A New Weblog from Sometimes Sparring Partner Jack Perry

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Cantànima


My only hope is that it is as rich and as rewarding as the conversations that Mr. Perry has initiated and continued over here. I suppose it means less frequent conversations here, but that's all to the good I suppose. Perhaps he'll give us an overview of an exciting book I found at the library this afternoon--Benoit Mandelbrot's analysis of the fractal nature of the stock market. Hope it's as much fun as fractals normally tend to be.

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I'm afraid I don't study fractals. :-) I haven't read a math book in a while (believe it or not); I have John Derbyshire's Prime Obsession on my "maybe someday" list.

Still, it does sound interesting, and makes sense (given my limited understanding of fractals) so I'll add it to the eternal list.

God bless,
jack

Dear Mr. Perry,

I'm sorry, I had somehow gotten the impression that you were a mathematician (not that that would necessarily indicate that you would study fractals--after all, there are a great many different kinds of mathematician.) Looking at your profile, I see that I was mistaken in my reading or my conclusions or I have you confused with someone else. My apologies. Nevertheless, I'll let you know what I think of The (Mis)Behavior of Markets . I already like the idea that the random walk model is insuffiicient to predict market trends. I've never though the random walk model was much good for anytihng I've encountered in science. But then, as a Palaeontologist, I haven't encountered all that much that requires a random walk model. (And yet, Random walks and Monte Carlo simulations seem all the rage.)

shalom,

Steven

Is that the Mandlebrot of the Mandelbrot sets? I have always been amused at the literal translation of mandlebrot - almond bread. sweet and crunchy/

Dear Alicia,

Indeed it is. And from his biography, I would suggest that sweet is not in his own makeup, but crunchy might well be.

shalom,

Steven

Actually, I am a mathematician :-) I just don't do fractals. My research lies nowhere close to that area.

Now I'm wondering what there is in my profile that makes you think I'm not.

jack

Dear Mr. Perry,

I seemed to remember for the dim mists of the past a comment with regard to being a mathematician. Yet when I look at your profile it says "Science Research Assistant." I hastily read that to mean that I had incorrectly surmised that you were a mathematician. As I pointed out, even being a mathematician does not imply that you would necessarily get near fractals. As a Palaeontologist I did very little nuclear physics, so i do understand the wide spectrum of possibilities for research.

shalom,

Steven

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This page contains a single entry by Steven Riddle published on August 29, 2004 3:59 PM.

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