Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis: The quest to find the hidden law of prime numbers

Rockmore, Dan

ISBN 10: 0224062530 / ISBN 13: 9780224062534

Published by Jonathan Cape, London, 2005

About this Item

First edition. 8vo. Cloth binding, 292 pp. In 1859 professor Bernhard Riemann proposed a simple law that he believed a "very likely" explanation for the way in which the prime numbers are distributed among the whole numbers. For over a century, the Riemann Hypothesis has stumped great mathematical minds, though these days frustration has begun to give way to excitement, as this seemingly simple hypothesis is revealing unexpected connections in nuclear physics, chaos theory, and number theory. Dartmouth mathematics professor Dan Rockmore's book is peopled with solitary hermits and gregarious cheerleaders, Nobel Prize winners and Fields Medalists, and those hoping to claim a million dollar prize for the one who solves Riemann's puzzle. New in new dust jacket.

Seller Inventory # 014670

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis: The quest to find the hidden law of prime numbers
• Publisher: Jonathan Cape, London
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0224062530
• ISBN 13: 9780224062534
• Binding: Cloth
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: New
• Dimensions: Octavo ~23 cm / 9" tall Octavo, Approximately 23 centimetres, or 9 inches tall
• Seller catalogs:
  • Science and Nature

About this title

Synopsis

Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis: the quest to find the hidden law of prime numbers

From the Inside Flap

In 1859 a German professor named Bernhard Riemann postulated a law capable of describing with an amazing degree of accuracy the baffling occurrence of prime numbers; coming up with its proof has been the holy grail of mathematicians ever since. In "Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis, Dan Rockmore, a prominent mathematician in his own right, takes us from Euclid's pondering of the infinitude of the primes through modern efforts to prove the Riemann hypothesis-efforts that astonishingly connect the primes to the statistics of solitaire, chaos theory, and even the mysteries of quantum mechanics. Along the way, he introduces us to the many brilliant and fascinating thinkers who have contributed to this work, from the most famous mathematician of all time, Carl Friedrich Gauss (Riemann's teacher), to the intellectual giants David Hilbert and Freeman Dyson.
A lively, comprehensive, and accessible examination of one of the most compelling unsolved problems in mathematics, "Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis tells us the full story of the quest to find that elusive solution.