Nuel D. Belnap, jr., An Analysis of Questions: Preliminary Report, June 3, 1963. Printed by the Strategic Development Corporation, Santa Monica, Technical Memorandum series. 11x8 inches, 160 leaves. Hole punched and bound with two metal fasteners. Very good copy. Scarce. $175
Other publications by Belnap:
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Karreman, Herman F. (Princeton) "Programming the Supply of a Strategic Material", prepared under contract with the ONR, ca. 1958. 11x8.5 inches, 20 leaves, offset typed pages, stapled at upper left. Very good copy. $175
Karreman (winner of the Lanchester Prize1 and the Frederick W. Lanchester Prize) stated on the front page: "I am indebted to Prof. Oskar Morgenstern and tje othermembers of the Econometric Research Prrogram at Princeton University...and to Dr. Philip Wolfe, now a the RAND Corporation..."
A 1960 version of this paper appeared as "Programming the supply of a strategic material. Part I. A Nonstochastic Model" in 1960 as well as "A Stochastic Model for Programming the Supply of a Strategic Material" (1963)In: Recent Advances in Mathematical Programming edited by Robert L. Graves and Philip Wolfe, MicGraw-Hill, 1963, pp 223-237.
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This is the weekly issue for 24 April 1879, and although the Jevons article occupies only 588-590 it contains some 3000 words--meaning that this is a densely-printed journal. This is the weekly issue of Nature, with its original wrappers, removed from a larger bound volume.
This is a very early example of statistical interpretation in economic research. "Jevons studied natural science, and worked as an assayer to the Australian Mint from 1853 to 1859. He became Professor of Logic at Owens College, Manchester, in 1866 and in 1876 at University College, London. His main theoretical economic work is Theory of Political Economy (1871). Other aspects of his work are collected together in Investigations in Currency and Finance (1884). He was one of the three economists to put forward a marginal utility theory in the 1870s. He argued that one commodity will exchange for another such that the ratio of the prices of the two commodities traded equals the ratio of their marginal utilities. Edgeworth criticized the way Jevons developed these ideas, and in so doing invented the indifference curve. Jevons also made an important contribution to the theory of capital, many aspects of which were, in fact, taken up by the Austrian school. He superimposed on the classical economic theory the idea that capital should be measured in terms of time as well as quantity. An increase in the amount invested is the same as an increase in the time period in which it is being employed. Output can be increased by extending the period in which the investment is available by, for instance, reinvesting the output instead of consuming it at the end of the production period. With given levels of labour and capital, output becomes a function of time only. He derived from this a definition of the rate of interest as the ratio of the output gained, by an increase in the time capital remains invested divided by the amount invested (see Böhm-Bawerk, E. von; internal rate of return). Jevons was also one of the founders of econometrics: he invented moving averages."-- See Gossen, H. H.; Menger, C.; Walras, M. E. L.
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William Jevons. "The Power of Numerical Discrimination", an article in Nature, 9 February 1871, occupying pp 281-283 (but a tightly-packed, tightly-printed 4,000 words) in the issue of pp 281-300. Offered in the original weekly issue, removed from a larger bound vilume, but with the original front wrapper and 4-pp of ads. Scarce in this format. VG condition. $250
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v3/n71/abs/003367b0.html
"He carried out 1027 trials in which he tossed an "uncertain number" of
uniform black beans into a box and immediately attempted to estimate the number
"without the least hesitation". His questions, procedure and analysis anticipated
by 75 years one of the most influential papers in modern cognitive psychology
by George Miller (1956), "The magical number 7 plus or minus 2: Some limits on
..."
For Jevons, the magical number was 4.5, representing an empirical law of
complete accuracy."-- By Vincent Arel-Bundock, http://vincentarelbundock.github.io/Rdatasets/doc/HistData/Jevons.html
Continue reading "How Many Objects Can the Mind Embrace at Once?" »
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Oliver Heaviside, "Vectors versus Quaternions", in Nature, the weekly issue for 6 April 1893, pp 533-534, with the original printed wrappers, front and back. Nice copy, though there is an old vertical fold in the middle. $75
Extract, the firs quater or so of the article, via the Smithsonian Astrophysical Laboratory:
"HAVING a vivid recollection of the pleasure I derived born Prof. Gibbs's attacks upon the quaternionic system in the rather one-sided discussion that took place about two years ago in this journal, I have delayed replying to the letters of Profs. MacAulay and Tait, from an expectation that Prof. Gibbs would have something to say. In this I have not been mistaken; and, as there is a general agreement between us on the whole, I have merely to add some supplementary remarks. Prof. MacAulay refers to me as having raised the question again. I can assure him it has never been dropped. Apart from the one-sided discussion, it has been a live question with Prof. Gibbs and myself since about 1882, and is now more alive than ever. I cannot help thinking that Prof. MacAulay's letter was overhastily written, and feel sure that if he knew as much about the views and methods of those to whom he appeals as he does about Quaternions, he would have written it somewhat differently, or perhaps not have written it at all, from a conviction of the uselessness of his appeal. There is no question of suicide with us on the contrary, quite the reverse. I am asked whether the ``spoonfeeding,'' as he terms it, of Maxwell, Fitzgerald, &c., is not good enough for me. Why, of course not. It is quaternionic, and that is the real point concerned. Again, he thinks nothing