and II are devoted to convex sets and functions in the traditional sense of convexity. The following chapters study other kinds of convexity which occur in analysis. Most prominent is the pseudo-convexity (plurisubh- monicity) in the theory of functions of several complex variables discussed in Chapter IV. It relies on the theory of subharmonic functions in R^, so Chapter III is devoted to subharmonic functions in R"^ for any n. Existence theorems for constant coefficient partial differential operators in R'^ are re­ lated to various kinds of convexity conditions, depending on the operator. Chapter VI gives a survey of the rather incomplete results which are known on their geometrical meaning. There are also natural classes of "convex" functions related to subgroups of the linear group, which specialize to sev­ eral of the notions already mentioned. They are discussed in Chapter V. The last chapter. Chapter VII, is devoted to the conditions for solvability of microdifferential equations, which can also be considered as a branch of convexity theory. The whole chapter is an exposition of a part of the thesis of J.-M. Trepreau.

This includes as special cases, the algebra of regular functions on an algebraic group and the enveloping algebra of a semisimple Lie algebra. Among Lie groups and Lie algebras (whose theory was initiated by Lie more than a hundred years ago) the most important and interesting ones are the semisimple ones.

Knot theory is a concept in algebraic topology that has found applications to a variety of mathematical problems as well as to problems in computer science, biological and medical research, and mathematical physics. This book is directed to a broad audience of researchers, beginning graduate students, and senior undergraduate students in these fields. The book contains most of the fundamental classical facts about the theory, such as knot diagrams, braid representations, Seifert surfaces, tangles, and Alexander polynomials; also included are key newer developments and special topics such as chord diagrams and covering spaces. The work introduces the fascinating study of knots and provides insight into applications to such studies as DNA research and graph theory. In addition, each chapter includes a supplement that consists of interesting historical as well as mathematical comments.The author clearly outlines what is known and what is not known about knots. He has been careful to avoid advanced mathematical terminology or intricate techniques in algebraic topology or group theory. There are numerous diagrams and exercises relating the material. The study of Jones polynomials and the Vassiliev invariants are closely examined."The book ...develops knot theory from an intuitive geometric-combinatorial point of view, avoiding completely more advanced concepts and techniques from algebraic topology...Thus the emphasis is on a lucid and intuitive exposition accessible to a broader audience... The book, written in a stimulating and original style, will serve as a first approach to this interesting field for readers with various backgrounds in mathematics, physics, etc. It is the first text developing recent topics as the Jones polynomial and Vassiliev invariants on a level accessible also for non-specialists in the field." -Zentralblatt Math

This monograph, derived from an advanced computer science course at Stanford University, builds on the fundamentals of combinatorial analysis and complex variable theory to present many of the major paradigms used in the precise analysis of algorithms, emphasizing the more difficult notions. The authors cover recurrence relations, operator methods, and asymptotic analysis in a format that is terse enough for easy reference yet detailed enough for those with little background. Approximately half the book is devoted to original problems and solutions from examinations given at Stanford.

This book examines the differential geometry of manifolds, loop spaces, line bundles and groupoids, and the relations of this geometry to mathematical physics. Applications presented in the book involve anomaly line bundles on loop spaces and anomaly functionals, central extensions of loop groups, Kahler geometry of the space of knots, and Cheeger--Chern--Simons secondary characteristics classes. It also covers the Dirac monopole and Dirac's quantization of the electrical charge.

"This book is designed as a graduate text on the mathematical theory of deterministic control. It covers a remarkable number of topics...The book includes material on the realization of both linear and nonlinear systems, impulsive control, and positive linear systems--subjects not usually covered in an 'introductory' book...To get so much material in such a short space, the pace of the presentation is brisk. However, the exposition is excellent, and the book is a joy to read. A novel one-semester course covering both linear and nonlinear systems could be given...The book is an excellent one for introducing a mathematician to control theory. The book presents a large amount of material very well, and its use is highly recommended." --Bulletin of the AMS Mathematical Control Theory: An Introduction presents, in a mathematically precise manner, a unified introduction to deterministic control theory. With the exception of a few more advanced concepts required for the final part of the book, this presentation requires only a knowledge of basic facts from linear algebra, differential equations, and calculus.In addition to classical concepts and ideas, the author covers the stabilization of nonlinear systems using topological methods, realization theory for nonlinear systems, impulsive control and positive systems, the control of rigid bodies, the stabilization of infinite dimensional systems, and the solution of minimum energy problems.The book will be ideal for a beginning graduate course in mathematical control theory, or for self study by professionals needing a complete picture of the mathematical theory that underlies the applications of control theory.

