Approach your problems from the right end It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is and begin with the answers. Then one day, that they can't see the problem. perhaps you will find the final question. G. K. Chesterton. The Scandal of Father 'The Hermit Clad in Crane Feathers' in R Brown 'The point of a Pin'. van Gulik's The Chinese Maze Murders. Growing specialization and diversification have brought a host of monographs and textbooks on increasingly specialized topics. However, the "tree" of knowledge of mathematics and related fields does not grow only by putting forth new branches. It also happens, quite often in fact, that branches which were thought to be completely disparate are suddenly seen to be related. Further, the kind and level of sophistication of mathematics applied in various sciences has changed drastically in recent years: measure theory is used (non trivially) in regional and theoretical economics; algebraic geometry interacts with physics; the Minkowsky lemma, coding theory and the structure of water meet one another in packing and covering theory; quantum fields, crystal defects and mathematical programming profit from homotopy theory; Lie algebras are relevant to filtering; and prediction and electrical engineering can use Stein spaces. And in addition to this there are such new emerging subdisciplines as "experimental mathematics", "CFD", "completely integrable systems", "chaos, synergetics and large-scale order", which are almost impossible to fit into the existing classification schemes. They draw upon widely different sections of mathematics.

Discusses problems in the distribution theory of probability.

Probability limit theorems in infinite-dimensional spaces give conditions un der which convergence holds uniformly over an infinite class of sets or functions. Early results in this direction were the Glivenko-Cantelli, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Donsker theorems for empirical distribution functions. Already in these cases there is convergence in Banach spaces that are not only infinite-dimensional but nonsep arable. But the theory in such spaces developed slowly until the late 1970's. Meanwhile, work on probability in separable Banach spaces, in relation with the geometry of those spaces, began in the 1950's and developed strongly in the 1960's and 70's. We have in mind here also work on sample continuity and boundedness of Gaussian processes and random methods in harmonic analysis. By the mid-70's a substantial theory was in place, including sharp infinite-dimensional limit theorems under either metric entropy or geometric conditions. Then, modern empirical process theory began to develop, where the collection of half-lines in the line has been replaced by much more general collections of sets in and functions on multidimensional spaces. Many of the main ideas from probability in separable Banach spaces turned out to have one or more useful analogues for empirical processes. Tightness became "asymptotic equicontinuity. " Metric entropy remained useful but also was adapted to metric entropy with bracketing, random entropies, and Kolchinskii-Pollard entropy. Even norms themselves were in some situations replaced by measurable majorants, to which the well-developed separable theory then carried over straightforwardly.

Written by a distinguished specialist in functional analysis, this book presents a comprehensive treatment of the history of Banach spaces and (abstract bounded) linear operators. Banach space theory is presented as a part of a broad mathematics context, using tools from such areas as set theory, topology, algebra, combinatorics, probability theory, logic, etc. Equal emphasis is given to both spaces and operators. The book may serve as a reference for researchers and as an introduction for graduate students who want to learn Banach space theory with some historical flavor.

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This book is intended to be used with graduate courses in Banach space theory.

Isoperimetric, measure concentration and random process techniques appear at the basis of the modern understanding of Probability in Banach spaces. Based on these tools, the book presents a complete treatment of the main aspects of Probability in Banach spaces (integrability and limit theorems for vector valued random variables, boundedness and continuity of random processes) and of some of their links to Geometry of Banach spaces (via the type and cotype properties). Its purpose is to present some of the main aspects of this theory, from the foundations to the most important achievements. The main features of the investigation are the systematic use of isoperimetry and concentration of measure and abstract random process techniques (entropy and majorizing measures). Examples of these probabilistic tools and ideas to classical Banach space theory are further developed.

Geometry and Martingales in Banach Spaces provides a compact exposition of the results explaining the interrelations existing between the metric geometry of Banach spaces and the theory of martingales, and general random vectors with values in those Banach spaces. Geometric concepts such as dentability, uniform smoothness, uniform convexity, Beck convexity, etc. turn out to characterize asymptotic behavior of martingales with values in Banach spaces.