of the inscrutable negativity of the square of a vector in Quaternions; here, again, is the root of the evil. As regards a uniformity of notation amongst antiquaternionists, I dare say that will come in time, but the proposal is premature. We have fist to get people to study the matter and think about it. I have developed my system, such as it is, quite independently of Prof. Gibbs. Nevertheless, I would willingly adopt his notation (as I have adopted his dyadical notion of the linear operator) if I found it better. But I do not. I have been particularly careful in my notation to harmonise as closely as possible with ordinary mathematical ideas, processes, and notation; I do not think Gibbs has succeeded so well. But that matters little now; the really important thing is to depose the quaternion from the masterful position it has so long usurped, whereby the diffusion of vector analysis has been so lamentably impeded. I have been, until lately, very tender and merciful towards quaternionic fads, thinking it possible that Prof. Taft might modify his obstructive attitude. But there is seemingly no chance of that. Whether this be so or not, I think it is practically certain that there is no chance whatever for Quaternions as a practical system of mathematics for the use of physicists. How is it possible, when it is so utterly discordant with physical notions, besides being at variance with common mathematics? A vector is not a quaternion; it never was, and never will be, and its square is not negative; the supposed proofs are perfectly rotten at the core. Vector-analysis should have a purely vectorial basis, and the quaternion will then, if wanted at all, merely come in as an occasional auxiliary, as a special kind of operator. It is to Prof. Tait's devotion to his master that we should look for the reason of the little progress made in the last 20 years in spreading vector-analysis..."
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Richard Bellman. A Survey of the Mathematical Theory of TimeLag, Retarded Control, and Hereditary Processes. Published by the Rand Corporation, Santa Barbara, March 1, 1954. R-256. 9x6 inches. 106pp. Stiff paper boards, with printed spine label. A very nice copy of this book in the problematc Rand format.
Full text pdf of a slightly different version of this book, from Rand, here
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W. Stanley Jevons. "Sun-Spots and the Plague", in Nature, 13 February 1879, page 338 int he weekly issue of pp 333-356. This issue has the original printed wrappers plus the scarce advertisement pages, all removed from a larger bound volume. $145
Here the exceptional and versatile Jevons looks at the coincidence of death and the solar cycle. It is a short piece--two paragraphs--and reprinted in full below. Jevons was simply a wonderful thinker.
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KUHN, H.W. Lectures on the Theory of Games. Princeton University, Department of Mathematics, Spring 1952. Issued as a report of the Logistics Research Project sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, Contract N6onr-27011, Project No. NR 047-002, 159pp. 1x8 inches. Stapled, spine covered in original cloth with paper label for title. Good, solid copy, some wear here and there. Ownership stamp on title page, small owner name on front cover. $250
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Lord Kelvin, (William Thomson, 1824-1907), "On the Homogeneous Division of Space", in Nature, two issues, as follows: (1) 8 March 1894, pp 445-448; and (2) 15 March 1894, pp 469-471. A version of this paper appears slightly earlier (17 January) in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. Both papers, removed from a larger bound volume but with their original front and rear wrappers as well as the seldon-seen advertisement section: $95
There are many (i.e., 1,496,225,352) different forms of the convex 14-faced polyhedron tetrakaidekahedron (see Wolfram Math for a quick summary)--this is the first I can remember being displayed on a 19th century pillow. Kelvin was particularly interested in displaying geometrical figures in three dimensional space, and would return to the issue numerous times, particularly in the Baltimore Lectures on Molecular Dynamics and the Wave Theory of Light (see page 606ff).
These are remarkably interesting papers--especially considering their brevity.
It is interesting to note the list of what Thomson "is known for" in his Wiki entry:
Continue reading "The First Image of a Tetrakaidekaderon on a 19th Century Pillow?" »
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Heaviside, Oliver. "Quaternionic Innovations", in Nature, page 245, 11 January 1894, volume 49, pp 241-264. With the original printed outer wrappers, front and back, with the elusive ads section. Nice copy, though with old vertical fold. Old faded library stamp on front cover, "Smithsonian Institution/Astrophysical Laboratory". $95
"THAT Prof. Tait should not be able to do justice to those who prefer to treat vectors as vectors, and quaternions as quaternions, instead of commingling their diverse natures, with the result, in the latter case, of confusion of physical ideas (and geometrical also, for of course geometry is itself ultimately a physical science, having an experiential foundation), is naturally to be expected. He does not know their ways, either of thinking or of working, as is abundantly evident in all that he has written adversely to Prof. Willard Gibbs and others. It is, however, a little strange, in view of Prof. Tait’s often expressed conservatism regarding Quaternionics, that he should tolerate any innovations therein, such as Mr. MacAulay has introduced. The latter may perhaps take this as a compliment to his analytical powers, which compel the former’s admiration, and toleration of his departures from quaternionic usage. For myself, I welcome any quaternionic innovations that may (ultimately) tend in the direction of the standpoint assumed by Prof. Gibbs and others, and foresaw some two years since (when a very bulky manuscript came to me for my opinion) that there would be some quaternionic upstirring..."
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