Ivar Ekeland is president of Université Paris--Dauphine and founder of the Centre de Récherche de mathématiques de la décision. He is the author of several books on mathematics.
Two new and interesting branches of mathematics are catastrophe theory and chaos. The two (along with the theory of fractals) are related in many ways, both hinging on the realization that many processes in the universe are extremely sensitive to small changes in conditions or to accuracy of measurement. This idea is not easily accepted by scientists trained to look for simple, repetitive, predictable behavior in physical systems. Ekeland (University of Paris, Dauphine) presents a bird's-eye view of chaos and catastrophe theories using a limited amount of mathematical formulation and computation. Indeed, the section on catastrophe is primarily philosophic. A good choice for informed readers interested in a brief exposition of these topics. Harold D. Shane, Baruch Coll . , CUNY
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