Summary

Computers in Science and Mathematics examines the contributions that have been made to computer technology as well as the many ways in which scientists and mathematicians use computers in their daily work. Workers in these fields continue to play a very pivotal role in the development of computer hardware and software, in the theory underlying the design of computer systems, and in the use of computers to advance science and mathematics. This new full-color resource provides a history of computers as scientific and mathematical tools, followed by many examples of how computers are being used today to solve an increasingly wide range of scientific and mathematical problems.

Chapters include: 

• Before Computers: Mechanizing Arithmetic, Counting, and Sorting
• Early Computers: Automating Computation
• Cryptography: Sending Secret Messages
• Mathematical Proofs: Computers Find Truth
• Simulation: Creating Worlds Inside a Computer
• Weather: Mapping the Past, Predicting the Future
• Computer-Inspired Biology: Making Computers from Living Things
• Biology-Inspired Computing: Learning from Nature.

Specifications

Full-color photographs and line illustrations. Index. Glossary. Chronology. Further resources.

About the Author(s)

Robert Plotkin is a patent attorney specializing in patent protection for computer technology. His firm, Robert Plotkin, P.C., has been named a "Go-To Law Firm for Leading Technology Companies" by American Lawyer Media. He is the author of The Genie in the Machine: How Computer-Automated Inventing Is Revolutionizing Law and Business, which explores the impact of invention automation technology on high-tech companies and patent law. Plotkin received his undergraduate degree in computer science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his law degree from the Boston University School of Law and currently teaches a course entitled Software and the Law.