Reasoning About Luck: Probability and Its Uses in Physics (Dover Books on Physics)

Description

This book introduces college students and other readers to the uses of probability and statistics in the physical sciences, focusing on thermal and statistical physics and touching upon quantum physics. Widely praised as beautifully written and thoughtful, Reasoning About Luck explains concepts in a way that readers can understand and enjoy, even students who are not specializing in science and those outside the classroom — only some familiarity with basic algebra is necessary. Attentive readers will come away with a solid grasp of many of the basic concepts of physics and some excellent insights into the way physicists think and work. "If students who are not majoring in science understood no more physics than that presented by Ambegaokar, they would have a solid basis for thinking about physics and the other sciences." — Physics Today. "There is a real need for rethinking how we teach thermal physics—at all levels, but especially to undergraduates. Professor Ambegaokar has done just that, and given us an outstanding and ambitious textbook for nonscience majors. I find Professor Ambegaokar's style throughout the book to be graceful and witty, with a nice balance of both encouragement and admonishment." — American Journal of Physics. Title Page Copyright Page Contents Preface 1. Introduction 2. The likely, the unlikely, and the incomprehensible Calculating probabilities Some rules How to permute and combine Terminology Solved problems 3. Normality and large numbers The binomial distribution The mean and the standard deviation The normal distribution The laws of averages and large numbers: the central limit theorem Summary Appendix: Another expression for the variance Solved problems 4. Examples Polling Testing a vaccine Estimation of need Probability and baseball: the World Series Solved problems 5. A little mathematics Powers Exponentials Logarithms Radioactive decay Logarithms and factorials: Stirling’s formula Near normality Appendix: The Poisson distribution Solved problems 6. Forces, motion, and energy Newton’s laws of motion Two examples of acceleration Newton’s law of gravitation Energy Solved problems 7. Atoms, molecules, and molecular motion Molecules in motion: gases Molecular motion and gas temperature Some comments Units Solved problems 8. Disorder, entropy, energy, and temperature Entropy Another derivation Some properties of entropy Maximizing entropy: minimizing order Absolute temperature Gas temperature and absolute temperature are identical Effusion from a thermal enclosure Solved problems 9. Heat, work, and putting heat to work Work, heat, and the First Law of Thermodynamics Heat, entropy, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics Thermodynamic reasoning: an example Heat engines Refrigerators and heat pumps Solved problems 10. Fluctuations and the arrow of time Fluctuations and the approach to equilibrium: Ehrenfest’s dogs 172 Entropy Gibbs entropy in a non-equilibrium context Summary and comments Solved problems 11. Chaos A rudimentary pinball machine Logistics Chaos by stretching and folding A brief look back and forward Further reading Solved problems 12. Quantum jumps: the ultimate gamble Classical particles and waves Light as a wave The bright spot Light as a particle Probability in quantum mechanics Quantum statistics Emission and absorption of light Further reading Solved problems Index Addenda for the Dover Edition