Synopsis
A Course in Computational Number Theory uses the computer as a tool for motivation and explanation. The book is designed for the reader to quickly access a computer and begin doing personal experiments with the patterns of the integers. It presents and explains many of the fastest algorithms for working with integers. Traditional topics are covered, but the text also explores factoring algorithms, primality testing, the RSA public-key cryptosystem, and unusual applications such as check digit schemes and a computation of the energy that holds a salt crystal together. Advanced topics include continued fractions, Pell’s equation, and the Gaussian primes.
About the Author
David Bressoud is DeWitt Wallace Professor of Mathematics at Macalester College and president-elect of the Mathematical Association of America. He served in the Peace Corps, teaching math and science at the Clare Hall School in Antigua, West Indies before studying with Emil Grosswald at Temple University and then teaching at Penn State for 17 years, eight of them as full professor. He chaired the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Macalester from 1995 until 2001. He has held visiting positions at the Institute for Advanced Study, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Minnesota, Université Louis Pasteur (Strasbourg, France), and the State College Area High School.
David has received the MAA Distinguished Teaching Award (Allegheny Mountain Section), the MAA Beckenbach Book Award for Proofs and Confirmations, and has been a Pólya Lecturer for the MAA. He is a recipient of Macalester's Jefferson Award. He has published over fifty research articles in number theory, combinatorics, and special functions. His other books include Factorization and Primality Testing, Second Year Calculus from Celestial Mechanics to Special Relativity, A Radical Approach to Real Analysis (now in 2nd edition), and, with Stan Wagon, A Course in Computational Number Theory. His latest book, A Radical Approach to Lebesgue's Theory of Integration, is due out by the end of 2007.
David chairs the MAA special interest group, Teaching Advanced High School Mathematics. He has chaired the AP Calculus Development Committee and has served as Director of the FIPSE-sponsored program Quantitative Methods for Public Policy. He has been involved in the activities and programs of both the Mathematical Association of America and the American Mathematical Society.
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