Biscuits of Number Theory
Published on 19. March 2009
Book
Hardback
326 pages
978-0-88385-340-5 (ISBN)
Description
In Biscuits of Number Theory, the editors have chosen articles that are exceptionally well-written and that can be appreciated by anyone who has taken (or is taking) a first course in number theory. This book could be used as a textbook supplement for a number theory course, especially one that requires students to write papers or do outside reading. The editors give examples of some of the possibilities.
The collection is divided into seven chapters: Arithmetic, Primes, Irrationality, Sums of Squares and Polygonal Numbers, Fibonacci Numbers, Number Theoretic Functions, and Elliptic Curves, Cubes and Fermat's Last Theorem. As with any anthology, you don't have to read the Biscuits in order. Dip into them anywhere: pick something from the Table of Contents that strikes your fancy, and have at it. If the end of an article leaves you wondering what happens next, then by all means dive in and do some research. You just might discover something new!
The collection is divided into seven chapters: Arithmetic, Primes, Irrationality, Sums of Squares and Polygonal Numbers, Fibonacci Numbers, Number Theoretic Functions, and Elliptic Curves, Cubes and Fermat's Last Theorem. As with any anthology, you don't have to read the Biscuits in order. Dip into them anywhere: pick something from the Table of Contents that strikes your fancy, and have at it. If the end of an article leaves you wondering what happens next, then by all means dive in and do some research. You just might discover something new!
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Washington DC
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 261 mm
Width: 184 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
735 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-88385-340-5 (9780883853405)
Schweitzer Classification
Content
Introduction; Part I. Arithmetic: 1. A dozen questions about the powers of two; 2. From 30 to 60 is not twice as hard Michael Dalezman; 3. Reducing the sum of two fractions Harris S. Shultz and Ray C. Shiflett; 4. A postmodern view of fractions and reciprocals of Fermat primes Rafe Jones and Jan Pearce; 5. Visible structures in number theory Peter Borwein and Loki Jörgenson; 6. Visual gems of number theory Roger B. Nelsen; Part II. Primes: 7. A new proof of Euclid's theorem Filip Saidak; 8. On the infinitude of the primes Harry Furstenberg; 9. On the series of prime reciprocals James A. Clarkson; 10. Applications of a simple counting technique Melvin Hausner; 11. On weird and pseudoperfect numbers S. J. Benkoski and P. Erdös; 12. A heuristic for the prime number theorem Hugh L. Montgomery and Stan Wagon; 13. A tale of two sieves Carl Pomerance; Part III. Irrationality and Continued Fractions: 14. Irrationality of the square root of two - a geometric proof Tom M. Apostol; 15. Math bite: irrationality of m Harley Flanders; 16. A simple proof that p is irrational Ivan Niven; 17. p, e and other irrational numbers Alan E. Parks; 18. A short proof of the simple continued fraction of e Henry Cohn; 19. Diophantine Olympics and world champions: polynomials and primes down under Edward B. Burger; 20. An elementary proof of the Wallis product formula for Pi Johan Wästlund; 21. The Orchard problem Ross Honsberger; Part IV. Sums of Squares and Polygonal Numbers: 22. A one-sentence proof that every prime p = 1 (mod 4) is a sum of two squares D. Zagier; 23. Sum of squares II Martin Gardner and Dan Kalman 24. Sums of squares VIII Roger B. Nelsen; 25. A short proof of Cauchy's polygonal number theorem Melvyn B. Nathanson; 26. Genealogy of Pythagorean triads A. Hall; Part V. Fibonacci Numbers: 27. A dozen questions about Fibonacci numbers James Tanton; 28. The Fibonacci numbers - exposed Dan Kalman and Robert Mena; 29. The Fibonacci numbers - exposed more discretely Arthur T. Benjamin and Jennifer J. Quinn; Part VI. Number-Theoretic Functions: 30. Great moments of the Riemann zeta function Jennifer Beineke and Chris Hughes; 31. The Collatz chameleon Marc Chamberland; 32. Bijecting Euler's partition recurrence David M. Bressoud and Doron Zeilberger; 33. Discovery of a most extraordinary law of the numbers concerning the sum of their divisors Leonard Euler; 34. The factorial function and generalizations Manjul Bhargava; 35. An elementary proof of the quadratic reciprocity law Sey Y. Kim; Part VII. Elliptic Curves, Cubes and Fermat's Last Theorem: 36. Proof without words: cubes and squares J. Barry Love; 37. Taxicabs and sums of two cubes Joseph H. Silverman; 38. Three Fermat trails to elliptic curves Ezra Brown; 39. Fermat's last theorem in combinatorial form W. V. Quine; 40. 'A marvellous proof' Fernando Q. Gouvêa; About the editors.