From Werner KRAUTH

My 2025 Public Lectures at the University of Oxford (UK) run from 21 January 2025 through 11 March 2025.

Lecture 1: 21 January 2025

We start our parallel exploration of physics and of computing with the concept of sampling, the process of producing examples (“samples”) of a probability distribu- tion. In week 1, we consider “direct” sampling (the examples are obtained directly) and, among the many connections to physics, will come across the Maxwell distri- bution. In 1859, it marked the beginning of the field of statistical physics.

Here are the notes for the first lecture (21 January 2025).