The Mathematics That Power Our World: How Is It Made? - Hardcover

Joseph Khoury; Gilles Lamothe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 981473084X ISBN 13: 9789814730846

Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company, 2016

Synopsis

The Mathematics That Power Our World: How Is It Made? is an attempt to unveil the hidden mathematics behind the functioning of many of the devices we use on a daily basis. For the past years, discussions on the best approach in teaching and learning mathematics have shown how much the world is divided on this issue. The one reality we seem to agree on globally is the fact that our new generation is lacking interest and passion for the subject. One has the impression that the vast majority of young students finishing high school or in their early post-secondary studies are more and more divided into two main groups when it comes to the perception of mathematics. The first group looks at mathematics as a pure academic subject with little connection to the real world. The second group considers mathematics as a set of tools that a computer can be programmed to use and thus, a basic knowledge of the subject is sufficient. This book serves as a middle ground between these two views. Many of the elegant and seemingly theoretical concepts of mathematics are linked to state-of-the-art technologies. The topics of the book are selected carefully to make that link more relevant. They include: digital calculators, basics of data compression and the Huffman coding, the JPEG standard for data compression, the GPS system studied both from the receiver and the satellite ends, image processing and face recognition.

This book is a great resource for mathematics educators in high schools, colleges and universities who want to engage their students in advanced readings that go beyond the classroom discussions. It is also a solid foundation for anyone thinking of pursuing a career in science or engineering. All efforts were made so that the exposition of each topic is as clear and self-contained as possible and thus, appealing to anyone trying to broaden his mathematical horizons.

About this title

Review

The topics are real life applications and they are explored to a remarkable depth. Some are a bit more demanding than others, but the diversity of mathematics that is covered is probably a pleasant surprise and may serve as an eye opener that these 'rather abstract' mathematics can have very practical applications. It mainly deals with mathematics that are needed to write the software to make the application work. It is good enough to catch the basic principles. Instructors could easily set up some very nice projects with these topics, or some parts can be inspirational to illustrate their mathematics courses. --European Mathematical Society

It appears the best use of the text to be as a resource for educators interested in providing individual case studies of applications of mathematics to their students while diving beyond the why and thoroughly into the how. --Mathematical Association of America

This is an interesting book since it gives the reader a good technical understanding of some very commonly used devices that very few people who use these devices know how they work. --IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine

Edition details

• Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 981473084X
• ISBN 13: 9789814730846
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 204