The American Mathematical Society has announced that the 2021 Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition will be awarded to Noga Alon and Joel Spencer for their book, The Probabilistic Method, published by Wiley & Sons Inc. in 1992.
The ASA’s announcement reads: “Now in its fourth edition, The Probabilistic Method is an invaluable toolbox for both the beginner and the experienced researcher in discrete probability. It brings together through one unifying perspective a variety of results and methods, linked to applications in graph theory, combinatorics, number theory, and geometry.
“This enduring book has been used worldwide. Much-cited by significant papers in leading journals, it functions as both on-ramp and toolbox. The Probabilistic Method has its roots in the work of Paul Erdős, and this volume brings together a dizzying array of ideas, methods and applications, using them to prove deterministic properties of combinatorial systems and typical properties of random discrete systems.
“Applications presented are frequently state-of-the-art bounds. Alon and Spencer synthesize their various proofs and at times offer alternative proofs of their own. As is often the case for books that help to seed a field, the material brought together here into a unified fabric was previously unavailable in one place. The style of the book is both crystalline and engaging.”
Read the response of Noga Alon and Joel Spencer here.
Noga Alon, PhD, is Baumritter Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Tel Aviv University. He is a member of the Israel National Academy of Sciences and Academia Europaea. A co-editor of the journal Random Structures and Algorithms, Dr Alon is the recipient of the Polya Prize, The Gödel Prize, The Israel Prize, and the EMET Prize.
Joel H. Spencer, PhD, is Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at the Courant Institute of New York University. He is the cofounder and co-editor of the journal Random Structures and Algorithms and is a Sloane Foundation Fellow. Dr Spencer has written more than 200 published articles and is the co-author of Ramsey Theory, Second Edition, also published by Wiley.
About the Prize:
The Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition is awarded annually for a book or substantial survey or expository research paper. The 2021 prize will be awarded during the virtual 2021 Joint Mathematics Meetings in January 2021.