23 May 2010

Martin Gardner dies

Martin Gardner has died at the age of 95, according to a report in *The Seattle Times*. See
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011932556_apusobitgardner.html
for details. James Randi also makes the announcement on his blog at
http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/995-my-world-is-a-little-darker.html

Martin Gardner played a key role in promoting mathematics education, through his numerous columns and books. He had an uncompromising attitude toward pseudoscience, he was critical of organized religion, and was regarded as a hard-core Platonist. Through his work, he promoted the thought process at all levels. Donald Knuth refers to the 15 volumes of collected Martin Gardner's columns from Scientific American as "the Canon".

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T H E B O T T O M L I N E

What measure theory is about

It's about counting, but when things get too large.
Put otherwise, it's about addition of positive numbers, but when these numbers are far too many.

The principle of dynamic programming

max_{x,y} [f(x) + g(x,y)] = max_x [f(x) + max_y g(x,y)]

The bottom line

Nuestras horas son minutos cuando esperamos saber y siglos cuando sabemos lo que se puede aprender.
(Our hours are minutes when we wait to learn and centuries when we know what is to be learnt.) --António Machado

Αγεωμέτρητος μηδείς εισίτω.
(Those who do not know geometry may not enter.) --Plato

Sapere Aude! Habe Muth, dich deines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen!
(Dare to know! Have courage to use your own reason!) --Kant