This fourth and final volume of The Collected Papers of Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805 1865) contains three previously unpublished and important manuscripts, namely Systems of Rays and two lengthy letters to de Morgan (on definite integrals) and Hart (on anharmonic coordinates). In addition the volume contains reprinted papers on geometry, analysis, astronomy, probability and finite differences, as well as a collection of papers on various topics. A cumulative index for all three volumes is provided, as well as a CD containing all four volumes of the Collected Papers.

This book is a reference for librarians, mathematicians, and statisticians involved in college and research level mathematics and statistics in the 21st century. We are in a time of transition in scholarly communications in mathematics, practices which have changed little for a hundred years are giving way to new modes of accessing information. Where journals, books, indexes and catalogs were once the physical representation of a good mathematics library, shelves have given way to computers, and users are often accessing information from remote places. Part I is a historical survey of the past 15 years tracking this huge transition in scholarly communications in mathematics. Part II of the book is the bibliography of resources recommended to support the disciplines of mathematics and statistics. These are grouped by type of material. Publication dates range from the 1800's onwards. Hundreds of electronic resources-some online, both dynamic and static, some in fixed media, are listed among the paper resources. Amazingly a majority of listed electronic resources are free.

This fourth and final volume of The Collected Papers of Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865) contains three previously unpublished and important manuscripts, namely, System of Rays and two lengthy letters to de Morgan on definite integrals and Hart on anharmonic coordinates. In addition, the volume contains reprinted papers on geometry, analysis, astronomy, probability, and finite differences, as well as a collection of papers on other topics. A cumulative index for all three volumes is provided, as well as a CD-ROM with all four volumes of the Collected Papers.

This fourth and final volume of The Collected Papers of Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865) contains three previously unpublished and important manuscripts, namely, System of Rays and two lengthy letters to de Morgan on definite integrals and Hart on anharmonic coordinates. In addition, the volume contains reprinted papers on geometry, analysis, astronomy, probability, and finite differences, as well as a collection of papers on other topics. A cumulative index for all three volumes is provided, as well as a CD-ROM with all four volumes of the Collected Papers.

This work is the first explicit examination of the key role that mathematics has played in the development of theoretical physics and will undoubtedly challenge the more conventional accounts of its historical development. Although mathematics has long been regarded as the "language" of physics, the connections between these independent disciplines have been far more complex and intimate than previous narratives have shown. The author convincingly demonstrates that practices, methods, and language shaped the development of the field, and are a key to understanding the mergence of the modern academic discipline. Mathematicians and physicists, as well as historians of both disciplines, will find this provocative work of great interest.