We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,737,314.29 | Books Available: 736,273 | Members Online: 236

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

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

Prime Obsession Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics
Author: John Derbyshire

In August 1859 Bernhard Riemann, a little-known 32-year old mathematician, presented a paper to the Berlin Academy titled: "On the Number of Prime Numbers Less Than a Given Quantity." In the middle of that paper, Riemann made an incidental remark -- a guess, a hypothesis. What he tossed out to the assembled mathematicians that day has proven ... more »to be almost cruelly compelling to countless scholars in the ensuing years. Today, after 150 years of careful research and exhaustive study, the question remains. Is the hypothesis true or false? Riemann’s basic inquiry, the primary topic of his paper, concerned a straightforward but nevertheless important matter of arithmetic--defining a precise formula to track and identify the occurrence of prime numbers. But it is that incidental remark -- the Riemann Hypothesis -- that is the truly astonishing legacy of his 1859 paper. Because Riemann was able to see beyond the pattern of the primes to discern traces of something mysterious and mathematically elegant shrouded in the shadows--subtle variations in the distribution of those prime numbers. Brilliant for its clarity, astounding for its potential consequences, the Hypothesis took on enormous importance in mathematics. Indeed, the successful solution to this puzzle would herald a revolution in prime number theory. Proving or disproving it became the greatest challenge of the age. It has become clear that the Riemann Hypothesis, whose resolution seems to hang tantalizingly just beyond our grasp, holds the key to a variety of scientific and mathematical investigations. The making and breaking of modern codes, which depend on the properties of the prime numbers, have roots in the Hypothesis. In a series of extraordinary developments during the 1970s, it emerged that even the physics of the atomic nucleus is connected in ways not yet fully understood to this strange conundrum. Hunting down the solution to the Riemann Hypothesis has become an obsession for many -- the veritable "great white whale" of mathematical research. Yet despite determined efforts by generations of mathematicians, the Riemann Hypothesis defies resolution. Alternating passages of extraordinarily lucid mathematical exposition with chapters of elegantly composed biography and history, Prime Obsession is a fascinating and fluent account of an epic mathematical mystery that continues to challenge and excite the world. Posited a century and a half ago, Riemann’s hypothesis is an intellectual feast for the cognoscenti and the curious alike. Not just a story of numbers and calculations, Prime Obsession is the engrossing tale of a relentless hunt for an elusive proof -- and those who have been consumed by it.

ISBN-13: 9780309085496
ISBN-10: 0309085497
Publication Date: 4/23/2003
Pages: 422
Rating:

Currently 5/5 Stars.

5 stars, based on 1 rating

Publisher: Joseph Henry Press
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 2
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Read All 1 Book Reviews of "Prime Obsession Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

Brant S. (scarybinary) reviewed Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics on 2/24/2007 + 10 more book reviews

Loved it. The author eases you into the mathematical concepts from the get go, mixing in math lessons with the life of Riemann. While not overly-simplified, both the math and the biographical aspects were an easy read. In a nutshell, this is my favorite math/science biography.

Share/Like this Review?

Read All Book Reviews of "Prime Obsession Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics"

Genres:

Biographies & Memoirs >> Professionals & Academics >> Scientists
Science & Math >> Mathematics >> History
Science & Math >> Mathematics >> Pure Mathematics >> Number Theory
Science & Math >> Mathematics >> Geometry & Topology >> Algebraic Geometry

Back to the Top ↑

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

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

Loading...