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"The P-NP problem is the most important open problem in computer science, if not all of mathematics. The Golden Ticket provides a nontechnical introduction to P-NP, its rich history, and its algorithmic implications for everything we do with computers and beyond. In this informative and entertaining book, Lance Fortnow traces how the problem arose during the Cold War on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and gives examples of the problem from a variety of disciplines, including economics, physics, and biology. He explores problems that capture the full difficulty of the P-NP dilemma, from discovering the shortest route through all the rides at Disney World to finding large groups of friends on Facebook. But difficulty also has its advantages. Hard problems allow us to safely conduct electronic commerce and maintain privacy in our online lives. The Golden Ticket explores what we truly can and cannot achieve computationally, describing the benefits and unexpected challenges of the P-NP problem"--

Computer science --- NP-complete problems. --- Computer algorithms. --- Problems, NP-complete --- Computational complexity --- Algorithms --- NP-complete problems --- Computer algorithms --- Mathematics --- Physical Sciences & Mathematics --- Algebra --- MATHEMATICS / Mathematical Analysis. --- MATHEMATICS / Linear Programming. --- MATHEMATICS / History & Philosophy. --- COMPUTERS / Programming / Algorithms. --- Facebook. --- Frenemy. --- Hamiltonian paths. --- Internet. --- Ketan Mulmuley. --- Leonid Levin. --- Martin Hellman. --- NP problem. --- NP problems. --- NP-complete. --- P versus NP problem. --- P versus NP. --- Richard Feynman. --- Steve Cook. --- Twitter. --- Urbana algorithm. --- Whitfield Diffie. --- academic work. --- algebraic geometry. --- algorithm. --- algorithms. --- approximation. --- big data. --- computational problems. --- computer science. --- computers. --- computing. --- cryptography. --- cryptosystem. --- database. --- decryption. --- digital computers. --- efficient algorithms. --- efficient computation. --- encryption. --- factoring. --- fast computers. --- graph isomorphism. --- heuristics. --- linear programming. --- mathematics. --- max-cut. --- network security. --- networking. --- new technologies. --- parallel computation. --- perebor. --- prime numbers. --- problems. --- programming. --- public-key cryptography. --- quantum computers. --- quantum computing. --- quantum cryptography. --- quantum mechanics. --- quantum physical systems. --- research community. --- secret messages. --- social networking data. --- solution. --- teleportation.

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In this lively and provocative book, cultural critic Marjorie Garber, who has written on topics as different as Shakespeare, dogs, cross-dressing, and real estate, explores the pleasures and pitfalls of the academic life. Academic Instincts discusses three of the perennial issues that have surfaced in recent debates about the humanities: the relation between "amateurs" and "professionals," the relation between one academic discipline and another, and the relation between "jargon" and "plain language." Rather than merely taking sides, the book explores the ways in which such debates are essential to intellectual life. Garber argues that the very things deplored or defended in discussions of the humanities cannot be either eliminated or endorsed because the discussion itself is what gives humanistic thought its vitality. Written in spirited and vivid prose, and full of telling detail drawn both from the history of scholarship and from the daily press, Academic Instincts is a book by a well-known Shakespeare scholar and prize-winning teacher who offers analysis rather than polemic to explain why today's teachers and scholars are at once breaking new ground and treading familiar paths. It opens the door to an important nationwide and worldwide conversation about the reorganization of knowledge and the categories in and through which we teach the humanities. And it does so in a spirit both generous and optimistic about the present and the future of these disciplines.

