Mathematicians of our Time

Book series, MIT press

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Looks like this series only went for ten years or so before it stopped, for some reason. These "Collected Works of the Great Master" math books are intimidating things to look over. I like math in small, digestible bits only.

In Klarner's files I found a handwritten letter from Polya, ca 1970 or so, where he expressed his regret that Klarner couldn't publish an English translation of one of his papers because Polya had just agreed to publish reprints and translations in this MIT series.

It would be far better if all this stuff was available at the arXiv.

Straw Men

IMG_7593
Originally uploaded by thane.

Misere game solution, or extraterrestrial transmission?

Aaron Siegel writes:

* * * *

0.4107 has period 24, preperiod 66, and quotient order 506 - the largest yet discovered! Its quotient has a minimal set of 34 generators (!!) It's quite neat to look at; there are many irregular values among the smaller heaps, until finally a pattern suddenly emerges. This behavior makes me wonder how many other super-complicated-looking games nonetheless settle down fairly quickly. I can't resist including the pretending function for 0.4107 :)

Phi = 1 1 a a b b ab c c d e f g h b i ab2 j k l m n o p q r abo anq b3 s t abm cq2 u cjk v w x b3 y agt z b2i A B b3 C D b4c bco abF E b3 F ab3c grx G abF abF b3 ab3c H b3 b4c ab4 cfH b4c ab3c ab3c b3 b3 ab4 b4c b4c ab4 ab3c b3 b3 ab3c b4c b4c ab4 ab4 b3 ab3c ab3c b3 b4c ab4 ab4 b4c ab3c ab3c b3 b3 ab4 b4c b4c ab4 ab3c b3 b3 ab3c b4c b4c ab4 ab4 b3 ab3c ab3c b3 b4c ab4 ab4 b4c ab3c ab3c b3 b3 ab4 b4c b4c ab4 ab3c b3 b3 ab3c b4c b4c ab4 ab4 b3 ab3c ab3c b3 b4c ab4 ab4 b4c ab3c ab3c b3 b3 ab4 b4c b4c ab4 ab3c b3 b3 ab3c b4c b4c ab4 ab4 b3 ab3c ab3c b3 b4c ab4 ab4 b4c ab3c ab3c b3 b3 ab4 b4c b4c ab4 ab3c b3 b3 ab3c b4c b4c ab4 ab4 b3 ab3c ab3c b3 b4c

Just look at that cluster of anomalies - "j k l m n o p q r" - that all smooth out in the end . . .

do the math / download complete solution description (6 kB)

Generative art

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