23 February 2010

Optimism à la Camus

In his Nobel prize"Conférence du 14 Décembre 1957", given at the University of Uppsala, Albert Camus, referring to a 19th c. American writer, said:
Tant qu'un homme reste fidèle à lui même, tout abonde dans son sens, gouvernement, société, le soleil même, la lune et les étoiles.
As long as a man even remains sincere to himself, all abounds in his sense, government, society, even the sun, the moon and the stars.
And added that this optimism seems to be dead today.

One wonders why...

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T H E B O T T O M L I N E

What measure theory is about

It's about counting, but when things get too large.
Put otherwise, it's about addition of positive numbers, but when these numbers are far too many.

The principle of dynamic programming

max_{x,y} [f(x) + g(x,y)] = max_x [f(x) + max_y g(x,y)]

The bottom line

Nuestras horas son minutos cuando esperamos saber y siglos cuando sabemos lo que se puede aprender.
(Our hours are minutes when we wait to learn and centuries when we know what is to be learnt.) --António Machado

Αγεωμέτρητος μηδείς εισίτω.
(Those who do not know geometry may not enter.) --Plato

Sapere Aude! Habe Muth, dich deines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen!
(Dare to know! Have courage to use your own reason!) --Kant