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Natural Language Processing on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure: Building Transformer-Based NLP Solutions Using Oracle AI and Hugging Face
by Hicham AssoudiThis book demonstrates how to use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and Hugging Face technologies to develop advanced NLP solutions. Through a practical case study, it addresses common NLP challenges and offers strategies for creating efficient, cost-effective transformer-based models. By the end of this book, you will have the skills and knowledge to create cutting-edge NLP solutions on OCI, customized to meet the needs of various industries and projects. The book takes you through the complete NLP solution life cycle—covering data preparation, model fine-tuning, deployment, and monitoring—while highlighting key topics such as cost-effectiveness and responsible AI for NLP implementations. Drawing from real-world experience and offering practical insights, it bridges the gap between theory and practice, equipping you to design and deploy scalable, cost-efficient NLP solutions. What You Will Learn Master key NLP concepts and the OCI ecosystem Create high-quality datasets using Hugging Face and OCI Data Labeling Service Fine-tune domain-specific pre-trained models from Hugging Face using OCI Data Science Notebook Sessions Deploy and operationalize your models with OCI Data Science Model Deployments Automate the NLP life cycle with OCI Data Science Pipelines Implement cost-effective strategies throughout the entire NLP life cycle, from dataset preparation to model training and deployment Who This Book Is For A diverse audience interested in implementing NLP solutions on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure: NLP practitioners, data scientists, and machine learning engineers who want to learn how to leverage Oracle AI and Hugging Face to implement an end-to-end NLP solution life cycle, from data preparation to model deployment; Oracle practitioners who want to expand their Oracle expertise by exploring OCI's advanced capabilities for building and scaling cutting-edge NLP solutions in enterprise environments; business decision makers who want to discover the strategic benefits of NLP solutions on OCI, including cost-effectiveness and responsible AI, while driving business value
Natural Language Processing with TensorFlow: The definitive NLP book to implement the most sought-after machine learning models and tasks, 2nd Edition
by Thushan Ganegedara Andrei LopatenkoFrom introductory NLP tasks to Transformer models, this new edition teaches you to utilize powerful TensorFlow APIs to implement end-to-end NLP solutions driven by performant ML (Machine Learning) modelsKey FeaturesLearn to solve common NLP problems effectively with TensorFlow 2.xImplement end-to-end data pipelines guided by the underlying ML model architectureUse advanced LSTM techniques for complex data transformations, custom models and metricsBook DescriptionLearning how to solve natural language processing (NLP) problems is an important skill to master due to the explosive growth of data combined with the demand for machine learning solutions in production. Natural Language Processing with TensorFlow, Second Edition, will teach you how to solve common real-world NLP problems with a variety of deep learning model architectures. The book starts by getting readers familiar with NLP and the basics of TensorFlow. Then, it gradually teaches you different facets of TensorFlow 2.x. In the following chapters, you then learn how to generate powerful word vectors, classify text, generate new text, and generate image captions, among other exciting use-cases of real-world NLP. TensorFlow has evolved to be an ecosystem that supports a machine learning workflow through ingesting and transforming data, building models, monitoring, and productionization. We will then read text directly from files and perform the required transformations through a TensorFlow data pipeline. We will also see how to use a versatile visualization tool known as TensorBoard to visualize our models. By the end of this NLP book, you will be comfortable with using TensorFlow to build deep learning models with many different architectures, and efficiently ingest data using TensorFlow Additionally, you'll be able to confidently use TensorFlow throughout your machine learning workflow.What you will learnLearn core concepts of NLP and techniques with TensorFlowUse state-of-the-art Transformers and how they are used to solve NLP tasksPerform sentence classification and text generation using CNNs and RNNsUtilize advanced models for machine translation and image caption generationBuild end-to-end data pipelines in TensorFlowLearn interesting facts and practices related to the task at handCreate word representations of large amounts of data for deep learningWho this book is forThis book is for Python developers and programmers with a strong interest in deep learning, who want to learn how to leverage TensorFlow to simplify NLP tasks.Fundamental Python skills are assumed, as well as basic knowledge of machine learning and undergraduate-level calculus and linear algebra. No previous natural language processing experience required.
