Hippasus
1,9,45,165,495,1287,
The Music of the Primes: searching to solve the greatest mystery in mathematics 300
Du Sautoy's text reads almost like a novel or work of fiction, but its subject matter is truly alluring and indeed mysterious. The first half or so was more exciting as it covers the major players when the mathematical landscape surrounding the famous Riemann Hypothesis was beginning to be formulated. The Riemann Hypothesis is a claim concerning the placement of the non-trivial zeros of the so-called critical line (real part=1/2) of the zeta function. The zeta function is an attempt to depict the distribution of the prime numbers in an aggregate sense. This book is like a who's who for the plethora of mathematicians who have been involved in some way with the Riemann Hypothesis. Unfortunately, this is where the book's value ends for me.
It was not particularly well written, in my view, as it is often hammy and forces metaphors at the expense of teaching and incisive exposition. The Riemann Hypothesis has involved number theory, mathematical analysis, computation, probability, as well as quantum physics, but the connections between these areas in regards to RH is rather tenuously described.
200: distasteful and pathetic
300: mediocre or subpar
400: average, but decent
500: very good
600: superb
700: transcendental
Du Sautoy's text reads almost like a novel or work of fiction, but its subject matter is truly alluring and indeed mysterious. The first half or so was more exciting as it covers the major players when the mathematical landscape surrounding the famous Riemann Hypothesis was beginning to be formulated. The Riemann Hypothesis is a claim concerning the placement of the non-trivial zeros of the so-called critical line (real part=1/2) of the zeta function. The zeta function is an attempt to depict the distribution of the prime numbers in an aggregate sense. This book is like a who's who for the plethora of mathematicians who have been involved in some way with the Riemann Hypothesis. Unfortunately, this is where the book's value ends for me.
It was not particularly well written, in my view, as it is often hammy and forces metaphors at the expense of teaching and incisive exposition. The Riemann Hypothesis has involved number theory, mathematical analysis, computation, probability, as well as quantum physics, but the connections between these areas in regards to RH is rather tenuously described.
200: distasteful and pathetic
300: mediocre or subpar
400: average, but decent
500: very good
600: superb
700: transcendental
Last edited:
