by Gian-Carlo Rota The subjects of mathematics, like the subjects of mankind, have finite lifespans, which the historian will record as he freezes history at one instant of time. There are the old subjects, loaded with distinctions and honors. As their problems are solved away and the applications reaped by engineers and other moneymen, ponderous treatises gather dust in library basements, awaiting the day when a generation as yet unborn will rediscover the lost paradise in awe. Then there are the middle-aged subjects. You ...
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by Gian-Carlo Rota The subjects of mathematics, like the subjects of mankind, have finite lifespans, which the historian will record as he freezes history at one instant of time. There are the old subjects, loaded with distinctions and honors. As their problems are solved away and the applications reaped by engineers and other moneymen, ponderous treatises gather dust in library basements, awaiting the day when a generation as yet unborn will rediscover the lost paradise in awe. Then there are the middle-aged subjects. You can tell which they are by roaming the halls of Ivy League universities or the Institute for Advanced Studies. Their high priests haughtily refuse fabulous offers from eager provin- cial universities while receiving special permission from the President of France to lecture in English at the College de France. Little do they know that the load of technicalities is already critical, about to crack and submerge their theorems in the dust of oblivion that once enveloped the dinosaurs. Finally, there are the young subjects-combinatorics, for instance. Wild- eyed individuals gingerly pick from a mountain of intractable problems, chil- dishly babbling the first words of what will soon be a new language. Child- hood will end with the first Seminaire Bourbaki. It could be impossible to find a more fitting example than matroid theory of a subject now in its infancy. The telltale signs, for an unfailing diagnosis, are the abundance of deep theorems, going together with a paucity of theories.
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Add this copy of A Source Book in Matroid Theory to cart. $67.19, new condition, Sold by discount_scientific_books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Sterling Heights, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1985 by Birkhauser.
Add this copy of A Source Book in Matroid Theory to cart. $90.12, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1985 by Birkhauser Boston.
Add this copy of A Source Book in Matroid Theory to cart. $93.00, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 1985 by Birkhauser.
Add this copy of A Source Book in Matroid Theory to cart. $103.33, new condition, Sold by Media Smart rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hawthorne, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1985 by Springer.
Add this copy of A Source Book in Matroid Theory to cart. $107.96, new condition, Sold by Ria Christie Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1985 by Birkhauser.