Natural Language Understanding in Conversational AI with Deep Learning
by Soyeon Caren Han Henry Weld Yan Li Jean Lee Josiah PoonThis book provides a comprehensive introduction to conversational spoken language understanding and surveys recent advances in conversational AI. It guides the reader through the history, current advancements, and future of natural language understanding (NLU) in human-computer interactions. To this end, the book is structured in seven chapters: Introduction to Natural Language Understanding lays the foundation by tracing the evolution of NLU from early human communication to modern human-computer interactions. Prerequisites and Glossary for Natural Language Understanding then serves as a foundational resource, consolidating essential prerequisites and key terminologies relevant across the book. Single-Turn Natural Language Understanding looks at Single-Turn NLU, focusing on tasks that involve interpreting and processing user inputs in a single interaction, while Multi-Turn Natural Language Understanding moves on systems for extended interactions with users and explores techniques for managing dialogues, using context and integrating external knowledge bases. Next, Evaluating Natural Language Understanding discusses the annotation of datasets and various performance assessment methods, covering different levels of understanding from intent recognition to slot filling and domain classification. Applications and Case Studies in Natural Language Understanding subsequently shows real-world applications of NLU in finance, medicine, and law. Eventually Challenges, Conclusions and Future Directions explores the core obstacles hindering the advancement of NLU, including ambiguity, domain adaptation, data scarcity, and ethical concerns. By understanding these challenges, this chapter highlights the ongoing work needed to advance NLU. This book mainly targets researchers, PhD students, and professionals who are entering this field and look for a state-of-the-art introduction to NLU applied in conversational systems such as chatbots, large language models, or educational systems.
The Natural Law of Cycles: Governing the Mobile Symmetries of Animals and Machines
by James H. BunnThe Natural Law of Cycles assembles scientific work from different disciplines to show how research on angular momentum and rotational symmetry can be used to develop a law of energy cycles as a local and global influence. Angular momentum regulates small-scale rotational cycles such as the swimming of fish in water, the running of animals on land, and the flight of birds in air. Also, it regulates large-scale rotation cycles such as global currents of wind and water.James H. Bunn introduces concepts of symmetry, balance, and angular momentum, showing how together they shape the mobile symmetries of animals. Chapter 1 studies the configurations of animals as they move in a head-first direction. Chapter 2 shows how sea animals follow currents and tides generated by the rotational cycles of the earth. In chapter 3, Bunn explores the biomechanical pace of walking as a partial cycle of rotating limbs. On a large scale, angular momentum governs balanced shifts in plate tectonics.Chapter 4 begins with an examination of rotational wind patterns in terms of the counter-balancing forces of angular momentum. The author shows how these winds augment the flights of birds during migrations. A final chapter centres on the conservation of energy as the most basic principle of science. Bunn argues that in the nineteenth century the unity of nature was seen in the emergent concept of energy, not matter, as the source of power, including the movements of animals and machines. In each chapter Bunn features environmental writers who celebrate mobile symmetries. This book will interest students, naturalists, and advocates of the environmental movement.
