This book provides a detailed description of a most important unsolved mathematical problem — the Goldbach conjecture. Raised in 1742 in a letter from Goldbach to Euler, this conjecture attracted the attention of many mathematical geniuses. Several great achievements were made, but only until the 1920's. The book gives an exposition of these results and their impact on mathematics, particularly, number theory. It also presents (partly or wholly) selections from important literature, so that readers can get a full picture of the conjecture.

This book provides a detailed description of a most important unsolved mathematical problem ? the Goldbach conjecture. Raised in 1742 in a letter from Goldbach to Euler, this conjecture attracted the attention of many mathematical geniuses. Several great achievements were made, but only until the 1920's. The book gives an exposition of these results and their impact on mathematics, particularly, number theory. It also presents (partly or wholly) selections from important literature, so that readers can get a full picture of the conjecture.

Uncle Petros is a family joke. An ageing recluse, he lives alone in a suburb of Athens, playing chess and tending to his garden. If you didn't know better, you'd surely think he was one of life's failures. But his young nephew suspects otherwise. For Uncle Petros, he discovers, was once a celebrated mathematician, brilliant and foolhardy enough to stake everything on solving a problem that had defied all attempts at proof for nearly three centuries - Goldbach's Conjecture. His quest brings him into contact with some of the century's greatest mathematicians, including the Indian prodigy Ramanujan and the young Alan Turing. But his struggle is lonely and single-minded, and by the end it has apparently destroyed his life. Until that is a final encounter with his nephew opens up to Petros, once more, the deep mysterious beauty of mathematics. Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture is an inspiring novel of intellectual adventure, proud genius, the exhilaration of pure mathematics - and the rivalry and antagonism which torment those who pursue impossible goals.

This book provides a detailed description of a most important unsolved mathematical problem OCo the Goldbach conjecture. Raised in 1742 in a letter from Goldbach to Euler, this conjecture attracted the attention of many mathematical geniuses. Several great achievements were made, but only until the 1920''s. The book gives an exposition of these results and their impact on mathematics, particularly, number theory. It also presents (partly or wholly) selections from important literature, so that readers can get a full picture of the conjecture."

Sophie Germain overcame gender stigmas and a lack of formal education to prove that for all prime exponents less than 100 Case I of Fermat's Last Theorem holds. Hidden behind a man's name, her brilliance as mathematician was first discovered by three of the greatest scholars of the eighteenth century, Lagrange, Gauss, and Legendre. In Sophie's Diary, Germain comes to life through a fictionalized journal that intertwines mathematics with historical descriptions of the brutal events that took place in Paris between 1789 and 1793. This format provides a plausible perspective of how a young Sophie could have learned mathematics on her own—both fascinated by numbers and eager to master tough subjects without a teacher's guidance. Her passion for mathematics is integrated into her personal life as an escape from societal outrage. Sophie's Diary is suitable for a variety of readers—both young and old, mathematicians and novices—who will be inspired and enlightened on a field of study made easy, as told through the intellectual and personal struggles of an exceptional young woman.

The book attempts to point out the interconnections between number theory and algebra with a view to making a student understand certain basic concepts in the two areas forming the subject-matter of the book.