Overview

One service mathematics has rendered the 'Et moi ....- si favait su comment en revenir, je human race. It has put common sense back n'y serais point a1l6.' lules Verne where it belongs, on the topmost shelf next to the dusty eanister labelled 'discarded nonsense' . Erie T. Bell The series is divergent; therefore we may be able to do something with it O. Heaviside Mathematics is a tool for thought. A highly necessary tool in a world where both feedback and nonlineari- ties abound. Similarly, all kinds of parts of mathematics serve as tools for other parts and for other sci- ences. Applying a simple rewriting rule to the quote on the right above one finds such statements as: 'One ser- vice topology has rendered mathematical physics .. .'; 'One service logic has rendered computer science .. .'; 'One service category theory has rendered mathematics .. .'. All arguably true. And all statements obtainable this way form part of the raison d'etre of this series. This series, Mathematics and Its Applications, started in 1977. Now that over one hundred volumes have appeared it seems opportune to reexamine its scope. At the time I wrote "Growing specia1ization and diversification have brought a host of monographs and textbooks on increasingly specialized topics. However, the 'tree' of knowledge of mathematics and It also happens, quite often in related fields does not grow only by putting forth new branches.