I think I could go for it, too. -- rec --
On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 12:14 PM, Robert Holmes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > Great idea - I'd vote for the Krauth. Like I need an excuse to buy another > textbook :-) > Robert > > > On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 11:22 AM, Owen Densmore <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > >> Well, winter is besetting us, so it occurred to me that we might want to >> turn either the Krauth book (the subject), or your earlier excellent find: >> Information Theory, Inference & Learning Algorithms >> David J. C. MacKay >> .. into a group reading at the sfComplex. Our Data Mining one was >> interesting. >> >> I decided I went at the Krauth book with the wrong mind set, so started >> over, looking at it as a conversation with an expert delighted to give a >> deep and complete look at the subject. This has led me to write some simple >> netlogo example programs, looking at several distributions used in simple >> Monte Carlo implementations. Its really kinda fun! Also a bit embarrassing >> when I come up with distributions that are a bit unexpected. I think this >> area takes a *lot* of care! >> >> I gotta say that Krauth hits on a lot of topics heard in the halls of SFI. >> >> MacKay's book is quite deep and broad as well, and has the advantage of >> being available as a PDF. I haven't looked at his site recently, but he >> also had several open source implementations of interest. I went after his >> first chapter with the J programming language for the hell of it (J is an >> APL derivative, also by Iverson .. both Ken and his son). This was the one >> where Dilbert was used as a source for noisy transmission lines. I bet most >> of it too could be netlogo-ized. Or possibly R or Sage. >> >> I ramble .. but .. would some of us be interested in A Winter's Read in >> Mathematics?? I can bring the book to wedtech or other venues. Like beer. >> Just for instance. >> >> -- Owen >> >> >> On Oct 11, 2008, at 11:47 AM, Owen Densmore wrote: >> >> On Oct 11, 2008, at 5:12 AM, Robert Holmes wrote: >>> >>> Owen - how's the book? I've been thinking about brushing up on my >>>> statistical mechanics - Robert >>>> >>> >>> I'm just getting started. My first observation is that its not your >>> basic textbook. By that I mean it does not start with axioms and grind out >>> theorems. This is nice in the sense of being informal, but it also leaves a >>> feeling of being a bit "loose". >>> >>> But it has the advantage of having a good scope: hits nearly all of the >>> buzz words in an intense SFI rap! >>> >>> So I think I will like it, but will look up lots of stuff in wikipedia or >>> other like sources to fill in gaps. >>> >>> One point: I got it considerably cheaper via getting it used: $29.50 + >>> shipping. I can bring it to the next wedtech if you'd like. >>> >>> -- Owen >>> >>> >>> ============================================================ >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >>> >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >> > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
