Epstein Secrets

descriptions and theories of mass phenomena (see Stephen Stigler, 1986; Theodore Porter, 1986) which migr

for the motions of the bodies. Even in a three body system the motions of the bodies become chaotic and unpredictable at a detailed level. In 1890 Poincare demonstrated that it is actually impossible to solve the equations for a three body system in a simple field system, so even a system as simple as t

and accurate enough measurement today, the future course of the universe could be predicted. For mathematicians, that dictum was dashed in 1899 by Poincare's proof of the existence of chaos. PoincarE showed that not only was it impossible to derive a formula which could predict 165 EFTA00625293 the

he three-dimensional ones. In the spring of 1960 Stephen Smale, a Berkeley topologist who had tried provin

tics, only that it's still unproved. Late last year, after Colin Rourke, an English mathematician, became the latest victim of what's known as the Poincare conjecture, Dave Gabai, of Caltech, explained the obsession. "For a mathematician," said Gabai, who has a reputation for cracking seemingly unsolva

Discover: July 1987 What happens when hubris meets nemesis By Gary Taubes I have committed the sin of falsely proving Poincare's conjecture. But that was another country; and besides, until now no one has known about it. -- John Stallings Conjectures are what mathematician

of Science, Essential Writings of Henri Poincare’ Stephen Jay Gould, Modern Library, Random House, N.Y. 200

context of mathematical epistemology, the instantaneous images of a geometer contrast with the labored sequential logic of the mathematical analyst. Poincare’ claimed that inclinations toward one or the other of these two cognitive styles and their associated mathematical tools arise from different kinds o