Meta Math!
The Quest for Omega
Published on 26. November 2008
240 pages
978-0-307-48817-6 (ISBN)
Description
Gregory Chaitin, one of the world's foremost mathematicians, leads us on a spellbinding journey, illuminating the process by which he arrived at his groundbreaking theory.
Chaitin's revolutionary discovery, the Omega number, is an exquisitely complex representation of unknowability in mathematics. His investigations shed light on what we can ultimately know about the universe and the very nature of life. In an infectious and enthusiastic narrative, Chaitin delineates the specific intellectual and intuitive steps he took toward the discovery. He takes us to the very frontiers of scientific thinking, and helps us to appreciate the art—and the sheer beauty—in the science of math.
Chaitin's revolutionary discovery, the Omega number, is an exquisitely complex representation of unknowability in mathematics. His investigations shed light on what we can ultimately know about the universe and the very nature of life. In an infectious and enthusiastic narrative, Chaitin delineates the specific intellectual and intuitive steps he took toward the discovery. He takes us to the very frontiers of scientific thinking, and helps us to appreciate the art—and the sheer beauty—in the science of math.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
11/2006
Vintage Books
€15.50
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Book
10/2005
Pantheon Books
€43.92
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Person
Gregory Chaitin works at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Westchester County, New York, and is a visiting professor in the Computer Science Department of the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The author of eight previous books on mathematics, he lives in New York.
Content
- Intro
- About the Author
- Other Books By This Author
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Quotes by Leibniz/Galileo
- Franz Kafka: Before The Law
- Chapter One: Introduction
- Chapter Two: Three Strange Loves Primes/Gödel/Lisp
- Chapter Three: Digital Information DNA/Software/Leibniz
- Chapter Four: Intermezzo
- Chapter Five: The Labyrinth Of The Continuum
- Chapter Six: Complexity, Randomness & Incompleteness
- Chapter Seven: Conclusion
- Appendix I: Computers, Paradoxes And The Foundations Of Mathematics
- Appendix II: On The Intelligibility Of The Universe And The Notions Of Simplicity, Complexity And Irreducibility
- Copyright