Natural Resource Monitoring, Planning and Management Based on Advanced Programming (Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences)
by Chaitanya B. Pande Arun Pratap Mishra Atul KaushikThis book focuses on cloud-based platforms, advanced programming, machine learning models and programming approaches to assess water and other natural resources, flood impact, land use land cover (LULC), global forest change, global forest canopy height and pantropical nation-level carbon stock, among other areas. Sustainable management of natural resources is urgently needed, given the immense anthropogenic pressure on the environment and the accelerated change in climatic conditions of the earth; therefore, the ability to monitor natural resources precisely and accurately is increasingly important. To meet this demand, new and advanced remote sensing tools and techniques are continually being developed to monitor and manage natural resources effectively. Remote sensing platforms use various sensors to record, measure and monitor even minor variations in the earth's surface features as well as atmospheric constituents. This book shows how environmental and ecological knowledge and satellite-based information can be effectively combined to address a wide array of current natural resource management needs. Each chapter covers the different aspects of a remote sensing approach to effectively monitor natural resources and provide a platform for decision making and policy. The book is a valuable resource for researchers, scientists, NGOs and academicians working on climate change, environmental sciences, agriculture engineering, remote sensing and GIS, natural resources management, hydrology, soil sciences, agricultural microbiology, plant pathology and agronomy.
Natural Resource Pricing and Rents: An Economic Analysis (Contributions to Economics)
by Andrey Vavilov Georgy TrofimovThis book examines the economics of natural resource markets and pricing, as well as the field of natural resource economics in general. It presents the key contributions to this field of research, including the pioneering works and contemporary studies. The book highlights the basic principles and ideas underlying theoretical models of resource pricing. The models considered in the book underline the fundamental determinants of resource prices and the economic nature of rents for non-renewable and renewable resources. Besides the classical theory of exhaustible resource economics, the book includes several issues that are of high importance for global economic growth, such as the transition to alternative energy and the economics of climate change. The authors also consider the issues of commodity pricing and a resource cartel’s activity that are relevant to the world oil market.The book provides analytical solutions illustrated with numerical examples. It allows an intuitive understanding of the subject and the model inferences through graphical illustrations and an informal introduction. It, therefore, is a must-read for everybody interested in a better understanding of resource prices, resource markets, and resource economics.
Natural Resources as Capital (The\mit Press Ser.)
by Larry KarpAn introduction to the concepts and tools of natural resource economics, including dynamic models, market failures, and institutional remedies.This introduction to natural resource economics treats resources as a type of capital; their management is an investment problem requiring forward-looking behavior within a dynamic setting. Market failures are widespread, often associated with incomplete or nonexistent property rights, complicated by policy failures. The book covers standard resource economics topics, including both the Hotelling model for nonrenewable resources and models for renewable resources. The book also includes some topics in environmental economics that overlap with natural resource economics, including climate change.The text emphasizes skills and intuition needed to think about dynamic models and institutional remedies in the presence of both market and policy failures. It presents the nuts and bolts of resource economics as applied to nonrenewable resources, including the two-period model, stock-dependent costs, and resource scarcity. The chapters on renewable resources cover such topics as property rights as an alternative to regulation, the growth function, steady states, and maximum sustainable yield, using fisheries as a concrete setting. Other, less standard, topics covered include microeconomic issues such as arbitrage and the use of discounting; policy problems including the “Green Paradox”; foundations for policy analysis when market failures are important; and taxation. Appendixes offer reviews of the relevant mathematics. The book is suitable for use by upper-level undergraduates or, with the appendixes, masters-level courses.
Naturalizing Logico-Mathematical Knowledge: Approaches from Philosophy, Psychology and Cognitive Science (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Mathematics and Physics)
by Sorin BanguThis book is meant as a part of the larger contemporary philosophical project of naturalizing logico-mathematical knowledge, and addresses the key question that motivates most of the work in this field: What is philosophically relevant about the nature of logico-mathematical knowledge in recent research in psychology and cognitive science? The question about this distinctive kind of knowledge is rooted in Plato’s dialogues, and virtually all major philosophers have expressed interest in it. The essays in this collection tackle this important philosophical query from the perspective of the modern sciences of cognition, namely cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Naturalizing Logico-Mathematical Knowledge contributes to consolidating a new, emerging direction in the philosophy of mathematics, which, while keeping the traditional concerns of this sub-discipline in sight, aims to engage with them in a scientifically-informed manner. A subsequent aim is to signal the philosophers’ willingness to enter into a fruitful dialogue with the community of cognitive scientists and psychologists by examining their methods and interpretive strategies.
