Review
"'[A] marvellous book... Disarmingly funny, but also thrillingly clear.' Stephen Poole, Guardian 'Maths' dark secret is out... Chaitin explains why omega, a number he discovered thirty years ago, has him convinced that maths is based on randomness.' Time 'Chaitin presents a vision of mathematics that is strikingly original in a book that is intensely personal... The book contains big, important ideas.' Chicago Tribune"
Stephen Poole, Guardian
'Strange and marvellous... Disarmingly funny, but also thrillingly
clear.'
clear.'
Chicago Tribune
'Chaitin presents a vision of mathematics that is strikingly
original in a book that is intensely personal... This book contains big,
important ideas.'
original in a book that is intensely personal... This book contains big,
important ideas.'
Product Description
"Meta Maths" is the story of Gregory Chaitin's exuberant account of his discovery of 'omega': the infinitely long, exquisitely complex and utterly incalculable representation of randomness and unknowability in mathematics. From Euclid to Godel to Turing, Chaitin's infectious narrative guides us on a spellbinding journey through the historical advances in maths and science that led to his breakthrough discovery. Once there he takes us further, to the very frontiers of scientific thinking. "Meta Maths" shows that mathematics is as much art form as logic, as much science as pure reasoning, and sheds light on what we can ultimately hope to know about the universe and the very nature of life.
About the Author
Gregory Chaitin works at New York IBM Watson Research Centre, and is a visiting professor in computer science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He has written eight previous books on maths including Exploring Randomness and The Unknowable.
