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

Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics | John Derbyshire | A masterpiece of its genre

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Prime Obsession: B...

	Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics John Derbyshire Plume, 2004 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 82 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In 1859, Bernhard Riemann, a little-known thirty-two year old mathematician, made a hypothesis while presenting a paper to the Berlin Academy titled ?On the Number of Prime Numbers Less Than a Given Quantity.? Today, after 150 years of careful research and exhaustive study, the Riemann Hyphothesis remains unsolved, with a one-million-dollar prize earmarked for the first person to conquer it.

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.

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Prime numbers and Riemann

Very good book, easy to read, no previous knowledge on math is needed but just secondary.

A masterpiece of its genre

There are a number of authors who have tried to esplain difficult scientific or mathematical problems to non-expert readers. I have read and enjoyed many such books. Thus far, Derbyshire is the master.

Simply breathtaking

Wauw, never thought the prime principles and theories behind it could be explained so well and most of all so easy to understand.
With this book, the writer makes one of the most mysterious and complex theories in mathematics easy to understand for the common man.
Simply great!

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A great book, which I'll explain later in the review.

This is a fine book that lays out clearly Riemann's life and times and the mathematical work he did, but I'll explain more about that later in the review.

The author certainly knows his subject matter and it thoroughly researched, which I'll touch on a little later. The only thing that drove me to distraction was that at least 2 times in every chapter he would make a point, then say something like "I'll explain more about this in just a bit" or "More about this later" or "In chapter 12 I'll touch on this again". I'm not kidding, it happened EVERY chapter and after a while it got annoying....but I'll show you more about that in my other review.

Still, a great read and required reading for anyone into mathematics and number theory.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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