The goal of the book is to present a tapestry of ideas from various areas of mathematics in a clear and rigorous yet informal and friendly way. Prerequisites include undergraduate courses in real analysis and in linear algebra, and some knowledge of complex analysis. --from publisher description.

Surfaces are among the most common and easily visualized mathematical objects, and their study brings into focus fundamental ideas, concepts, and methods from geometry, topology, complex analysis, Morse theory, and group theory. This book introduces many of the principal actors - the round sphere, flat torus, Mobius strip, and Klein bottle.

The problem of enumerating maps (a map is a set of polygonal "countries" on a world of a certain topology, not necessarily the plane or the sphere) is an important problem in mathematics and physics, and it has many applications ranging from statistical physics, geometry, particle physics, telecommunications, biology, ... etc. This problem has been studied by many communities of researchers, mostly combinatorists, probabilists, and physicists. Since 1978, physicists have invented a method called "matrix models" to address that problem, and many results have been obtained. Besides, another important problem in mathematics and physics (in particular string theory), is to count Riemann surfaces. Riemann surfaces of a given topology are parametrized by a finite number of real parameters (called moduli), and the moduli space is a finite dimensional compact manifold or orbifold of complicated topology. The number of Riemann surfaces is the volume of that moduli space. Mor e generally, an important problem in algebraic geometry is to characterize the moduli spaces, by computing not only their volumes, but also other characteristic numbers called intersection numbers. Witten's conjecture (which was first proved by Kontsevich), was the assertion that Riemann surfaces can be obtained as limits of polygonal surfaces (maps), made of a very large number of very small polygons. In other words, the number of maps in a certain limit, should give the intersection numbers of moduli spaces. In this book, we show how that limit takes place. The goal of this book is to explain the "matrix model" method, to show the main results obtained with it, and to compare it with methods used in combinatorics (bijective proofs, Tutte's equations), or algebraic geometry (Mirzakhani's recursions). The book intends to be self-contained and accessible to graduate students, and provides comprehensive proofs, several examples, and give s the general formula for the enumeration of maps on surfaces of any topology. In the end, the link with more general topics such as algebraic geometry, string theory, is discussed, and in particular a proof of the Witten-Kontsevich conjecture is provided.

The geometry of surfaces is an ideal starting point for learning geometry, for, among other reasons, the theory of surfaces of constant curvature has maximal connectivity with the rest of mathematics. This text provides the student with the knowledge of a geometry of greater scope than the classical geometry taught today, which is no longer an adequate basis for mathematics or physics, both of which are becoming increasingly geometric. It includes exercises and informal discussions.

In the last thirty years Computational Geometry has emerged as a new discipline from the field of design and analysis of algorithms. That dis cipline studies geometric problems from a computational point of view, and it has attracted enormous research interest. But that interest is mostly concerned with Euclidean Geometry (mainly the plane or Eu clidean 3-dimensional space). Of course, there are some important rea sons for this occurrence since the first applieations and the bases of all developments are in the plane or in 3-dimensional space. But, we can find also some exceptions, and so Voronoi diagrams on the sphere, cylin der, the cone, and the torus have been considered previously, and there are manY works on triangulations on the sphere and other surfaces. The exceptions mentioned in the last paragraph have appeared to try to answer some quest ions which arise in the growing list of areas in which the results of Computational Geometry are applicable, since, in practiee, many situations in those areas lead to problems of Com putational Geometry on surfaces (probably the sphere and the cylinder are the most common examples). We can mention here some specific areas in which these situations happen as engineering, computer aided design, manufacturing, geographie information systems, operations re search, roboties, computer graphics, solid modeling, etc.

In this book, Miranda takes the approach that algebraic curves are best encountered for the first time over the complex numbers, where the reader's classical intuition about surfaces, integration, and other concepts can be brought into play. Therefore, many examples of algebraic curves are presented in the first chapters. In this way, the book begins as a primer on Riemann surfaces, with complex charts and meromorphic functions taking centre stage. But the main examples come fromprojective curves, and slowly but surely the text moves toward the algebraic category. Proofs of the Riemann-Roch and Serre Dualtiy Theorems are presented in an algebraic manner, via an adaptation of the adelic proof, expressed completely in terms of solving a Mittag-Leffler problem. Sheaves andcohomology are introduced as a unifying device in the later chapters, so that their utility and naturalness are immediately obvious. Requiring a background of one term of complex variable theory and a year of abstract algebra, this is an excellent graduate textbook for a second-term course in complex variables or a year-long course in algebraic geometry.

This book collects the publications of Shinya lnou‚, pioneering cell biophysicist and winner of the 2003 International Prize for Biology. The articles cover the discovery, and elucidate the behavior in living cells, of the dynamic molecular filaments which organize the cell and play a central role in cell division. Other articles report on the development of microscopes, especially those using polarized light and digital image enhancement, which make possible studies of the ever-changing molecular architecture directly in living cells. This book also contains many high quality photo-micrographs as well as an appended DVD with an extensive collection of video movies of active living cells. After training in Tokyo and at Princeton University, Dr Inou‚ has held teaching positions at the University of Washington, Tokyo Metropolitan University, University of Rochester, Dartmouth Medical School, and University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and currently holds the title of Distinguished Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.