The Nature and Power of Mathematics
by Donald M. DavisThis captivating book explains some of mathematics' most fascinating ideas to nonspecialists. It explores items of philosophical and historical interest, discusses the often-surprising applicability of mathematics, and reveals the subject's intrinsic beauty. Author Donald M. Davis focuses on three main areas: non-Euclidean geometry, a basis for relativity theory; number theory, a major component of cryptography; and fractals, the key elements of computer-generated art. He also discusses related topics, such as the relevance of Greek mathematics to Kepler's laws of planetary motion, and the theoretical work that led to the development of computers.Only a background in basic algebra and geometry is necessary to appreciate this volume, which features exercises that further develop some of its important concepts. Graded according to difficulty, these exercises are designed to improve readers' skills in logic, and to enable them to experience mathematics at increasingly advanced levels.Supplementary materials at the end of each chapter include intriguing examples of the subjects' applications, as well as biographical sketches of Archimedes, Einstein, Newton, and other luminaries of mathematics.
Nature-Inspired Computing: Physics and Chemistry-Based Algorithms
by Hojjat Adeli Nazmul H. SiddiqueNature-Inspired Computing: Physics and Chemistry-Based Algorithms provides a comprehensive introduction to the methodologies and algorithms in nature-inspired computing, with an emphasis on applications to real-life engineering problems. The research interest for Nature-inspired Computing has grown considerably exploring different phenomena observed in nature and basic principles of physics, chemistry, and biology. The discipline has reached a mature stage and the field has been well-established. This endeavour is another attempt at investigation into various computational schemes inspired from nature, which are presented in this book with the development of a suitable framework and industrial applications. Designed for senior undergraduates, postgraduates, research students, and professionals, the book is written at a comprehensible level for students who have some basic knowledge of calculus and differential equations, and some exposure to optimization theory. Due to the focus on search and optimization, the book is also appropriate for electrical, control, civil, industrial and manufacturing engineering, business, and economics students, as well as those in computer and information sciences. With the mathematical and programming references and applications in each chapter, the book is self-contained, and can also serve as a reference for researchers and scientists in the fields of system science, natural computing, and optimization.
Nature-Inspired Computing and Optimization
by Srikanta Patnaik Xin-She Yang Kazumi NakamatsuThe book provides readers with a snapshot of the state of the art in the field of nature-inspired computing and its application in optimization. The approach is mainly practice-oriented: each bio-inspired technique or algorithm is introduced together with one of its possible applications. Applications cover a wide range of real-world optimization problems: from feature selection and image enhancement to scheduling and dynamic resource management, from wireless sensor networks and wiring network diagnosis to sports training planning and gene expression, from topology control and morphological filters to nutritional meal design and antenna array design. There are a few theoretical chapters comparing different existing techniques, exploring the advantages of nature-inspired computing over other methods, and investigating the mixing time of genetic algorithms. The book also introduces a wide range of algorithms, including the ant colony optimization, the bat algorithm, genetic algorithms, the collision-based optimization algorithm, the flower pollination algorithm, multi-agent systems and particle swarm optimization. This timely book is intended as a practice-oriented reference guide for students, researchers and professionals.
Nature-Inspired Computing for Smart Application Design (Springer Tracts in Nature-Inspired Computing)
by Santosh Kumar Das Thanh-Phong Dao Thinagaran PerumalThis book focuses primarily on the nature-inspired approach for designing smart applications. It includes several implementation paradigms such as design and path planning of wireless network, security mechanism and implementation for dynamic as well as static nodes, learning method of cloud computing, data exploration and management, data analysis and optimization, decision taking in conflicting environment, etc. The book fundamentally highlights the recent research advancements in the field of engineering and science.
