Leibniz published the Dissertation on Combinatorial Art in 1666. This book contains the seeds of Leibniz's mature thought, as well as many of the mathematical ideas that he would go on to further develop after the invention of the calculus. It is in the Dissertation, for instance, that we find the project for the construction of a logical calculus clearly expressed for the first time. The idea of encoding terms and propositions by means of numbers, later developed by Kurt Gödel, also appears in this work. In this text, furthermore, Leibniz conceives the possibility of constituting a universal language or universal characteristic, a project that he would pursue for the rest of his life. Mugnai, van Ruler, and Wilson present the first full English translation of the Dissertation, complete with a critical introduction and a comprehensive commentary.

Leibniz’s correspondence from his years spent in Paris (1672-1676) reflects his growth to mathematical maturity whereas that from the years 1676-1701 reveals his growth to maturity in science, technology and medicine in the course of which more than 2000 letters were exchanged with more than 200 correspondents. The remaining years until his death in 1716 witnessed above all the appearance of his major philosophical works. The focus of the present work is Leibniz's middle period and the core themes and core texts from his multilingual correspondence are presented in English from the following subject areas: mathematics, natural philosophy, physics (and cosmology), power technology (including mining and transport), engineering and engineering science, projects (scientific, technological and economic projects), alchemy and chemistry, geology, biology and medicine.

Christia Mercer analyses Leibniz's early works, demonstrating that the metaphysics of pre-established harmony developed many years earlier than previously believed. A much deeper understanding of some of Leibniz's key doctrines emerges, which will prompt scholars to reconsider their basic assumptions about early modern philosophy and science.

This volume presents two Leibnizian writings, the Specimen of Philosophical Questions Collected from the Law and the Dissertation on Perplexing Cases. These works, originally published in 1664 and 1666, constitute, respectively, Leibniz’s thesis for the title of Master of Philosophy and his doctoral dissertation in law. Besides providing evidence of the earliest development of Leibniz’s thought and amazing anticipations of his mature views, they present a genuine intellectual interest, for the freshness and originality of Leibniz’s reflections on a striking variety of logico-philosophical puzzles drawn from the law. The Specimen addresses puzzling issues resulting from apparent conflicts between law and philosophy (the latter broadly understood as comprising also mathematics, as well as empirical sciences). The Dissertation addresses cases whose solution is puzzling because of the convoluted logical form of legal dispositions and contractual clauses, or because of conflicting priorities between concurring parties. In each case, Leibniz dissects the problems with the greatest ingenuity, disentangling their different aspects, and proposing solutions always reasonable and sometimes surprising. And he does not refrain from peppering his intellectual acrobatics with some humorous comments.

Certainty exists only in idealized models. Viewed as the quantification of uncertainties, probabilitry and random processes play a significant role in modern engineering, particularly in areas such as structural dynamics. Unlike this book, however, few texts develop applied probability in the practical manner appropriate for engineers. Probability Models in Engineering and Science provides a comprehensive, self-contained introduction to applied probabilistic modeling. The first four chapters present basic concepts in probability and random variables, and while doing so, develop methods for static problems. The remaining chapters address dynamic problems, where time is a critical parameter in the randomness. Highlights of the presentation include numerous examples and illustrations and an engaging, human connection to the subject, achieved through short biographies of some of the key people in the field. End-of-chapter problems help solidify understanding and footnotes to the literature expand the discussions and introduce relevant journals and texts. This book builds the background today's engineers need to deal explicitly with the scatter observed in experimental data and with intricate dynamic behavior. Designed for undergraduate and graduate coursework as well as self-study, the text's coverage of theory, approximation methods, and numerical methods make it equally valuable to practitioners.

This book is about Cultures, Religions and their ethics in the world, their development and their transition to a world that is becoming more and more one. All kinds of aspects of different cultures are described: The difference between race and culture, modern subcultures like e.g. the Ghotics, and immigration cultures in Europe especially of Muslims. In addition, there is a chapter on paranormal matters considered from a scientific point of view. It also describes Western, Hindu and Chinese numerology and the I Ching. Then there is a chapter on the core of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religions. There is a special chapter describing traditional ethnic cultures, of various Indian and African peoples and myths both from Ancient Egypt, the Gilgamesh epic, the King Gesar epic,from Tibet and Mongolia and myths from Korea, Australia and other peoples. .For example, a description of the Book of Giants is included,shedding new light on Genesis, which holds a warning for the future. Then there is a description of a possible rule of life, education and philosphy, which can take place in a globalised world. According to the author, all cultures and religions must change if they are to be part of a future multicultural, multi-religious world that has become one. For this, the bad elements must disappear from all ethnic and other cultures and the good elements must be preserved.

This is the first volume compiling English translations of Leibniz's journal articles on natural philosophy, presenting a selection of 26 articles, only three of which have appeared before in English translation. It also includes in full Leibniz's public controversies with De Catelan, Papin, and Hartsoeker. The articles include work in optics, on the fracture strength of materials, and on motion in a resisting medium, and Leibniz's pioneering applications of his calculus to these issues by construing them as mini-max and inverse tangent problems. Other topics covered by the articles include: criticisms of the Cartesian estimate of motive force and Leibniz's proposal of a different way of estimating force to replace it; a proposed theory of celestial motions and gravitation, and derivation of the inverse square law; challenge problems concerning the isochronous curve and the catenary; a sample of work on gaming theory; and Leibniz's critique of atomism.