Book

Derbyshire, John.

Prime obsession : Bernhard Riemann and the greatest unsolved problem in mathematics / John Derbyshire.

Washington, DC : Joseph Henry Press, ©2003.

xv, 422 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Annotation Riemann's hypothesis for a general rule to determine how many prime numbers exist in a given quantity was first posed offhandedly to the Berlin Academy in 1859. Today, having been neither proved or disproved, it remains the "great white whale" of mathematics and a missing key to advances in code theory and atomic physics. Derbyshire introduces this captivating mathematical problem in alternating chapters of mathematical exposition (some college calculus required) and biography and history (for general readers interested in mathematics). Derbyshire, a mathematician and linguist by education, is the author of </Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream/> (1996). Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Riemann, Bernhard, 1826-1866.

Numbers, Prime.

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part I. The prime number theorem. Card trick -- The soil, the crop -- The prime number theorem -- On the shoulders of giants -- Riemann's zeta function -- The great fusion -- The golden key, and an improved prime number theorem -- Not altogether unworthy -- Domain stretching -- A proof and a turning point. Part II. The Riemann hypothesis. Nine Zulu queens ruled China -- Hilbert's eighth problem -- The argument ant and the value ant -- In the grip of an obsession -- Big oh and Mobius Mu -- Climbing the critical line -- A little algebra -- Number theory meets quantum mechanics -- Turning the golden key -- The Riemann operator and other approaches -- The error term -- Either it's true, or else it isn't.

Table of contents

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