Overview
An updated and expanded edition of a historically important collection of mathematical problems
Offers a unique insight into the ideas of a time and place that had an enormous influence on the development of mathematics
Contains 193 mathematical problems formulated by leaders in the field prior to the second World War, some of which remain unsolved to this day
Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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The Scottish Book Conference Lectures
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Front Matter
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The Scottish Book Problems
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Front Matter
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A Brief History of Wrocław’s New Scottish Book
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Front Matter
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The New Scottish Book
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Front Matter
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Keywords
About this book
The second edition of this book updates and expands upon a historically important collection of mathematical problems first published in the United States by Birkhäuser in 1981. These problems serve as a record of the informal discussions held by a group of mathematicians at the Scottish Café in Lwów, Poland, between the two world wars. Many of them were leaders in the development of such areas as functional and real analysis, group theory, measure and set theory, probability, and topology. Finding solutions to the problems they proposed has been ongoing since World War II, with prizes offered in many cases to those who are successful.
In the 35 years since the first edition published, several more problems have been fully or partially solved, but even today many still remain unsolved and several prizes remain unclaimed. In view of this, the editor has gathered new and updated commentaries on the original 193 problems. Some problems are solved for the first time in this edition. Included again in full are transcripts of lectures given by Stanislaw Ulam, Mark Kac, Antoni Zygmund, Paul Erdös, and Andrzej Granas that provide amazing insights into the mathematical environment of Lwów before World War II and the development of The Scottish Book. Also new in this edition are a brief history of the University of Wrocław’s New Scottish Book, created to revive the tradition of the original, and some selected problems from it.
The Scottish Book offers a unique opportunity to communicate with the people and ideas of a time and place that had an enormous influence on the development of mathematics and try their hand on the unsolved problems. Anyone in the general mathematical community with an interest in the history of modern mathematics will find this to be an insightful and fascinating read.
Reviews
“The book under review is interesting not only for historians of mathematics. It gives a vivid picture of the mathematical life in Lvov between the world wars and offers an opportunity to see the people and ideas of that time that had an enormous influence on the development of mathematics.” (Roman Murawski, zbMATH 1331.01039, 2016)
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Scottish Book
Book Subtitle: Mathematics from The Scottish Café, with Selected Problems from The New Scottish Book
Authors: R. Daniel Mauldin
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22897-6
Publisher: Birkhäuser Cham
eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-22896-9Published: 04 December 2015
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-79432-7Published: 21 March 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-22897-6Published: 26 November 2015
Edition Number: 2
Number of Pages: XVIII, 322
Number of Illustrations: 19 b/w illustrations, 4 illustrations in colour
Topics: History of Mathematical Sciences, Functional Analysis, Group Theory and Generalizations, Topology