The Music of Primes by Marcus du Sautoy
Prime numbers are the atoms of arithmetic, the building blocks for all other numbers.
In school, we are taught that a prime is one that cannot be divided evenly by any other
number except one and itself. What we are not taught is that primes represent the most
tantalizing mystery in the pursuit of human knowledge. How can one predict when the
next prime number will occur? Is there a formula that could generate primes? Where
is the pattern behind these elusive numbers? These questions have formed a riddle
that has confounded mathematicians since the ancient Greeks. The answer would
revolutionize the world of math, and much more.
Nearly 150 years ago, a German mathematician named Bernard Riemann came as
close as anyone has ever come to solving this problem. In 1859 he presented a paper
on the subject of prime numbers to the Berlin Academy. At the heart of his
presentation was an idea -- a hypothesis -- that seemed to reveal a magical harmony
between primes and other numbers. It was an idea that Riemann argued was very
likely to be true. But after his death, his housekeeper burned all of his personal papers,
and to this day, no one knows whether he ever found the proof.
By now, the Riemann Hypothesis has become the number one obsession for the
world's leading mathematicians. Considered to be even more difficult and more
important than Fermat's Last Theorem, Riemann's solution would serve as a periodic
table in charting the entire mathematical universe. But it has implications that go far
beyond math. It is of tremendous importance in business, since prime numbers are the
linchpin for security in banking and e-commerce. It is also the idea that brings
together vastly different areas of science, with critical ramifications for Quantum
Mechanics, Chaos Theory, and the future of computing. Pioneers in each of these
fields are racing to crack the code, and a prize of one million dollars has been offered
to the winner.
In this remarkable book, Marcus du Sautoy tells a story of eccentric and brilliant men,
and of the unquenchable thirst for knowledge that has driven some to madness and
others to glory. Illuminating, authoritative, and extremely engaging, "The Music of
the Primes provides the extraordinary history behind the holy grail of mathematics
and the ongoing quest to capture it.
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