Research Catalog

Title

Reasoning about luck : probability and its uses in physics / Vinay Ambegaokar.

Author

Ambegaokar, Vinay.

Publication

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xv, 231 pages : illustrations; 26 cm

Summary

• This book introduces the reader to statistical reasoning and its use in physics. It is based on a course developed for non-science majors at Cornell University, and differs from other treatments by its wide-ranging use of quantitative methods, which are built up in a constructive way and assume only that the reader can add, subtract, multiply, and divide with confidence.
• The main application for this volume will be as a text for non-science students. However, the originality of the ideas and approach will also make this a valuable book for a public ranging from physics undergraduates to general readers.

Subjects

• Probability measures
• Statistical physics

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 201) and index.

Contents

1. Introduction -- 2. The likely, the unlikely, and the incomprehensible -- 3. Normality and large numbers -- 4. Examples -- 5. A little mathematics -- 6. Forces, motion, and energy -- 7. Atoms, molecules, and molecular motion -- 8. Disorder, entropy, energy, and temperature -- 9. Heat, work, and putting heat to work -- 10. Fluctuations and the arrow of time -- 11. Chaos -- 12. Quantum jumps: the ultimate gamble.

ISBN

• 0521442176 (hc)
• 0521447372 (pbk.)

LCCN

95047481

OCLC

ocm33439764

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries