Riemann's zero point

Author: (English) Carl Saba
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: In 1859, Bernhard Riemann, a shy German mathematician, used eight pages of paper to address a long-standing puzzle that had. Although Riemann could not provide a proof, he claimed his solution was "highly likely" to be correct. Over the next 150 years, mathematicians around the world tirelessly sought to prove the Riemann Hypothesis. Their interest in it was so great that in 2001, an American foundation offered a $1 million prize for anyone who could prove the hypothesis. The Riemann Hypothesis deals with prime numbers—integers greater than 1 that cannot be divided by any other integer except 1 and themselves. This hypothesis attempts to explain how prime numbers are distributed among other numbers. Mathematicians discuss this highly exciting problem with reverence, considering it even more challenging than Fermat's Last Theorem, which was finally proven by Andrew Wiles six years ago. Saba's book is ingenious, showcasing the peaks of mathematics for the general reader and vividly depicting mathematicians who race against the clock to solve difficult problems. The Zeroes of Dr. Riemann offers a brilliant explanation of numbers and delves deep into the secrets of our number system.