Mathematics and Computation [pdf] | Hacker News Reader

Mathematics and Computation [pdf]

math.ias.edu

241 pointsMAXPOOL14 comments

Just sharing another good book on the topic.

Mathematics for Computation from MIT[1]. HN discussion on it[2].

[1]:https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.042/spring17/mcs.pdf

[2]:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13800320

this isn't at all the same book. the OP is about complexity theory. the book you've linked to is basically math for a cs curriculum.

I agree, I intended to share courseware on the topic. Perhaps should have worded as such.

Newer version of [1]: https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.042/spring18/mcs.pdf

Just from reading the introduction, this book seems extremely well written, far-reaching, and just plain cool.

On days like this, I'm always tempted to drop all my current courses and just spend the time reading a book.

I found this incredible book draft because Scott Aaronsons glowing praise of Avi Wigderson made me curious https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=4156

>Congrats to Avi Wigderson for winning the Knuth Prize. When I was asked to write a supporting nomination letter, my first suggestion was to submit a blank sheet of paper—since for anyone in theoretical computer science, there’s nothing that needs to be said about why Avi should win any awards we have. I hope Avi remains a guiding light of our community for many years to com

Avi Wigderson homepage is full of interesting stuff. https://www.math.ias.edu/avi/

My exact sentiments. This isn't adding anything of value as an HN comment but I just wanted to share my appreciation of this book as well as my frustration that there are only 24 hours in a day...

That's a very misleading title for a book about computational complexity theory.

I disagree, but I guess it depends on your definition of mathematics. Complexity theory and formal languages are far closer to my definition of mathematics than discrete math problems which I tend to classify more as arithmetic.

What do you mean by discrete math problems?

A massive amount of mathematics is discrete, and those parts of mathematics are extremely deep as well.

This along with Scott Aaronson's (https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/) make for good reading on the theory of computation.

By the way, the author of the book, Avi has made a profound impact in Scott, as Scott describes in the following post:

https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=2925

Awesome! :)

I love this field of CS/Math.

How much time/energy/space does it take to think a thought? Is it possible to think this class of thoughts? What difference does it make if we change the computational substrate from classic to quantum?

I wish I had two lifetimes, so that I could spend one on dwelling on things like this. (Maybe I do, if we made enormous advancements in cybernetic prostethics et.c. before I die.. lets hope!)

Wow, thank you very much !

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