categories: New book on monoidal categories without any maths prerequisites

categories: New book on monoidal categories without any maths prerequisites

[Bob Coecke]

Hi all,

It may be of interest to know for people on the list that we just released a
new book that presents quantum theory in terms of monoidal string diagrams,
but which is readable for pretty much anyone.  We've been getting lots of
reactions from people without a mathematics background acknowledging - e.g.
business people and young teenagers - that they understood complex quantum
concepts through it.

Of all branches of category theory, what we mostly use is "Australian CT", with
Kelly's compact closed categories, Carboni-Walters Frobenius algebras, and
Lack's interacting Props playing a key role, and of course Joyal-Street
that justifies the string diagrams.

The main takeaway here is that it is thanks to category theory,
usually conceived
as very difficult, that complex quantum concepts can be made available to a
broad audience, resulting in a much more inclusive quantum technology
ecosystem.

The book is available at Amazon via print-on-demand, and published by
the quantum
computing company Quantinuum that I am with now, so that we could retain
full control of the content and presentation.  (not trying to make any
money here as we are selling without profit, in order to maximise economic
inclusivity)

https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Pictures-New-Understand-World/dp/1739214714/

We also video'd lectures of the entire book and I'll post again here when they
are released on Youtube.

As an aside, those monoidal quantum pictures are not only enabling inclusivity,
but they are now also used by many quantum computing companies like Google,
IBM, PsiQuantum, and of course ourselves, for lots of technical challenges.

Cheers, Bob.


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