Learning and scholarship. --- Humanities --- Academic writing. --- Universities and colleges --- Literature --- Learning and scholarship --- Classical education --- Erudition --- Scholarship --- Civilization --- Intellectual life --- Education --- Research --- Scholars --- Learned writing --- Scholarly writing --- Authorship --- Academic disciplines --- Disciplines, Academic --- Schools --- Philosophy. --- Curricula. --- Study and teaching (Higher) --- Curricula --- Adjective. --- Aestheticism. --- Alan Sokal. --- Alfred Kazin. --- Amateur professionalism. --- Amateur. --- American studies. --- Anti-intellectualism. --- Aphorism. --- Art history. --- Author. --- Book review. --- C. P. Snow. --- C. S. Lewis. --- Columnist. --- Counterintuitive. --- Critical theory. --- Criticism. --- Cultural studies. --- Culture war. --- Deconstruction. --- Doublespeak. --- Edward Said. --- Essay. --- Fashionable Nonsense. --- Genre. --- George Orwell. --- Gertrude Stein. --- Harvard University. --- Headline. --- Humanities. --- Idealization. --- Ideology. --- Intellectual. --- Interdisciplinarity. --- Irony. --- Jacques Derrida. --- Jacques Lacan. --- James Gleick. --- Jargon. --- Jewish studies. --- Jonathan Swift. --- Joseph Addison. --- Judith Butler. --- Liberal arts education. --- Literary criticism. --- Literary theory. --- Literature. --- Mario Pei. --- Minima Moralia. --- Modern Language Association. --- Mr. --- Neologism. --- New Criticism. --- Newspeak. --- Novelist. --- Oxford University Press. --- Penis envy. --- Philosopher. --- Phrase. --- Physicist. --- Poetry. --- Political correctness. --- Politician. --- Post-structuralism. --- Postmodernism. --- Prince Hal. --- Psychoanalysis. --- Psychology. --- Rhetoric. --- Richard Feynman. --- Robert Maynard Hutchins. --- Roland Barthes. --- Romanticism. --- Science. --- Scientist. --- Sigmund Freud. --- Slang. --- Social science. --- Sociology. --- Sokal affair. --- Sophistication. --- Stanley Fish. --- Terminology. --- The New York Times. --- The Philosopher. --- The School of Athens. --- The Two Cultures. --- Theodor W. Adorno. --- Theory. --- Thought. --- Usage. --- Verb. --- Vocabulary. --- Wendy Lesser. --- Wilhelm Dilthey. --- William Shakespeare. --- Writer. --- Writing.

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An engaging collection of intriguing problems that shows you how to think like a mathematical physicistPaul Nahin is a master at explaining odd phenomena through straightforward mathematics. In this collection of twenty-six intriguing problems, he explores how mathematical physicists think. Always entertaining, the problems range from ancient catapult conundrums to the puzzling physics of a very peculiar kind of glass called NASTYGLASS-and from dodging trucks to why raindrops fall slower than the rate of gravity. The questions raised may seem impossible to answer at first and may require an unexpected twist in reasoning, but sometimes their solutions are surprisingly simple. Nahin's goal, however, is always to guide readers-who will need only to have studied advanced high school math and physics-in expanding their mathematical thinking to make sense of the curiosities of the physical world.The problems are in the first part of the book and the solutions are in the second, so that readers may challenge themselves to solve the questions on their own before looking at the explanations. The problems show how mathematics-including algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and calculus-can be united with physical laws to solve both real and theoretical problems. Historical anecdotes woven throughout the book bring alive the circumstances and people involved in some amazing discoveries and achievements.More than a puzzle book, this work will immerse you in the delights of scientific history while honing your math skills.

Mathematics --- Almost surely. --- Ambiguity. --- Antiderivative. --- Approximation error. --- Arthur C. Clarke. --- Binomial coefficient. --- Binomial theorem. --- Birthday problem. --- Calculation. --- Cauchy–Schwarz inequality. --- Center of mass (relativistic). --- Centrifugal force. --- Closed-form expression. --- Coefficient. --- Combination. --- Computational problem. --- Conjecture. --- Continued fraction. --- Contradiction. --- Coprime integers. --- Counterexample. --- Crossover distortion. --- Cubic function. --- Derivative. --- Detonation. --- Diameter. --- Dimensional analysis. --- Dirac delta function. --- Disquisitiones Arithmeticae. --- Dissipation. --- Energy level. --- Enola Gay. --- Equation. --- Error. --- Expected value. --- Fermat's Last Theorem. --- Fictitious force. --- G. H. Hardy. --- Geometry. --- Googol. --- Gravitational constant. --- Gravity. --- Grayscale. --- Harmonic series (mathematics). --- Hypotenuse. --- Instant. --- Integer. --- Inverse-square law. --- Irrational number. --- MATLAB. --- Mass ratio. --- Mathematical joke. --- Mathematical physics. --- Mathematical problem. --- Mathematician. --- Mathematics. --- Mean value theorem. --- Metric system. --- Minicomputer. --- Monte Carlo method. --- Natural number. --- Oliver Heaviside. --- Paul J. Nahin. --- Pauli exclusion principle. --- Periodic function. --- Phase transition. --- Prime factor. --- Prime number. --- Probability theory. --- Probability. --- Projectile. --- Pure mathematics. --- Quadratic equation. --- Quadratic formula. --- Quantity. --- Quantum mechanics. --- Quintic function. --- Random number. --- Random search. --- Random walk. --- Remainder. --- Resistor. --- Richard Feynman. --- Right angle. --- Second derivative. --- Simulation. --- Slant range. --- Small number. --- Special case. --- Square root. --- Summation. --- The Drunkard's Walk. --- Theorem. --- Thermodynamic equilibrium. --- Thought experiment. --- Trepidation (astronomy). --- Uniform distribution (discrete). --- Upper and lower bounds. --- Weightlessness. --- Zero of a function.

