Comments on: music of the primes http://www.neverendingbooks.org/index.php/music-of-the-primes.html lieven le bruyn's blog Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:42:15 +0200 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: music of the primes (1) | neverendingbooks http://www.neverendingbooks.org/index.php/music-of-the-primes.html/comment-page-1#comment-4952 music of the primes (1) | neverendingbooks Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:57:02 +0000 http://www.neverendingbooks.org/?p=257#comment-4952 <p>[...] been rather critical about the book before, but, rereading it last week (and knowing a bit better the limitations of [...]</p> [...] been rather critical about the book before, but, rereading it last week (and knowing a bit better the limitations of [...]

]]> By: New Uk Dvd http://www.neverendingbooks.org/index.php/music-of-the-primes.html/comment-page-1#comment-4824 New Uk Dvd Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:49:39 +0000 http://www.neverendingbooks.org/?p=257#comment-4824 <p><strong>Can you really make money selling new release CD's and DVD's on eBay?...</strong></p> <p>Being an active eBayer, I am often being asked about products to sell. A common question is "Where can I purchase products such as new release CD's DVD's and Video Games for Playstation and Xbox at a 75% to 100% discount. Well folks, this sort of di...</p> Can you really make money selling new release CD's and DVD's on eBay?…

Being an active eBayer, I am often being asked about products to sell. A common question is “Where can I purchase products such as new release CD’s DVD’s and Video Games for Playstation and Xbox at a 75% to 100% discount. Well folks, this sort of di…

]]> By: now what? | neverendingbooks http://www.neverendingbooks.org/index.php/music-of-the-primes.html/comment-page-1#comment-4268 now what? | neverendingbooks Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:50:51 +0000 http://www.neverendingbooks.org/?p=257#comment-4268 <p>[...] selecta’ course for third year Bachelors and Ive chosen to read with them the book The music of the primes and to expand on the mathematics hinted only at in the book. So, I’ll totally immerse myself [...]</p> [...] selecta’ course for third year Bachelors and Ive chosen to read with them the book The music of the primes and to expand on the mathematics hinted only at in the book. So, I’ll totally immerse myself [...]

]]> By: symmetry and the monster | neverendingbooks http://www.neverendingbooks.org/index.php/music-of-the-primes.html/comment-page-1#comment-4018 symmetry and the monster | neverendingbooks Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:50:21 +0000 http://www.neverendingbooks.org/?p=257#comment-4018 <p>[...] and ends with Richard Borcherds proof of them using vertex operator algebras. As in the case of Music of the Primes it is (too) easy to be critical about notation. For example, whereas groups are just called [...]</p> [...] and ends with Richard Borcherds proof of them using vertex operator algebras. As in the case of Music of the Primes it is (too) easy to be critical about notation. For example, whereas groups are just called [...]

]]> By: 44 32′28.29″N, 4 05′08.61″E | neverendingbooks http://www.neverendingbooks.org/index.php/music-of-the-primes.html/comment-page-1#comment-4015 44 32′28.29″N, 4 05′08.61″E | neverendingbooks Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:17:25 +0000 http://www.neverendingbooks.org/?p=257#comment-4015 <p>[...] file was obtained from my GPS gpx-file using GPS-visualizer. Two and a half years ago I managed to connect the place via a slow dial-up line and conjectured that broadband-internet would never come this [...]</p> [...] file was obtained from my GPS gpx-file using GPS-visualizer. Two and a half years ago I managed to connect the place via a slow dial-up line and conjectured that broadband-internet would never come this [...]

