ZERO TO INFINITY: THE FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICS (Series on Knots and Everything, 41)

ZERO TO INFINITY: THE FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICS (Series on Knots and Everything, 41) by Rowlands, Peter. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9789812709141.

Rowlands (U. of Liverpool, UK) proposes a new approach to the investigation of physics in which a zero totality is used to create a "universal rewrite system," which then allows the restructuring of mathematics without first assuming the number system or discreteness. He then derives by induction the foundational components of physics and shows them as analogous to the mathematical structure. He next seeks to demonstrate that the most convenient packaging of the of the mathematical structure is the one that provides the shortest route to zero totality, which he argues also leads to the fundamental equation that drives the whole of physics. Much of the rest of the text is spent working out the consequences of this in order to generate the results considered foundational to physics but two chapters are included that are devoted to showing that these structures are also applicable (in a fractal sense) to biological and other large-scale systems. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)