Visions of Infinity: The Great Mathematical Problems - Rilegato

Stewart, Ian

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0465022405 ISBN 13: 9780465022403

Casa editrice: Basic Books, 2012

Riassunto

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 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.

An approachable and illuminating history of mathematics as told through fourteen of its greatest problems,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.

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Recensione

Science News
As a guide to the inner workings of the mathematical jungle, Stewart provides an engaging and informative experience. If you wish to intelligently discuss the Riemann hypothesis, P/NP problems or the Hodge conjecture, you ought to read this book first.”

Choice
A designated math popularizer, Stewart writes books that are always enlightening and enjoyable.... Again, Stewart provides another interesting read for anyone intrigued by mathematics.”

Dallas Morning News
Anyone who has always loved math for its own sake or for the way it provides new perspectives on important real-world phenomena will find hours of brain-teasing and mind-challenging delight in the British professor's survey of recently answered or still open mathematical questions.... Individual readers will dig deeply into certain chapters and skim others according to personal preference, but every one of them will be captivated by the technical achievements, loose ends and human insights that Stewart shares on his grand mathematical tour.”

New York Journal of Books
Entertaining and accessible.... Ian Stewart belongs to a very small, very exclusive club of popular science and mathematics writers who are worth reading today.”

L'autore

Ian Stewart is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics and active researcher at the University of Warwick. The author of many books on mathematics, he lives in Coventry, England.

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Basic Books
• Data di pubblicazione: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0465022405
• ISBN 13: 9780465022403
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Lingua: Inglese
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 340