tobis at skool.ssec.wisc.edu (Michael Tobis) writes:
>In article <CKsLoL.8J4 at kaiwan.com>, ming at kaiwan.com (ming of mongo) writes:
>|> 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.
>Well, sorta. The results of the tehorems about chaotic systems are not
>approximate. Otherwise, nicely said.
>|> 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.
>Gleick's book is just as bad as the rest. If you have a little math
>(undergrad calculus would do) and really want an idea what it is about, read
>Ian Stewart's _Does God Play Dice?_ If you CAN'T read that book, kindly
>refrain from mentioning "chaos theory" publicly. I especially wish Michael
>Crichton and Steven Spielberg had taken this advice.
>mt
>what a wierd list of newsgroups...
If you like cartoons you might also like the books
By Abraham & Shaw, from "The Visual Mathematics Library":
"Dynamics, The Geometry of Behavior, Part One: Periodic Behavior",
&
"Dynamics, The Geometry of Behavior, Part Two: Chaotic Behavior"
These are from the "dynamics collective" at UCSC - Farmer,
Packard, Shaw, Crutchfield - that group. Nice cartoons.
