In article <CKsLoL.8J4 at kaiwan.com> ming at kaiwan.com (ming of mongo) writes:
> I'm glad you disagree with the Platonic view of mathmatics.
>(Plato was a professional wrestler, who's name translates roughly to "Big
>Guy", making him dangerously simmilar to Hulk Hogan! (How's that for an
>ad hominum argument?))
>> On the eyeball fractals, I am reminded of some good advice:
>Always keep an open mind, but not so open that your brain falls out.
> There are plenty of goofy pop science books on the subject of
>fractals and chaos, mostly writen by people who read other goofy pop
>science books. Chaos theory, or the little I understand of it, seems to
>be the most beautifull, and interesting branch of mathematics that i have
>ever seen. But, it's hard, much to hard to get from a dime novel science
>book. It is based on non-linear equasions, which are so dificult that
>approximation is the accepted way to deal with them, even among advanced
>mathematicians.
> I hope you retain your objectivity while reading on the subject.
>there are some good books on the subject, although they treat it only in
>a very general way. "Chaos" by James Gliek, is one that doesn't get
>bogged down in fantasy. It is mostly, however, about the scientists that
>brought chaos theory about, and not so much about the math.
> I hope this helps
>
I have foud two really good books on Fractals and Chaos.
The first is Ott's "Chaos in Dynamical Systems" which introduces the subject
in a very clear way.
The second (which I have loaned out and can't cite adequately) is
Falconer's "Fractal Geometry" which is very deep and I suggest you study
a little general topology before you tackle it.
Both of these books I consider to be basic introductions, but you need to
have a firm grasp of both ODE and PDE and a good grounding in topology and
abstract (or modern) algebra would be good.
GEH