Algebraic K-Theory has become an increasingly active area of research. With its connections to algebra, algebraic geometry, topology, and number theory, it has implications for a wide variety of researchers and graduate students in mathematics. The book is based on lectures given at the author's home institution, the Tata Institute in Bombay, and elsewhere. A detailed appendix on topology was provided in the first edition to make the treatment accessible to readers with a limited background in topology. This new edition also includes an appendix on algebraic geometry that contains the required definitions and results needed to understand the core of the book; this makes the book accessible to a wider audience.A central part of the book is a detailed exposition of the ideas of Quillen as contained in his classic papers “Higher Algebraic K-Theory, I, II.” A more elementary proof of the theorem of Merkujev--Suslin is given in this edition; this makes the treatment of this topic self-contained. An applications is also given to modules of finite length and finite projective dimension over the local ring of a normal surface singularity. These results lead the reader to some interesting conclusions regarding the Chow group of varieties.

The purpose of the present book is to offer an up-to-date account of the theory of viscosity solutions of first order partial differential equations of Hamilton-Jacobi type and its applications to optimal deterministic control and differential games. The theory of viscosity solutions, initiated in the early 80's by the papers of M.G. Crandall and P.L. Lions [CL81, CL83], M.G. Crandall, L.C. Evans and P.L. Lions [CEL84] and P.L. Lions' influential monograph [L82], provides an - tremely convenient PDE framework for dealing with the lack of smoothness of the value functions arising in dynamic optimization problems. The leading theme of this book is a description of the implementation of the viscosity solutions approach to a number of significant model problems in op- real deterministic control and differential games. We have tried to emphasize the advantages offered by this approach in establishing the well-posedness of the c- responding Hamilton-Jacobi equations and to point out its role (when combined with various techniques from optimal control theory and nonsmooth analysis) in the important issue of feedback synthesis.

“I believe that the authors have written a first-class book which can be used for a second or third year graduate level course in the subject... Researchers working in the area will certainly use the book as a standard reference....”SIAM Review (Review of the First Edition)“This book is devoted to one of the fastest developing fields in modern control theory---the so-called 'H-infinity optimal control theory'... In the authors' opinion 'the theory is now at a stage where it can easily be incorporated into a second-level graduate course in a control curriculum'. It seems that this book justifies this claim.”Mathematical Reviews (Review of the First Edition)“This book is a second edition of this very well-known text on H-infinity theory...This topic is central to modern control and hence this definitive book is highly recommended to anyone who wishes to catch up with this important theoretical development in applied mathematics and control.”Short Book Reviews (Review of the Second Edition)

The purpose of the book is to summarize Lyapunov design techniques for nonlinear systems and to raise important issues concerning large-signal robustness and performance. The authors have been the first to address some of these issues, and they report their findings in this text. For example, they identify two potential sources of excessive control effort in Lyapunov design techniques and show how such effort can be greatly reduced.The researcher who wishes to enter the field of robust nonlinear control could use this book as a source of new research topics. For those already active in the field, the book may serve as a reference to a recent body of significant work. Finally, the design engineer faced with a nonlinear control problem will benefit from the techniques presented here.

By the development of new fields and applications, such as Automated Theorem Proving and Logic Programming, Logic has obtained a new and important role in Computer Science. The goal of this l- ture series was to give the undergraduate student an early and theoretically well-founded access to modern applications of Logic in Computer Science.

This volume contains the Notes of a seminar on Intersection Ho- logy which met weekly during the Spring 1983 at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Its main purpose was to give an introduction to the pie- wise linear and sheaf theoretic aspects of the theory Goresky and R. MacPherson, Topology 19(1980) 135-162, Inv. Math. 72(1983) 17-130) and to some of its applications, for an audience assumed to have some familiarity with algebraic topology and sheaf theory. These Notes can be divided roughly into three parts. The first one to is chiefly devoted to the piecewise linear version of the theory: In A. Haefliger describes intersection homology in the piecewise linear context; II, by N. Habegger, prepares the transition to the sheaf theoretic point of view and III, by M. Goresky and R. Mac- Pherson, provides an example of computation of intersection homology. The spaces on which intersection homology is defined are assumed to admit topological stratifications with strong local triviality p- perties (cf I or V). Chapter IV, by N. A'Campo, gives some indications on how the existence of such stratifications is proved on complex analytic spaces. The primary goal of V is to describe intersection homology, or rather cohomology, in the framework of sheaf theory and to prove its main basic properties, following the second paper quoted above. Fa- liarity with standard sheaf theory, as in Godement's book, is assumed.

The basics of differentiable manifolds, global calculus, differential geometry, and related topics constitute a core of information essential for the first or second year graduate student preparing for advanced courses and seminars in differential topology and geometry.

