Overview

Number theory is the branch of mathematics that is primarily concerned with the counting numbers. Of particular importance are the prime numbers, the building blocks of our number system. The subject is an old one, dating back over two millennia to the ancient Greeks, and for many years has been studied for its intrinsic beauty and elegance, not least because several of its challenges are so easy to state that everyone can understand them, and yet no one has ever been able to resolve them. But number theory has also recently become of great practical importance--in the area of cryptography, where the security of your credit card, and indeed of the nation's defense, depends on a result concerning prime numbers that dates back to the eighteenth century. Recent years have witnessed other spectacular developments, such as Andrew Wiles's proof of Fermat's last theorem (unproved for over 250 years) and some exciting work on prime numbers. In this Very Short Introduction Robin Wilson introduces the main areas of classical number theory, both ancient and modern. Drawing on the work of many of the greatest mathematicians of the past, such as Euclid, Fermat, Euler, and Gauss, he situates some of the most interesting and creative problems in the area in their historical context.

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Al Kessel is a full-time narrator and voice actor currently living in Arizona, where he works from his professional home recording studio. For Al, performing is passion. Audiobook narration was the logical career choice for him since, for as long as he can remember, he's been a voracious reader, acting all the characters out in his head, and often entertaining his family with his dramatic reenactments of books, movies, and television. Al prides himself on the ability to bring any character to life with his voice, a voice often described as smooth as melted butter, or like an old friend you just love hearing tell you about their day. He has recorded numerous audiobooks from just about every genre. When not bringing stories to life, he loves hiking in the desert with his wife and puppy, visiting Disneyland and, when time permits, reenergizing on the beach. Robin Wilson received his PhD degree from the University of Pennsylvania for a thesis on number theory. He is an Emeritus Professor of Pure Mathematics at the Open University, Emeritus Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, and a former fellow of Keble College, Oxford University. He is also a visiting professor at the London School of Economics. A former president of the British Society for the History of Mathematics, he has written and edited over forty books on the subject, including Lewis Carroll in Numberland, Four Colours Suffice, Combinatorics: A Very Short Introduction, and Euler's Pioneering Equation. He has been awarded the Mathematical Association of America's Lester Ford award and Polya prize for his outstanding expository writing, and the Stanton Medal for outreach activities in combinatorics by the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications. He has Erdos Number 1.

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