ClDo _ IIIIIIIoaIIIics bu _ die 'EI JDDi, --- sij'_ . . . . -. . .
_. je _ . . . . . lIbupalaJllllllllll __ D'y_poa: wbae it beIoap. .
. . die . . ". . ., . . _ DOD to dlecluly __ - __ . 1110 _ is
dioapaI; -. . e _ may be EricT. BeD IbIetodo--'_iL O. 1feaoriIide
Mathematics is a tool for dloogIrt. A bighly necessary tool in a world
where both feedback and noolineari- ties abound. Similarly, all kinds of
parts of IIIIIIhcmatiI: s serve as tools for odIcr parts and for ocher
sci- eoccs. Applying a simple rewriting rule to the quote on the right
above one finds suc: h stalements as: 'One ser- vice topology has
rcncIerM mathematical physics . . . '; 'One service logic has rendered
computer science . - . '; 'One service category theory has rmdcn: d
mathematics . . . '. All arguably true. And all statements obrainable
this way form part of the raison d'etm of this series. This series,
Mathmlatics tDIII Its Applications, saaned in 1977. Now that over one
hundred volumcs have appeared it seems opportune to reexamine its scope.
AI. the time I wrote "Growing spccialization and divenification have
brought a host of monographs and textbooks on incJeasingly specialized
topics. However, the 'tree' of knowledge of JJJatbcmatics and reIatcd
ficIds docs not grow only by putting forth new bnDdIcs. It also happens,
quite often in fact, that brancbes which were thought to be comp1etcly
disparate am suddenly seen to be rdatcd.