PRIMES AND PROGRAMMING

Giblin, Peter

ISBN 10: 0521409888 / ISBN 13: 9780521409889

Published by Cambridge University Press, 1993

About this Item

1st 1993. Slightly better than very good condition. An introduction to number theory with computing. Pictorial card wraps. SIGNED by author, with dedication to a previous owner to half-title page. Light creasing to a couple of corners. Packaged with care and promptly dispatched!

Seller Inventory # 2121083

Bibliographic Details

• Title: PRIMES AND PROGRAMMING
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0521409888
• ISBN 13: 9780521409889
• Binding: Softcover
• Edition: First edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Signed: SIGNED - please see description for details.

About this title

Synopsis

Numbers are part of our everyday experience and their properties have fascinated mankind since ancient times. Deciding whether a number is prime and if not, what its factors are, are both fundamental problems. In recent years analysis and solution of these problems have assumed commercial significance since large primes are an essential feature of secure methods of information transmission. The purely mathematical fascination that led to the development of methods for primality testing has been supplemented by the need to test within reasonable timescales, and computational methods have entered at all levels of number theory. In this book, Peter Giblin describes, in the context of an introduction to the theory of numbers, some of the more elementary methods for factorization and primality testing; that is, methods independent of a knowledge of other areas of mathematics. Indeed everything is developed from scratch so the mathematical prerequisites are minimal. An essential feature of the book is the large number of computer programs (written in Pascal) and a wealth of computational exercises and projects (in addition to more usual theory exercises). The theoretical development includes continued fractions and quadratic residues, directed always towards the two fundamental problems of primality testing and factorization. There is time, all the same, to include a number of topics and projects of a purely 'recreational' nature.

From the Back Cover

In this book, Peter Giblin describes, in the context of an introduction to the theory of numbers, some of the more elementary methods for factorization and primality testing; that is, methods independent of a knowledge of other areas of mathematics. Indeed everything is developed from scratch so the mathematical prerequisites are minimal.