[math-fun] Ramanujan's notebooks for $1000?
I thought the Ramanujan notebooks are already available as nice printed books from >Springer.
--It seems Plouffe's claim they cost $1000 was a slight exaggeration. Amazon will sell you part 5 of the notebooks (printed by Springer) for $183, so assuming the other parts same price, that is $915. If there is sales tax that'll indeed reach just about $1000.
Would the library even let you near the original notebooks, much less handle them with your greasy fingers (you could wear gloves), and open them up and press them against a scanner?
--my point was you could save money versus Springer by flying to Cambridge and copying them yourself. Of course, my further point was, if "publishers" sell books for more than the cost of flying yourself across the world to scan author's work, the meaning of the world "publication" may require revision, and the entire moral/econo/logical justification for the existence of "copyright law" would seem to be a crock of shit.
Hum, not exaggerated, http://www.amazon.fr/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?__mk_fr_FR=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95... The price for the paper copy (not kindle), just the yellow original books is 165 to 175 EUROS per copy. which makes 835 EUROS for the notebooks I to V : converted to US dollars, as I claimed, it makes 1065.29 USD. I know what I am talking about and also how to compute a simple euro to us dollars. But the shipping is free. I still say that this is indecent to sell books like that at that price. Simon Plouffe
On Sep 25, 2014, at 6:55 PM, Warren D Smith <warren.wds@gmail.com> wrote:
--my point was you could save money versus Springer by flying to Cambridge and copying them yourself. Of course, my further point was, if "publishers" sell books for more than the cost of flying yourself across the world to scan author's work, ...
Even the most cursory glance at the book description reveals that it is far more than a photocopy of Ramanujan's notebooks. It's the result of years of research and analysis. From the description of volume II: This book is the second of four volumes devoted to the editing of Ramanujan's Notebooks. Part I, published in 1985, contains an account of Chapters 1-9 in the second notebook as well as a description of Ramanujan's quarterly reports. In this volume, we examine Chapters 10-15 in Ramanujan's second notebook. If a result is known, we provide references in the literature where proofs may be found; if a result is not known, we attempt to prove it. Not only are the results fascinating, but, for the most part, Ramanujan's methods remain a mystery. Much work still needs to be done. We hope readers will strive to discover Ramanujan's thoughts and further develop his beautiful ideas. So what is your point? Regards, Jon
The point ? 175 euros for that masterpiece is indeed well justified. The slight problem is that is cost what to actually produce the book : 10$ ?,Ok let's put it to 12 $ because it takes a lot of yellow color ?, I presume that Springer is having discount prices for that color, plus the percentage that Mr Berndt gets for each book, 20 $ ?, 30 $ ? , (this would be for a generous contract I say). The research and time spent by that author is priceless, every body agrees with that, the problem is Springer and I am not the only one saying this. I remember when I bought my copy of the Abramowitz and Stegun book for 12 $ canadian in Montréal, I thought that 12 $ was a really honest price, I had deep respect for those Dover books, we could get very high quality math books for a couple of bucks. I know some people that are managers of university libraries and I have been told that they can't afford these books too. Best regards, Simon Plouffe
participants (3)
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Jon Ziegler -
Simon Plouffe -
Warren D Smith