Pondering the power of the impossible
2005; IOP Publishing; Volume: 18; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1088/2058-7058/18/2/42
ISSN2058-7058
Autores Tópico(s)Computability, Logic, AI Algorithms
ResumoIn Beyond Reason the computer scientist Alexander Dewdney presents some major truths in mathematics and physics by the device of focusing each chapter on what mathematicians call an "impossibility theorem": a statement that some desired task simply cannot be done. To give some examples: he discusses the laws of enery conservation and of entropy increase interms of the impossibility of perpetual motion; relativity interms of the impossibility of exceeding the speed of light; and real-number theory in terms of the impossibility of "squaring the circle"– creatings a sequare with the same area as a circle. Four of his chapters are physics topics, four are mathematical.
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