Home Prime Numbers: The Most Mysterious Figures in Math by David Wells (ISBN: 9781620458242)

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Prime Numbers: The Most Mysterious Figures in Math Hardback - 2005

Name: Prime Numbers
Price: 24.56 USD
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Author: Wells, David,
ISBN: 9781620458242

by David Wells

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From the publisher

A fascinating journey into the mind-bending world of prime numbers

Cicadas of the genus Magicicada appear once every 7, 13, or 17 years. Is it just a coincidence that these are all prime numbers? How do twin primes differ from cousin primes, and what on earth (or in the mind of a mathematician) could be sexy about prime numbers? What did Albert Wilansky find so fascinating about his brother-in-law's phone number?
Mathematicians have been asking questions about prime numbers for more than twenty-five centuries, and every answer seems to generate a new rash of questions. In Prime Numbers: The Most Mysterious Figures in Math, you'll meet the world's most gifted mathematicians, from Pythagoras and Euclid to Fermat, Gauss, and Erd?o?s, and you'll discover a host of unique insights and inventive conjectures that have both enlarged our understanding and deepened the mystique of prime numbers. This comprehensive, A-to-Z guide covers everything you ever wanted to know--and much more that you never suspected--about prime numbers, including:
* The unproven Riemann hypothesis and the power of the zeta function
* The "Primes is in P" algorithm
* The sieve of Eratosthenes of Cyrene
* Fermat and Fibonacci numbers
* The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search
* And much, much more

From the rear cover

A fascinating journey into the mind-bending world of prime numbers

Mathematicians have been asking questions about prime numbers for more than twenty-five centuries, and every answer seems to generate a new rash of questions. In Prime Numbers: The Most Mysterious Figures in Math, you'll meet the world's most gifted mathematicians, from Pythagoras and Euclid to Fermat, Gauss, and Erd?o?s, and you'll discover a host of unique insights and inventive conjectures that have both enlarged our understanding and deepened the mystique of prime numbers. This comprehensive, A-to-Z guide covers everything you ever wanted to know--and much more that you never suspected--about prime numbers, including: The unproven Riemann hypothesis and the power of the zeta functionThe ""Primes is in P"" algorithmThe sieve of Eratosthenes of CyreneFermat and Fibonacci numbersThe Great Internet Mersenne Prime SearchAnd much, much more

Details

Title Prime Numbers: The Most Mysterious Figures in Math
Author David Wells
Binding Hardback
Pages 290
Volumes 1
Language ENG
Publisher Trade Paper Press
Publication date 2005-05-18
Features Bibliography, Dust Cover, Index
ISBN 9781620458242 / 1620458241
Weight 1.34 lbs (0.61 kg)
Dimensions 9.21 x 6.14 x 0.81 in (23.39 x 15.60 x 2.06 cm)
Category Mathematics
Library of Congress subjects Numbers, Prime
Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2004019974
Dewey Decimal Code 512.723

About the author

DAVID WELLS is the author of numerous books of mathematical puzzles and general math, including You Are a Mathematician, also available from Wiley. He has contributed articles to The Mathematical Intelligencer and The Mathematical Gazette. Wells lives in London, England.