Nature-Inspired Metaheuristic Algorithms for Engineering Optimization Applications (Springer Tracts in Nature-Inspired Computing)
by Serdar Carbas Abdurrahim Toktas Deniz UstunThis book engages in an ongoing topic, such as the implementation of nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithms, with a main concentration on optimization problems in different fields of engineering optimization applications. The chapters of the book provide concise overviews of various nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithms, defining their profits in obtaining the optimal solutions of tiresome engineering design problems that cannot be efficiently resolved via conventional mathematical-based techniques. Thus, the chapters report on advanced studies on the applications of not only the traditional, but also the contemporary certain nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithms to specific engineering optimization problems with single and multi-objectives. Harmony search, artificial bee colony, teaching learning-based optimization, electrostatic discharge, grasshopper, backtracking search, and interactive search are just some of the methods exhibited and consulted step by step in application contexts. The book is a perfect guide for graduate students, researchers, academicians, and professionals willing to use metaheuristic algorithms in engineering optimization applications.
Nature Inspired Optimisation for Delivery Problems: From Theory to the Real World (Natural Computing Series)
by Neil UrquhartThis book explains classic routing and transportation problems and solutions, before offering insights based on successful real-world solutions. The chapters in Part I introduce and explain the traveling salesperson problem (TSP), vehicle routing problems (VRPs), and multi-objective problems, with an emphasis on heuristic approaches and software engineering aspects. In turn, Part II demonstrates how to exploit geospatial data, routing algorithms, and visualization. In Part III, the above techniques and insights are combined in real-world success stories from domains such as food delivery in rural areas, postal delivery, workforce routing, and urban logistics.The book offers a valuable supporting text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses and projects in Computer Science, Engineering, Operations Research, and Mathematics. It is accompanied by a repository of source code, allowing readers to try out the algorithms and techniques discussed.
Nature-Inspired Optimization Algorithms
by Vasuki ANature-Inspired Optimization Algorithms, a comprehensive work on the most popular optimization algorithms based on nature, starts with an overview of optimization going from the classical to the latest swarm intelligence algorithm. Nature has a rich abundance of flora and fauna that inspired the development of optimization techniques, providing us with simple solutions to complex problems in an effective and adaptive manner. The study of the intelligent survival strategies of animals, birds, and insects in a hostile and ever-changing environment has led to the development of techniques emulating their behavior. This book is a lucid description of fifteen important existing optimization algorithms based on swarm intelligence and superior in performance. It is a valuable resource for engineers, researchers, faculty, and students who are devising optimum solutions to any type of problem ranging from computer science to economics and covering diverse areas that require maximizing output and minimizing resources. This is the crux of all optimization algorithms. Features: Detailed description of the algorithms along with pseudocode and flowchart Easy translation to program code that is also readily available in Mathworks website for some of the algorithms Simple examples demonstrating the optimization strategies are provided to enhance understanding Standard applications and benchmark datasets for testing and validating the algorithms are included This book is a reference for undergraduate and post-graduate students. It will be useful to faculty members teaching optimization. It is also a comprehensive guide for researchers who are looking for optimizing resources in attaining the best solution to a problem. The nature-inspired optimization algorithms are unconventional, and this makes them more efficient than their traditional counterparts.
Nature Inspired Optimization for Electrical Power System (Algorithms for Intelligent Systems)
by Jagdish Chand Bansal Manjaree Pandit Hari Mohan DubeyThis book presents a wide range of optimization methods and their applications to various electrical power system problems such as economical load dispatch, demand supply management in microgrids, levelized energy pricing, load frequency control and congestion management, and reactive power management in radial distribution systems. Problems related to electrical power systems are often highly complex due to the massive dimensions, nonlinearity, non-convexity and discontinuity associated with objective functions. These systems also have a large number of equality and inequality constraints, which give rise to optimization problems that are difficult to solve using classical numerical methods. In this regard, nature inspired optimization algorithms offer an effective alternative, due to their ease of use, population-based parallel search mechanism, non-dependence on the nature of the problem, and ability to accommodate non-differentiable, non-convex problems. The analytical model of nature inspired techniques mimics the natural behaviors and intelligence of life forms. These techniques are mainly based on evolution, swarm intelligence, ecology, human intelligence and physical science.