]]> By: why mathematicians can’t write | neverendingbooks http://www.neverendingbooks.org/index.php/music-of-the-primes.html/comment-page-1#comment-3964 why mathematicians can’t write | neverendingbooks Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:33:15 +0000 http://www.neverendingbooks.org/?p=257#comment-3964 <p>[...] The Music of the Primes will attract many young people to noncommutative geometry a la Connes. It would be great if someone would spend a year trying to write a similar pamphlet in favour of noncommutative algebraic geometry, but as I mentioned before chances are not very high as most mathematicians are unwilling to sacrifice precision and technical detail for popular success. Still, perhaps we should reconsider this position. A fine illustration why most mathematicians cannot write books for a bigger audience is to be found in the preface to the book “The problems of mathematics” (out of print or at least out of amazon.com) by the Warwick mathematician Ian Stewart. Below I quote a fraction from his ‘An interview with a mathematician…’ (I)nterviewer : … So, Mathematician : what delights do you have in store for us? (M)athematician : I thought I’d say a bit about how you can get a TOP but non-DIFF 4-manifold by surgery on the Kummer surface. You see, there’s this fascinating cohomology intersection form related to the exceptional Lie algebra $E_8$, and… (I) : That’s fascinating. (M) : Thank you. (I) : Is all that gobbledegook really significant? (M) : Of course! It’s one of the most important discoveries of the last decade! (I) : Can you explain it in words ordinary mortals can understand? (M) : Look, buster, if ordinary mortals could understand it, you wouldn’t need mathematicians to do the job for you, right? (I) : I don’t want the technical details. Just a general feeling for what’s going on. (M) : You can’t get a feeling for what’s going on without understanding the technical details. (I) : Why not? (M) : Well, you just can’t. (I) : Physicists seem to manage. (M) : But they work with things from everyday experience… (I) : Sure. ‘How gluon antiscreening affects the colour charge of a quark.’ ‘Conduction bands in Gallium Arsenide.’ Trip over ‘em all the time on the way to work, don’t you? (M) : Yes, but… (I) : I’m sure that the physicists find all the technical details just as fascinating as you do. But they don’t let them intrude so much. (M) : But how can I explain things properly if I don’t give the details? (I) : How can anyone else understand them if you do? (M) : But if I skip the fine points, some of the things I say won’t be completely true! How can I talk about manifolds without mentioning that the theorems only work if the manifolds are finite-dimensional paracompact Hausdorff with empty boundary? (I) : Lie a bit. (M) : Oh, but I couldn’t do that! (I) : Why not? Everybody else does. (M) : But, I must tell the truth! (I) : Sure. But you might be prepared to bend it a little, if it helps people understand what you’re doing. (M) : Well… Sphere: Related Content [...]</p> [...] The Music of the Primes will attract many young people to noncommutative geometry a la Connes. It would be great if someone would spend a year trying to write a similar pamphlet in favour of noncommutative algebraic geometry, but as I mentioned before chances are not very high as most mathematicians are unwilling to sacrifice precision and technical detail for popular success. Still, perhaps we should reconsider this position. A fine illustration why most mathematicians cannot write books for a bigger audience is to be found in the preface to the book “The problems of mathematics” (out of print or at least out of amazon.com) by the Warwick mathematician Ian Stewart. Below I quote a fraction from his ‘An interview with a mathematician…’ (I)nterviewer : … So, Mathematician : what delights do you have in store for us? (M)athematician : I thought I’d say a bit about how you can get a TOP but non-DIFF 4-manifold by surgery on the Kummer surface. You see, there’s this fascinating cohomology intersection form related to the exceptional Lie algebra $E_8$, and… (I) : That’s fascinating. (M) : Thank you. (I) : Is all that gobbledegook really significant? (M) : Of course! It’s one of the most important discoveries of the last decade! (I) : Can you explain it in words ordinary mortals can understand? (M) : Look, buster, if ordinary mortals could understand it, you wouldn’t need mathematicians to do the job for you, right? (I) : I don’t want the technical details. Just a general feeling for what’s going on. (M) : You can’t get a feeling for what’s going on without understanding the technical details. (I) : Why not? (M) : Well, you just can’t. (I) : Physicists seem to manage. (M) : But they work with things from everyday experience… (I) : Sure. ‘How gluon antiscreening affects the colour charge of a quark.’ ‘Conduction bands in Gallium Arsenide.’ Trip over ‘em all the time on the way to work, don’t you? (M) : Yes, but… (I) : I’m sure that the physicists find all the technical details just as fascinating as you do. But they don’t let them intrude so much. (M) : But how can I explain things properly if I don’t give the details? (I) : How can anyone else understand them if you do? (M) : But if I skip the fine points, some of the things I say won’t be completely true! How can I talk about manifolds without mentioning that the theorems only work if the manifolds are finite-dimensional paracompact Hausdorff with empty boundary? (I) : Lie a bit. (M) : Oh, but I couldn’t do that! (I) : Why not? Everybody else does. (M) : But, I must tell the truth! (I) : Sure. But you might be prepared to bend it a little, if it helps people understand what you’re doing. (M) : Well… Sphere: Related Content [...]

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