{"product_id":"prime-obsession-bernhard-riemann-and-the-greatest-unsolved-problem-in-mathematics-9780309085496","title":"Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn August 1859 Bernhard Riemann  a little-known 32-year old mathematician  presented a paper to the Berlin Academy titled: \"On the Number of Prime Numbers Less Than a Given Quantity.\" In the middle of that paper  Riemann made an incidental remark  a guess  a hypothesis. What he tossed out to the assembled mathematicians that day has proven to be almost cruelly compelling to countless scholars in the ensuing years. Today  after 150 years of careful research and exhaustive study  the question remains. Is the hypothesis true or false?  Riemanns basic inquiry  the primary topic of his paper  concerned a straightforward but nevertheless important matter of arithmetic  defining a precise formula to track and identify the occurrence of prime numbers. But it is that incidental remark  the Riemann Hypothesis  that is the truly astonishing legacy of his 1859 paper. Because Riemann was able to see beyond the pattern of the primes to discern traces of something mysterious and mathematically elegant shrouded in the shadows  subtle variations in the distribution of those prime numbers. Brilliant for its clarity  astounding for its potential consequences  the Hypothesis took on enormous importance in mathematics. Indeed  the successful solution to this puzzle would herald a revolution in prime number theory. Proving or disproving it became the greatest challenge of the age.  It has become clear that the Riemann Hypothesis  whose resolution seems to hang tantalizingly just beyond our grasp  holds the key to a variety of scientific and mathematical investigations. The making and breaking of modern codes  which depend on the properties of the prime numbers  have roots in the Hypothesis. In a series of extraordinary developments during the 1970s  it emerged that even the physics of the atomic nucleus is connected in ways not yet fully understood to this strange conundrum. Hunting down the solution to the Riemann Hypothesis has become an obsession for many  the veritable \"great white whale\" of mathematical research. Yet despite determined efforts by generations of mathematicians  the Riemann Hypothesis defies resolution.  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. Posited a century and a half ago  the Riemann Hypothesis is an intellectual feast for the cognoscenti and the curious alike. Not just a story of numbers and calculations  Prime Obsession is the engrossing tale of a relentless hunt for an elusive proof  and those who have been consumed by it.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647017476149,"sku":"ByrdShop_0309085497","price":34.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780309085496.jpg?v=1781685717","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/prime-obsession-bernhard-riemann-and-the-greatest-unsolved-problem-in-mathematics-9780309085496","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}