Nature Inspired Optimization Techniques for Image Processing Applications (Intelligent Systems Reference Library #150)
by Jude Hemanth Valentina Emilia BalasThis book provides a platform for exploring nature-inspired optimization techniques in the context of imaging applications. Optimization has become part and parcel of all computational vision applications, and since the amount of data used in these applications is vast, the need for optimization techniques has increased exponentially. These accuracy and complexity are a major area of concern when it comes to practical applications. However, these optimization techniques have not yet been fully explored in the context of imaging applications. By presenting interdisciplinary concepts, ranging from optimization to image processing, the book appeals to a broad readership, while also encouraging budding engineers to pursue and employ innovative nature-inspired techniques for image processing applications.
Nature-Inspired Optimizers: Theories, Literature Reviews and Applications (Studies in Computational Intelligence #811)
by Andrew Lewis Jin Song Dong Seyedali MirjaliliThis book covers the conventional and most recent theories and applications in the area of evolutionary algorithms, swarm intelligence, and meta-heuristics. Each chapter offers a comprehensive description of a specific algorithm, from the mathematical model to its practical application. Different kind of optimization problems are solved in this book, including those related to path planning, image processing, hand gesture detection, among others. All in all, the book offers a tutorial on how to design, adapt, and evaluate evolutionary algorithms. Source codes for most of the proposed techniques have been included as supplementary materials on a dedicated webpage.
The Nature of Mathematical Thinking (Studies in Mathematical Thinking and Learning Series)
by Robert J. Sternberg Talia Ben-ZeevWhy do some children seem to learn mathematics easily and others slave away at it, learning it only with great effort and apparent pain? Why are some people good at algebra but terrible at geometry? How can people who successfully run a business as adults have been failures at math in school? How come some professional mathematicians suffer terribly when trying to balance a checkbook? And why do school children in the United States perform so dismally in international comparisons? These are the kinds of real questions the editors set out to answer, or at least address, in editing this book on mathematical thinking. Their goal was to seek a diversity of contributors representing multiple viewpoints whose expertise might converge on the answers to these and other pressing and interesting questions regarding this subject. The chapter authors were asked to focus on their own approach to mathematical thinking, but also to address a common core of issues such as the nature of mathematical thinking, how it is similar to and different from other kinds of thinking, what makes some people or some groups better than others in this subject area, and how mathematical thinking can be assessed and taught. Their work is directed to a diverse audience -- psychologists interested in the nature of mathematical thinking and abilities, computer scientists who want to simulate mathematical thinking, educators involved in teaching and testing mathematical thinking, philosophers who need to understand the qualitative aspects of logical thinking, anthropologists and others interested in how and why mathematical thinking seems to differ in quality across cultures, and laypeople and others who have to think mathematically and want to understand how they are going to accomplish that feat.
The Nature of Mathematics
by Philip E. JourdainAnyone with an interest in mathematics will welcome the republication of this little volume by a remarkable mathematician who was also a logician, a philosopher, and an occasional writer of fiction and poetry. Originally published in 1913, and later included in the acclaimed anthology The World of Mathematics, Jourdain's survey shows how and why the methods of mathematics were developed, traces the development of mathematical science from the earliest to modern times, and chronicles the application of mathematics to natural science.Starting with the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, the author profiles mathematics' rise and progress with the development of analytical methods by Descartes, Galileo, Newton, Leibnitz, and others. The text focuses on principles rather than techniques, exploring the foundations of algebra, analytical geometry, and the method of indivisibles. It discusses the beginnings of the correlation of mathematics and natural science in the study of dynamics as well as the emergence of modern mathematics with the infinitesimal calculus. Additional topics include contemporary views of limits and numbers and a brief summation of the nature of mathematics.
