Mathematical Methods for Engineers and Geoscientists - Waelder, Olga

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Résumé :
We start with a fun puzzle in mathematics and mathematical methods. How many corners does a four-dimensional cube have? Does such a thing exist, you ask? You may be a geoscientist or a philosopher. If your answer is: there are surely more than the eight corners there are for a three-dimensional cube, you are an engineer. If you know without hesitation that there are exactly sixteen corners and you can prove why, you are a mathematician. To explain the goal of this book, I refer to Hersh (1997): The United States suffers from ?innumeracy? in its general population, ?math avoidance? amonghigh-schoolstudents,and50percentfailureamongcollegecalculusstudents.Causes include starvation budgets in the school, mental attrition by television, parents who don?t like math. There?s another, unrecognized cause of failure: misconception of the nature of mathematics. I think the speci c reference to the United States may be omitted. It is really a worldwide problem. Moreover, there is one more consequence of ?math avoidance? and ?misconception?: good mathematical approaches are sometimes applied inc- rectly. Particularly, the methods of statistics are often misused for different goals. Applying mathematical methods is similar to using nuclear power: the nal results depend on the competence of the user. I try to convince my readers to apply the ?energy? of mathematics with consideration.

Biographie:
In 1970 Olga Waelder was born in Moscow. She began her studies at the Technical University for Electronics and Mathematics in Moscow in 1987 from whence she received her degree in applied mathematics in 1993. From 1996 until 1999 she furthered her studies at the Technical University Mining Academy in Freiberg (Germany) from whence she received a degree in mathematics. Between 2001 and 2004 she was a research assistant at the Institute for Cartography, Dresden Technical University. In 2003 she began lecturing mathematical cartography. She continued her post doctorate studies there in 2004 and since 2005 has been a lecturer for adjustment theory.