TitlePage

Last updated
Save as PDF

Page ID: 24076

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering

Mastering Complexity

Sanjoy Mahajan

The MIT Press

Cambridge, Massachusetts

London, England

The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering: Mastering Complexity by Sanjoy Mahajan (author) and MIT Press (publisher) is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution–Noncommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 International License. A copy of the license is available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0

MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For information, please email special_sales@mitpress.mit.edu. Typeset by the author in 10.5/13.3 Palatino and Computer Modern Sans using ConTEXt and LuaTEX.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mahajan, Sanjoy, 1969- author.

The art of insight in science and engineering : mastering complexity / Sanjoy Mahajan.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-262-52654-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Statistical physics. 2. Estimation theory. 3. Hypothesis. 4. Problem solving. I. Title. QC174.85.E88M34 2014 501’.9-dc23

2014003652

Printed and bound in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For my teachers, who showed me the way

Peter Goldreich

Carver Mead

Sterl Phinney

And for my students, one of whom said

I used to be curious, naively curious. Now I am fearlessly curious. I feel ready to attack any problem that comes at me, and at least get a feel for why things happen … roughly.