The Nature of Mathematics
by Karl SmithWritten for liberal arts students and based on the belief that learning to solve problems is the principal reason for studying mathematics, Karl Smith introduces students to Polya’s problem-solving techniques and shows them how to use these techniques to solve unfamiliar problems that they encounter in their own lives. Through the emphasis on problem solving and estimation, along with numerous in-text study aids, students are assisted in understanding the concepts and mastering the techniques. In addition to the problem-solving emphasis, THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS is renowned for its clear writing, coverage of historical topics, selection of topics, level, and excellent applications problems. Smith includes material on such practical real-world topics as finances (e.g. amortization, installment buying, annuities) and voting and apportionment. With the help of this text, thousands of students have experienced mathematics rather than just do problems--and benefited from a writing style that boosts their confidence and fosters their ability to use mathematics effectively in their everyday lives.
The Nature of Statistics
by Prof. Harry V. Roberts W. Allen Wallis George P ShultzFocusing on everyday applications as well as those of scientific research, this classic of modern statistical methods requires little to no mathematical background. Readers develop basic skills for evaluating and using statistical data. Lively, relevant examples include applications to business, government, social and physical sciences, genetics, medicine, and public health. "W. Allen Wallis and Harry V. Roberts have made statistics fascinating." -- The New York Times "The authors have set out with considerable success, to write a text which would be of interest and value to the student who, not concerned primarily with statistical technics, must understand the nature and methodology of the subject in order to make proper use of its results." -- American Journal of Public Health and the Nation's Health "This book is a distinct and important contribution to the text literature in statistics for social scientists and should be given careful consideration by sociologists." -- American Sociological Review.
Nature's Numbers: The Unreal Reality Of Mathematics
by Ian Stewart"It appears to us that the universe is structured in a deeply mathematical way. Falling bodies fall with predictable accelerations. Eclipses can be accurately forecast centuries in advance. Nuclear power plants generate electricity according to well-known formulas. But those examples are the tip of the iceberg. In Nature's Numbers, Ian Stewart presents many more, each charming in its own way. . Stewart admirably captures compelling and accessible mathematical ideas along with the pleasure of thinking of them. He writes with clarity and precision. Those who enjoy this sort of thing will love this book. "--Los Angeles Times
Nature's Numbers (SCIENCE MASTERS)
by Ian StewartA mathematical sightseeing tour of the natural world from the author of THE MAGICAL MAZEWhy do many flowers have five or eight petals, but very few six or seven? Why do snowflakes have sixfold symmetry? Why do tigers have stripes but leopards have spots?Mathematics is to nature as Sherlock Holmes is to evidence. Mathematics can look at a single snowflake and deduce the atomic geometry of its crystals; it can start with a violin string and uncover the existence of radio waves. And mathematics still has the power to open our eyes to new and unsuspected regularities - the secret structure of a cloud or the hidden rhythms of the weather. There are patterns in the world we are now seeing for the first time - patterns at the frontier of science, yet patterns so simple that anybody can see them once they know where to look.
Nature's Numbers (SCIENCE MASTERS)
by Ian StewartWhy do many flowers have five or eight petals, but very few six or seven? Why do snowflakes have sixfold symmetry? Why do tigers have stripes but leopards have spots?Mathematics is to nature as Sherlock Holmes is to evidence. Mathematics can look at a single snowflake and deduce the atomic geometry of its crystals; it can start with a violin string and uncover the existence of radio waves. And mathematics still has the power to open our eyes to new and unsuspected regularities - the secret structure of a cloud or the hidden rhythms of the weather. There are patterns in the world we are now seeing for the first time - patterns at the frontier of science, yet patterns so simple that anybody can see them once they know where to look.(p) 1997 Orion Publishing Group