Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics - Hardcover

Derbyshire, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0309085497 ISBN 13: 9780309085496

Publisher: Joseph Henry Pr, 2003

Synopsis

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) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

About this title

Review

Bernhard Riemann was an underdog of sorts, a malnourished son of a parson who grew up to discover one of the greatest problems in mathematics. In Prime Obsession, John Derbyshire deals brilliantly with both Riemann's life and that problem, which was to find proof of the conjecture "all non-trivial zeros of the zeta function have real part one-half".

That statement may be nonsense to anyone but a mathematician but Derbyshire walks the reader through the decades of reasoning that led to the Riemann Hypothesis in a way that makes it perfectly clear. Riemann never proved the statement and it remains unsolved to this day.

Prime Obsession offers alternating chapters of step-by-step maths and a history of 19th-century European intellectual life, letting readers take a breather between chunks of well-written information. Derbyshire's style is accessible but not dumbed-down, thorough but not heavy-handed. This is among the best popular treatments of an obscure mathematical idea and allows readers to explore the theory without insisting on page after page of formulae.

In 2000, the Clay Mathematics Institute offered a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who could prove the Riemann Hypothesis, but luminaries like David Hilbert, GH Hardy, Alan Turing, André Weil and Freeman Dyson have all tried before. Will the Riemann Hypothesis ever be proved? "One day we shall know," writes Derbyshire and he makes the effort seem very worthwhile. --Therese Littleton, Amazon.com

Review

"Riemann and his colleagues come to life as real characters and not just adjectives for conjectures and theorems."

A math book that reads like a mystery novel. ("The Christian Science Monitor") Derbyshire's attempt to take nonmathematicians into this subject had me on the edge of my seat. ("Los Angeles Times") Riemann and his colleagues come to life as real characters and not just adjectives for conjectures and theorems. ("Scientific American")

"Derbyshire s attempt to take nonmathematicians into this subject had me on the edge of my seat." Los Angeles Times
"Riemann and his colleagues come to life as real characters and not just adjectives for conjectures and theorems." Scientific American

"

"Derbyshire's attempt to take nonmathematicians into this subject had me on the edge of my seat."--Los Angeles Times

"Riemann and his colleagues come to life as real characters and not just adjectives for conjectures and theorems."--Scientific American

Edition details

• Publisher: Joseph Henry Pr
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0309085497
• ISBN 13: 9780309085496
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 422