Topics in differential and integral equations and operator theory: M. G. Krein, Birkhauser, 1983, 303 pp.

✍ Scribed by Gian-Carlo Rota

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 66 KB
• Volume: 58
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0001-8708
• DOI: 10.1016/0001-8708(85)90122-7

✦ Synopsis

The late William Feller used to say: "I could'stare all my life at a symmetric matrix, I will never get Hilbert space out of it!" And sure enough, Hilbert space has proved to be one of the richest inventions of the mathematical mind. Like a good invention, just at the point when everyone thinks her dead, it springs back to life with the cry "Eadem resurge." We wish it a long ninth life. N. F. HURT, Geometric Quantizalion in Action, Reidel, 1982, 336 pp.

As one leafs through this book, the intriguing question comes up whether the author is a mathematician or a physicist. The topics have been chosen with a good eye to the physics, but the exposition is too spotless for a physicist. A good sign either way.