What Are Structures
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Language, Science, and Structure
This work provides a new framework for understanding some of the most profound theories of human language. Ryan M. Nefdt touches on philosophical questions of what languages are, how they evolved and what the science of language should be. He takes insights and results from the natural and formal sciences and translates them into a new domain. His book offers the reader new ways of appreciating how the most unique of human traits--our ability to process and produce natural language--has been and can be studied from a scientific point of view.
A Structural Account of Mathematics
Charles Chihara's new book develops and defends a structural view of the nature of mathematics, and uses it to explain a number of striking features of mathematics that have puzzled philosophers for centuries. The view is used to show that, in order to understand how mathematical systems are applied in science and everyday life, it is not necessary to assume that its theorems either presuppose mathematical objects or are even true. Chihara builds upon his previous work, in which he presented a new system of mathematics, the constructibility theory, which did not make reference to, or presuppose, mathematical objects. Now he develops the project further by analysing mathematical systems currently used by scientists to show how such systems are compatible with this nominalistic outlook. He advances several new ways of undermining the heavily discussed indispensability argument for the existence of mathematical objects made famous by Willard Quine and Hilary Putnam. And Chihara presents a rationale for the nominalistic outlook that is quite different from those generally put forward, which he maintains have led to serious misunderstandings. A Structural Account of Mathematics will be required reading for anyone working in this field.
Structures and Their Analysis
Addressing structures, this book presents a classic discipline in a modern setting by combining illustrated examples with insights into the solutions. It is the fruit of the author’s many years of teaching the subject and of just as many years of research into the design of optimal structures. Although intended for an advanced level of instruction it has an undergraduate course at its core. Further, the book was written with the advantage of having massive computer power in the background, an aspect which changes the entire approach to many engineering disciplines and in particular to structures. This paradigm shift has dislodged the force (flexibility) method from its former prominence and paved the way for the displacement (stiffness) method, despite the multitude of linear equations it spawns. In this book, however, both methods are taught: the force method offers a perfect vehicle for understanding structural behavior, bearing in mind that it is the displacement method which does the heavy number crunching. As a rule the book keeps things as simple as possible, conveying the basic ideas and refraining from lengthy calculations wherever possible. Further, it endeavors to unify the approach, showing that whatever applies to simple springs is equally valid for intricate frames. In addition to various design considerations, it also addresses several topics relating to optimal structures that will be of interest to students and teachers of structures.