Is God a Mathematician - Mario Livio

《Is God a Mathematician - Mario Livio 》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在学术论文-天天文库。

1、CONTENTSPreface1.AMystery2.Mystics:TheNumerologistandthePhilosopher3.Magicians:TheMasterandtheHeretic4.Magicians:TheSkepticandtheGiant5.StatisticiansandProbabilists:TheScienceofUncertainty6.Geometers:FutureShock7.Logicians:ThinkingAboutReasoning8.UnreasonableEffectiveness?9.OntheHumanMi

2、nd,Mathematics,andtheUniverseNotesBibliographyCreditsPREFACEWhenyouworkincosmology—thestudyofthecosmosatlarge—oneofthefactsoflifebecomestheweeklyletter,e-mail,orfaxfromsomeonewhowantstodescribetoyouhisowntheoryoftheuniverse(yes,theyareinvariablymen).Thebiggestmistakeyoucanmakeistopolite

3、lyanswerthatyouwouldliketolearnmore.Thisimmediatelyresultsinanendlessbarrageofmessages.Sohowcanyoupreventtheassault?AparticulartacticthatIfoundtobequiteeffective(shortoftheimpoliteactofnotansweringatall)istopointoutthetruefactthataslongasthetheoryisnotpreciselyformulatedinthelanguageofm

4、athematics,itisimpossibletoassessitsrelevance.Thisresponsestopsmostamateurcosmologistsintheirtracks.Therealityisthatwithoutmathematics,modern-daycosmologistscouldnothaveprogressedevenonestepinattemptingtounderstandthelawsofnature.Mathematicsprovidesthesolidscaffoldingthatholdstogetheran

5、ytheoryoftheuniverse.Thismaynotsoundsosurprisinguntilyourealizethatthenatureofmathematicsitselfisnotentirelyclear.AstheBritishphilosopherSirMichaelDummettonceputit:“Thetwomostabstractoftheintellectualdisciplines,philosophyandmathematics,giverisetothesameperplexity:whataretheyabout?Thepe

6、rplexitydoesnotarisesolelyoutofignorance:eventhepractitionersofthesesubjectsmayfinditdifficulttoanswerthequestion.”InthisbookIhumblytrytoclarifybothsomeaspectsoftheessenceofmathematicsand,inparticular,thenatureoftherelationbetweenmathematicsandtheworldweobserve.Thebookisdefinitelynotmea

7、nttorepresentacomprehensivehistoryofmathematics.Rather,Ichronologicallyfollowtheevolutionofsomeconceptsthathavedirectimplicationsforunderstandingtheroleofmathematicsinourgraspofthecosmos.Manypeoplehavecontributed,directlyandindirectly,overalongperiodoftime,totheideaspresentedin