Springer Theory of Martingales: 49 (Mathematics and its Applications, 49)

One service mathematics has rc:ndered the 'Et moi, "', si j'avait su comment CD revenir, je n'y serais point alle. ' human race. It has put common SCIIJC back Jules Verne where it belongs. on the topmost shelf next to tbe dusty canister 1abdled 'discarded non- The series is divergent; tberefore we may be sense'. able to do sometbing witb it Eric T. Bell O. Heaviside Mathematics is a tool for thought. A highly necessary tool in a world where both feedback and non linearities abound. Similarly, all kinds of parts of mathematics serve as tools for other parts and for other sciences. Applying a simple rewriting rule to the quote on the right above one finds such statements as: 'One service topology has rendered mathematical physics . . . '; 'One service logic has rendered com puter science . . . '; 'One service category theory has rendered mathematics . . . '. All arguably true_ And all statements obtainable this way form part of the raison d'etre of this series_ This series, Mathematics and Its ApplicatiOns, started in 1977. Now that over one hundred volumes have appeared it seems opportune to reexamine its scope_ At the time I wrote "Growing specialization and diversification have brought a host of monographs and textbooks on increasingly specialized topics. However, the 'tree' of knowledge of mathematics and related fields does not grow only by putting forth new branches.