A Diary on Information Theory

Fülszöveg

A DIARY ON INFORMATION THEORY
By Alfréd Rényi
This book may be of interest not only to mathematicians, but to laymen as well. The
author, the late Alfréd Rényi, an outstanding Hungarian mathematician, always wanted
to bring mathematics close to as many people as possible. The first paper in the book,
entitled "On the Mathematical Notion of Information", is the diary of a "university
student", who is just becoming acquainted with his subject. Rényi chose to convey his
thoughts via a student of his. The book also contains other stimulating articles:
their message is how one can come to like mathematics. Even readers lacking the
necessary knowledge to follow them all the way through will find sufficient incisive
thoughts in them. Rényi's intention was to explain, among other things, what mathe-
matics is, how it can contribute to our everyday life, how it can further the develop-
ment of our thinking. Readers will also enjoy the fascinating style of the book.
ALFRÉD... Tovább

Fülszöveg

A DIARY ON INFORMATION THEORY
By Alfréd Rényi
This book may be of interest not only to mathematicians, but to laymen as well. The
author, the late Alfréd Rényi, an outstanding Hungarian mathematician, always wanted
to bring mathematics close to as many people as possible. The first paper in the book,
entitled "On the Mathematical Notion of Information", is the diary of a "university
student", who is just becoming acquainted with his subject. Rényi chose to convey his
thoughts via a student of his. The book also contains other stimulating articles:
their message is how one can come to like mathematics. Even readers lacking the
necessary knowledge to follow them all the way through will find sufficient incisive
thoughts in them. Rényi's intention was to explain, among other things, what mathe-
matics is, how it can contribute to our everyday life, how it can further the develop-
ment of our thinking. Readers will also enjoy the fascinating style of the book.
ALFRÉD RÉNYI, one of the most outstanding personalities of Hungarian mathe-
matical life, was born in 1921 in Budapest and died in 1970. He studied first at
Budapest University as a student of Lipót Fejér and after the war he finished his
studies at Szeged University. In 1947 he became Professor at Budapest University and
in 1949 at Debrecen University. In 1950 he was appointed Director of the Mathe-
matical Research Institute and head of the Chair of Calculus of Probabilities at Eötvös
Loránd University of Budapest. He lead these two institutions up to his death. Apart
from his academic books and papers he regularly published articles popularizing mathe-
matics and took great pains to establish applied mathematics in Hungary. He was
one of the initiators of the reform of mathematics teaching in the country's schools.
At the same time he took an active part in scientific public life, among others as
Secretary General of the János Bolyai Mathematical Society. He participated in nu-
merous international congresses, often as president or co-president As an invited
lecturer he worked at different universities in the USA, he also visited China, and
between 1956—1969 he was Chairman of the International Statistical Institute and
Honorary Fellow of Churchill College in Cambridge. For his outstanding scientific and
educational work he was twice awarded the Kossuth Prize. Vissza