This volume offers insights into the development of mathematical logic over the last century. Arising from a special session of the history of logic at an American Mathematical Society meeting, the chapters explore technical innovations, the philosophical consequences of work during the period, and the historical and social context in which the logicians worked.The discussions herein will appeal to mathematical logicians and historians of mathematics, as well as philosophers and historians of science.“…this is an important book. It exposes the richness of ideas and viewpoints, the difficult and not always direct pathways taken in the development of mathematical logic in the last century, and the various factors which did and continue to affect that development.”Modern Logic

“This book revives and vastly expands the classical theory of resultants and discriminants. Most of the main new results of the book have been published earlier in more than a dozen joint papers of the authors. The book nicely complements these original papers with many examples illustrating both old and new results of the theory.”Mathematical Reviews“Collecting and extending the fundamental and highly original results of the authors, it presents a unique blend of classical mathematics and very recent developments in algebraic geometry, homological algebra, and combinatorial theory.”Zentralblatt Math

This book is a study of how a particular vision of the unity of mathematics, often called geometric function theory, was created in the 19th century. The central focus is on the convergence of three mathematical topics: the hypergeometric and related linear differential equations, group theory, and on-Euclidean geometry.The text for this second edition has been greatly expanded and revised, and the existing appendices enriched with historical accounts of the Riemann–Hilbert problem, the uniformization theorem, Picard–Vessiot theory, and the hypergeometric equation in higher dimensions. The exercises have been retained, making it possible to use the book as a companion to mathematics courses at the graduate level.

as anywhere today, it is becoming more d- ficult to tell the truth. To be sure, our store of accurate facts is more plentiful now than it has ever been, and the minutest details of history are being thoroughly recorded. Scientists, - men and scholars vie with each other in publishing excruciatingly definitive accounts of all that happens on the natural, political and historical scenes. Unfortunately, telling the truth is not quite the same thing as reciting a rosary of facts. Jos6 Ortega y Gasset, in an adm- able lesson summarized by Antonio Machado's three-line poem, prophetically warned us that the reason people so often lie is that they lack imagination: they don't realize that the truth, too, is a matter of invention. Sometime, in a future that is knocking at our door, we shall have to retrain ourselves or our children to properly tell the truth. The exercise will be particularly painful in mathematics. The enrapturing discoveries of our field systematically conceal, like footprints erased in the sand, the analogical train of thought that is the authentic life of mathematics. Shocking as it may be to a conservative logician, the day will come when currently MATHEMATICS, IN vague concepts such as motivation and purpose will be made formal and accepted as constituents of a revamped logic, where they will at last be allotted the equal status they deserve, si- by-side with axioms and theorems.

The name of Bernard Riemann is well known to mathematicians and physicists around the world. His name is indelibly stamped on the literature of mathematics and physics. This remarkable work, rich in insight and scholarship, is addressed to mathematicians, physicists, and philosophers interested in mathematics. It seeks to draw those readers closer to the underlying ideas of Riemann's work and to the development of them in their historical context. This illuminating English-language version of the original German edition will be an important contribution to the literature of the history of mathematics.

Ten years have passed since the publication of the first English edition. "Ten years is a long time, even when you are not in jail. " If we recall that the article on Riemann appeared in (Nature) in 1976, this Russian vaudeville joke is more than - propriate. Only the author's youth can account for the insane enterprise of presenting the scientific achievements and the biography of Riemann in 60 pages and the c- nection between physics and topology in the same space. Judging from the fact that the book sold out and got favorable reviews, there is a demand for publications of this type. It seems to me that popularizations aimed not at a narrow specialist but at a broader reader are especially needed nowadays. Specialists obtain information in their fields almost instantly thanks to the Internet, but to find out what is happening in contiguous fields, what problems and results are of great interest here, is not at all easy. Returning to my own book, I note with a certain pride that at least I seem to have evaluated accurately the trends in the development of theoretical physics. It is the combination of physics with topology and algebraic geometry that has led to the brightest achievements of mathematical physics in the last decade. It suffices to note the remarkable results of S.

This book gives a glimpse into a world that has seldom been described - that of science and technology as seen through the eyes of a mathematician. The era covered by this book, 1950 to 1990, was surely one of the golden ages of science and of the American university.

Richard Trudeau confronts the fundamental question of truth and its representation through mathematical models in The Non-Euclidean Revolution. First, the author analyzes geometry in its historical and philosophical setting; second, he examines a revolution every bit as significant as the Copernican revolution in astronomy and the Darwinian revolution in biology; third, on the most speculative level, he questions the possibility of absolute knowledge of the world.A portion of the book won the Pólya Prize, a distinguished award from the Mathematical Association of America.“...the author, in this remarkable book, describes in an incomparable way the fascinating path taken by the geometry of the plane in its historical evolution from antiquity up to the discovery of non-Euclidean geometry. This 'non-Euclidean revolution', in all its aspects, is described very strikingly here...Many illustrations and some amusing sketches complement the very vividly written text.”Mathematical Reviews