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From the Nobel Prize–winning physicist, a personal meditation on the quest for objective reality in natural scienceA century ago, thoughtful people questioned how reality could agree with physical theories that keep changing, from a mechanical model of the ether to electric and magnetic fields, and from homogeneous matter to electrons and atoms. Today, concepts like dark matter and dark energy further complicate and enrich the search for objective reality. The Whole Truth is a personal reflection on this ongoing quest by one of the world’s most esteemed cosmologists.What lies at the heart of physical science? What are the foundational ideas that inform and guide the enterprise? Is the concept of objective reality meaningful? If so, do our established physical theories usefully approximate it? P. J. E. Peebles takes on these and other big questions about the nature of science, drawing on a lifetime of experience as a leading physicist and using cosmology as an example. He traces the history of thought about the nature of physical science since Einstein, and succinctly lays out the fundamental working assumptions. Through a careful examination of the general theory of relativity, Einstein’s cosmological principle, and the theory of an expanding universe, Peebles shows the evidence that we are discovering the nature of reality in successive approximations through increasingly demanding scrutiny.A landmark work, The Whole Truth is essential reading for anyone interested in the practice of science.

Cosmology. --- Physics. --- Reality. --- Science --- SCIENCE / Cosmology. --- Philosophy. --- Absolute magnitude. --- Acceleration. --- Angular momentum. --- Approximation. --- Astronomer. --- Astronomy. --- Asymptotically flat spacetime. --- Atomic nucleus. --- Atomic number. --- Baryon. --- Big Bang. --- Calculation. --- Chronology of the universe. --- Classical limit. --- Classical physics. --- Comprehension (logic). --- Conservation law. --- Cosmic Evolution (book). --- Cosmological constant. --- Cosmological principle. --- Density. --- Empirical research. --- Equivalence principle. --- Existence. --- Extrapolation. --- Fred Hoyle. --- Galaxy cluster. --- Galaxy rotation curve. --- General relativity. --- George Gamow. --- Goodness of fit. --- Gravitational acceleration. --- Gravitational redshift. --- Gravity. --- Hubble's law. --- Inverse-square law. --- Jupiter. --- Kinetic energy. --- Kuiper belt. --- Length scale. --- Linear scale. --- Mach's principle. --- Mass distribution. --- Measurement. --- Metric expansion of space. --- Minkowski space. --- Modified Newtonian dynamics. --- Multiple discovery. --- NGC 2403. --- Natural science. --- Neutrino. --- Neutron. --- Newton's law of universal gravitation. --- Number density. --- Observation. --- Order of magnitude. --- Paradigm shift. --- Partial derivative. --- Particle physics in cosmology. --- Peirce (crater). --- Photon. --- Physical cosmology. --- Physical law. --- Physicist. --- Planetary nebula. --- Planetary system. --- Power law. --- Prediction. --- Predictive power. --- Present value. --- Quantum electrodynamics. --- Quantum mechanics. --- Redshift. --- Repeatability. --- Richard Feynman. --- Satellite. --- Scattering. --- Schwarzschild metric. --- Science wars. --- Scientist. --- Sirius. --- Social constructionism. --- Special relativity. --- Spiral galaxy. --- Steady State theory. --- Stellar classification. --- Supersymmetry. --- Temperature. --- Tests of general relativity. --- The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences. --- Theoretical physics. --- Theory of relativity. --- Theory. --- Thermal radiation. --- Thomas Kuhn. --- Thought. --- Verificationism. --- Wavelength. --- White dwarf. --- Zero-point energy. --- Normal science --- Philosophy of science --- Philosophy --- Truth --- Nominalism --- Pluralism --- Pragmatism --- Natural philosophy --- Philosophy, Natural --- Physical sciences --- Dynamics --- Astronomy --- Deism --- Metaphysics --- SCIENCE / Space Science / Cosmology --- SCIENCE / History