Visions Of Infinity: The Great Mathematical Problems
by Ian Stewart /
2013 / English / EPUB
5 MB Download
It is one of the wonders of mathematics that, for every problem
mathematicians solve, another awaits to perplex and galvanize
them. Some of these problems are new, while others have puzzled
and bewitched thinkers across the ages. Such challenges offer a
tantalizing glimpse of the field’s unlimited potential, and keep
mathematicians looking toward the horizons of intellectual
possibility.
It is one of the wonders of mathematics that, for every problem
mathematicians solve, another awaits to perplex and galvanize
them. Some of these problems are new, while others have puzzled
and bewitched thinkers across the ages. Such challenges offer a
tantalizing glimpse of the field’s unlimited potential, and keep
mathematicians looking toward the horizons of intellectual
possibility.
In
InVisions of Infinity
Visions of Infinity, celebrated mathematician Ian
Stewart provides a fascinating overview of the most formidable
problems mathematicians have vanquished, and those that vex them
still. He explains why these problems exist, what drives
mathematicians to solve them, and why their efforts matter in the
context of science as a whole. The three-century effort to prove
Fermat’s last theoremfirst posited in 1630, and finally solved
by Andrew Wiles in 1995led to the creation of algebraic number
theory and complex analysis. The Poincaré conjecture, which was
cracked in 2002 by the eccentric genius Grigori Perelman, has
become fundamental to mathematicians’ understanding of
three-dimensional shapes. But while mathematicians have made
enormous advances in recent years, some problems continue to
baffle us. Indeed, the Riemann hypothesis, which Stewart refers
to as the Holy Grail of pure mathematics,” and the P/NP problem,
which straddles mathematics and computer science, could easily
remain unproved for another hundred years.
, celebrated mathematician Ian
Stewart provides a fascinating overview of the most formidable
problems mathematicians have vanquished, and those that vex them
still. He explains why these problems exist, what drives
mathematicians to solve them, and why their efforts matter in the
context of science as a whole. The three-century effort to prove
Fermat’s last theoremfirst posited in 1630, and finally solved
by Andrew Wiles in 1995led to the creation of algebraic number
theory and complex analysis. The Poincaré conjecture, which was
cracked in 2002 by the eccentric genius Grigori Perelman, has
become fundamental to mathematicians’ understanding of
three-dimensional shapes. But while mathematicians have made
enormous advances in recent years, some problems continue to
baffle us. Indeed, the Riemann hypothesis, which Stewart refers
to as the Holy Grail of pure mathematics,” and the P/NP problem,
which straddles mathematics and computer science, could easily
remain unproved for another hundred years.
An approachable and illuminating history of mathematics as told
through fourteen of its greatest problems,
An approachable and illuminating history of mathematics as told
through fourteen of its greatest problems,Visions of
Infinity
Visions of
Infinity reveals how mathematicians the world over are rising
to the challenges set by their predecessorsand how the enigmas
of the past inevitably surrender to the powerful techniques of
the present.
reveals how mathematicians the world over are rising
to the challenges set by their predecessorsand how the enigmas
of the past inevitably surrender to the powerful techniques of
the present.