William Paul Byers (born 1943) is a Canadian mathematician and philosopher; professor emeritus in mathematics and statistics at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
He completed a BSc ('64), and an MSc ('65) from McGill University, and obtained his PhD ('69) from the University of California, Berkeley. His dissertation, Anosov Flows, was supervised by Stephen Smale.
His area of interests include dynamical systems and the philosophy of mathematics.
Books
Byers is the author of three books on mathematics:
- How Mathematicians Think: Using Ambiguity, Contradiction, and Paradox to Create Mathematics (Princeton University Press, 2007)
- The Blind Spot: Science and the Crisis of Uncertainty (Princeton University Press, 2011)
- Deep Thinking: What Mathematics Can Teach Us About the Mind (World Scientific, 2015)
See also
References
- William P. Byers at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- Reviews of How Mathematicians Think:
- Grattan-Guinness, Ivor, zbMATH, Zbl 1123.00003
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - Rogovchenko, Svitlana P., zbMATH, Zbl 1191.00009
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - Chaitin, Gregory (July 25, 2007), "Review", New Scientist
- Hersh, Reuben (December 2007), "Review" (PDF), Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 54 (11): 1496–1499
- Kennard, Lee (April 2008), Math Horizons, 15 (4): 24–25, doi:10.1080/10724117.2008.11974771, JSTOR 25678755, S2CID 125265631
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - Wolff, Ken (May 2008), The Mathematics Teacher, 101 (9): 696, JSTOR 20876252
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - Baylis, John (March 2009), The Mathematical Gazette, 93 (526): 170–173, doi:10.1017/S0025557200184463, JSTOR 40378699, S2CID 185022987
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - Keyfitz, Barbara Lee (Winter 2009), University of Toronto Quarterly, 78 (1): 141–143, doi:10.1353/utq.0.0372, S2CID 120506445
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
- Grattan-Guinness, Ivor, zbMATH, Zbl 1123.00003
- Reviews of The Blind Spot:
- "Review", Quill & Quire, Ontario Arts Council, 26 July 2011
- "Nonfiction book review", Publishers Weekly
- Jubin, Brenda (April 2011), "Review", Seeking Alpha
- "Review", Kirkus Reviews, May 2011
- Taylor, Paul (April 2012), "Review", Mathematics Today, Institute of Mathematics & its Applications
- Sears, Ruthmae (October 2012), The Mathematics Teacher, 106 (3): 238, doi:10.5951/mathteacher.106.3.0238, JSTOR 10.5951/mathteacher.106.3.0238
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - Edwards, Matthew (February 2013), "Review", The Actuary
- Review of Deep Thinking:
- Bultheel, Adhemar (February 2015), "Review", EMS Reviews, European Mathematical Society
External links
- Roberts, Russ (May 16, 2011). "Byers on The Blind Spot, Science, and Uncertainty". EconTalk. Library of Economics and Liberty.