Experimentation in Mathematics: Computational Paths to Discovery [Hardcover]

New mathematical insights and rigorous results are often gained through extensive experimentation using numerical examples or graphical images and analyzing them. Today computer experiments are an integral part of doing mathematics. This allows for a more systematic approach to conducting and replicating experiments. The authors address the role of experimental research in the statement of new hypotheses and the discovery of new results that chart the road to future developments. Following the lead of Mathematics by Experiment: Plausible Reasoning in the 21st Century this book gives numerous additional case studies of experimental mathematics in action, ranging from sequences, series, products, integrals, Fourier series, zeta functions, partitions, primes and polynomials. Some advanced numerical techniques are also presented. To get a taste of the material presented in both books view the condensed version.New mathematical insights and rigorous results are often gained through extensive experimentation using numerical examples or graphical images and analyzing them The authors . . . explain experimental mathematics in a lively, surprisingly accessible fashion. -N/ A, L'Enseignement Mathematique , December 2004
How large a role will computer computations play in the mathematics of tomorrow? The books under review are about many things, but it is clear that the authors are focused on this question. Their answer: very large. Their attitude: we should embrace this change. -David P. Roberts, MAA Online Read This!, January 2005
These are such fun books to read! Actually, calling them books does not do them justice. They have the liveliness and feel of great Web sites, with their bite-size fascinating factoids and their many human- and mathlӈ