Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis: The Quest to Find the Hidden Law of Prime Numbers

Science News, May 28, 2005

STALKING THE RIEMANN HYPOTHESIS: The Quest to Find the Hidden Law of Prime Numbers

DAN ROCKMORE

The Greeks were the first to notice the difference between composite numbers, or those that can be broken down into groups of other numbers, and primes, those numbers that can't be divided by anything but 1 and themselves. In this math-dense but straightforward book, Rockmore explores the complex world of prime numbers, from Euclid's investigations on whether there are an infinite number of them to primes' role in computer communications and quantum physics. He reviews the long history of prime cartographers, including Adrien-Marie Legendre, Carl Freidrich Gauss, and others who developed basic theorems about primes. However, Rockmore focuses most intently on Bernhard Riemann, the mathematician whose hypothesis, proposed 150 years ago, continues to puzzle and fascinate mathematicians today. In his short life, Riemann produced what has become one of mathematics' most enduring unsolved puzzles. The Riemann hypothesis posits that practically all the solutions to a certain famous equation have a simple relationship to one another. Indeed, in 2000, the Clay Mathematics Institute offered $1 million for its proof. Rockmore details Riemann's work and that of the countless others who followed in his footsteps. Throughout the book, Rockmore reveals the complex computations of the hypothesis and the attempts at its proof. The author provides a helpful glossary as well. Pantheon, 2005, 304 p., b&w illus., hardcover, $25.00.