Does God Play Dice? The New Mathematics of Chaos - Softcover

Stewart, Ian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0631232516 ISBN 13: 9780631232513

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2002

Synopsis

The revised and updated edition includes three completely new chapters on the prediction and control of chaotic systems. It also incorporates new information regarding the solar system and an account of complexity theory. This witty, lucid and engaging book makes the complex mathematics of chaos accessible and entertaining.

• Presents complex mathematics in an accessible style.
• Includes three new chapters on prediction in chaotic systems, control of chaotic systems, and on the concept of chaos.
• Provides a discussion of complexity theory.

About this title

Review:

We'd better get used to chaos because it certainly isn't going anywhere. Mathematician Ian Stewart--who is also a very talented writer--shares his insights into the history and nature of the highly complex in Does God Play Dice: The New Mathematics of Chaos. While his delightful phrasings will draw in nearly every reader, those with a strong aversion to figures and formulae should understand that it will be slow going. Chaos math suffuses everything from dreaming to the motion of the planets, and Stewart's words can never match the precision of his numbers. Persistence pays off, though; there are so many "aha" moments of insight herein that it almost qualifies as a religious text. The second edition has been partially revised in the wake of 1990s research, and three exciting new chapters report on prediction and other applications of chaos mathematics. --Rob Lightner

From the Back Cover:

"You believe in a God who plays dice, and I in complete law and order."
―Albert Einstein

The science of chaos is forcing scientists to rethink Einstein's fundamental assumptions regarding the way the universe behaves. Chaos theory has already shown that simple systems, obeying precise laws, can nevertheless act in a random manner. Perhaps God plays dice within a cosmic game of complete law and order.

Does God Play Dice? reveals a strange universe in which nothing may be as it seems. Familiar geometrical shapes such as circles and ellipses give way to infinitely complex structures known as fractals, the fluttering of a butterfly's wings can change the weather, and the gravitational attraction of a creature in a distant galaxy can change the fate of the solar system.

This revised and updated edition includes three chapters on the prediction and control of chaotic systems. New information regarding the solar system and an account of complexity theory is also incorporated. It is a lucid and witty book which makes the complex mathematics of chaos accessible and entertaining.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0631232516
• ISBN 13: 9780631232513
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 416