This is a special collection of problems that were given to select applicants during oral entrance exams to the math department of Moscow State University. These problems were designed to prevent Jews and other undesirables from getting a passing grade. Among problems that were used by the department to blackball unwanted candidate students, these problems are distinguished by having a simple solution that is difficult to find. Using problems with a simple solution protected the administration from extra complaints and appeals. This collection therefore has mathematical as well as historical value.

Nature 464, 165 (11 March 2010) | doi:10.1038/464165a; Published online 10 March 2010 (RESTRICTED)

BOOK REVIEWED-Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century
by Masha Gessen
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 2009. 256 pp. $26

Nature 427, 388-389 (29 January 2004) | doi:10.1038/427388a (restricted)

A reclusive Russian claims to have solved a century-old mathematical problem — but his enigmatic personality is adding a fresh dimension to the proof-checking process. Emily Singer reports.

The purpose of this book is to provide an introduction to the concepts of statistical analysis of data for students at the undergraduate and graduate level, and to provide tools for data reduction and error analysis commonly required in the physical sciences. The presentation is developed from a practical point of view, including enough derivation to justify the results, but emphasizing methods of handling data more than theory. The text provides a variety of numerical and graphical techniques. Computer programs that support these techniques will be available on an accompanying website in both Fortran and C++.

The fourteen chapters of this book cover the central ideas and concepts of chaos and fractals as well as many related topics including: the Mandelbrot set, Julia sets, cellular automata, L-systems, percolation and strange attractors. This new edition has been thoroughly revised throughout. The appendices of the original edition were taken out since more recent publications cover this material in more depth. Instead of the focussed computer programs in BASIC, the authors provide 10 interactive JAVA-applets for this second edition.

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