Dr Riemann's Zeros

The only book about the search for a proof to the Riemann Hypothesis.

In 1859 Bernhard Riemann, a shy German mathematician, wrote an eight-page article, suggesting an answer to a problem that had long puzzled mathematicians. For the next 150 years, the world's mathematicians have longed to confirm the Riemann hypothesis. So great is the interest in its solution that in 2001, an American foundation offered a million-dollar prize to the first person to demonstrate that the hypothesis is correct. Karl Sabbagh's book paints vivid portraits of the mathematicians who spend their days and nights on the race to solve the problem.

'This gracefully-written work concerns the Riemann Hypothesis, promulgated nearly 150 years ago, and so far still unproved... yet the story of a search for a proof draws you along as if it were a detective thriller' Simon Hoggart, Guardian

'Dr Riemann's Zeros is as jolly a romp as one could hope to see into the world of obsessive abstraction that pure mathematics inhabit' Daily Express

'A lively and interesting work... a page-turner - even those who know little about maths will find themselves reading on to find out what happens.' Good Book Guide

'A pleasurable and painless read for anyone intrigued by numbers' Ian Stewart, author of Nature's Numbers and Flatterland