Main Page - Statistical Mechanics: Algorithms and Computations

[Owen Densmore]

I recently bought this book, and was delighted to see how complete a  
wiki was associated with it:
   http://www.smac.lps.ens.fr/index.php/Main_Page

     -- 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

[Robert Holmes]

Owen - how's the book? I've been thinking about brushing up on my statistical mechanics - Robert

On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 10:42 AM, Owen Densmore <[hidden email]> wrote:

I recently bought this book, and was delighted to see how complete a wiki was associated with it:
 http://www.smac.lps.ens.fr/index.php/Main_Page

   -- 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

[Owen Densmore]

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

[Owen Densmore]

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

[Robert Holmes]

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 <[hidden email]> 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

[Roger Critchlow-2]

I think I could go for it, too.

--  rec --

On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 12:14 PM, Robert Holmes <[hidden email]> 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 <[hidden email]> 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