Quantum Information Retrieval Mechanics?
October 29th, 2006Equal parts terrifying and fascinating:
C. J. van Rijsbergen - The Geometry of Information Retrieval
Keith Van Rijsbergen demonstrates how different models of information retrieval (IR) can be combined in the same framework used to formulate the general principles of quantum mechanics. All the standard results can be applied to address problems in IR, such as pseudo-relevance feedback, relevance feedback and ostensive retrieval. The relation with quantum computing is examined. Appendices with background material on physics and mathematics are also included.
Head a splodes.
Oh, and while I’m on the topic of geometry and IR , there’s another recent book out that seems pretty great:
Dominic Widdows - Geometry and Meaning
From the earliest applications in astronomy, music, and biology, to the design of today’s user interfaces and search engines, geometric insights have provided powerful tools and accurate scientific predictions. In Geometry and Meaning, these threads are gathered together and told as a single evolving story. Mathematical models from ancient times to the present are described for the general reader, together with the stories behind their discovery, and their applications in the new and vibrant field of natural language processing.
How zeitgeisty, huh?
It’s funny how IR as a field has this reputation of being very bland and nerdy. It seems to me that statistics has the same sort of reputation. I was never very good at math, I did just okay in Calculus and so on, but to be honest, for whatever reason, I just never cared about physics. And that’s what you get, mostly, in calculus examples. Plug in formula blah blah.
Once I started learning about the weird relationship between numbers and words and letters and all that voodoo (and this is after college), I suddenly cared. Even now, I see something like the vector space model as very mysterious, very amazing, and even, maybe, profound. Dude, you can use cosines to figure shit out. Crazy.
And the more you learn, the more you start thinking that way.