The Music of the Primes: Why an Unsolved Problem in Mathematics Matters (Hardcover)

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Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh 4.8 out of 5 stars (132)  £6.49

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The Code Book: The Secret History of Codes and Code-breaking by Simon Singh 4.8 out of 5 stars (75)  £6.49

Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities by Ian Stewart 3.9 out of 5 stars (12)  £5.49

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Review
The Riemann Hypothesis: Compared to Fermat's Last Theorem, the Hypothesis is mathematicians' real Holy Grail Is the only problem from Hilbert's 1900 Centenary Problems that was unproved in the 20th century and now has a 1 million dollar reward for the person who cracks it. The Hypothesis is the key to all Internet and e-commerce security

This is a homage to mathematics, and in particular to that mysterious elite of maths known as prime numbers - for the uninitiated, whole numbers that cannot be divided exactly by two smaller numbers: 2, 3, 5 and 7 to 1,000,039 and beyond. It has to be said that if you don't already know what a prime number is, you may be baffled by large chunks of this work - written by an eminent mathematician who does have a tendency to assume readers won't be thrown by statements such as, 'Fermat had been right in his claim that the equation x^n + y^n = z^n has no solutions when n is bigger than 2.'Yet that would be a pity, because this is a fascinating work capable of offering at least a glimpse into the magical parallel universe of people who talk like that. Mathematicians are often regarded as arrogant because, according to du Sautoy, their subject has a permanence resting on the certainty of proof. Unlike scientific hypotheses, which may be moderated by new evidence or discarded altogether, mathematical proof is forever - what the ancient Greeks established about maths remains true today. So the great names of mathematics march through these pages with their reputations forever intact, never to be overruled by mathematicians of the future. And from Greeks onwards, mathematicians have been fascinated by primes. The problem is this. Primes get fewer the higher you count. There is no way of predicting the next prime to come. Yet there is no limit to the number of primes, as various intriguing thought experiments herein demonstrate. And it matters because the potential significance of primes is immense. This is a natural language - there is a species of cicada which emerges only every 17 years (17 is prime), presumably to avoid potential predators working to non-prime cycles. It has resonances with problems in particle physics, and immense practical application - computer security relies on primes, and without them modern business would collapse. And primes are a potential universal, intergalactic language - if we are ever to communicate with aliens, primes could well form the vocabulary for making contact. So mathematics' ultimate accolade will pass to the person who solves its most difficult outstanding problem: to understand how primes are distributed throughout the universe of numbers; to prove the Riemann hypothesis which proposes that there is harmony in this apparent sea of randomness. And the remarkable thing about this book, if you read it, is that if and when the discovery occurs - with who knows what ramifications for our future - you will want to know all about it. (Kirkus UK)

Simon Winchester, author of The Surgeon of Crawthorne
'This fascinating account...is written like the purest poetry. Marcus du Sautoy's enthusiasm shines through every line.'

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17 Reviews 5 star:  (7) 4 star:  (6) 3 star:  (3) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:  (1)           Average Customer Review 4.1 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   34 of 35 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic, beautiful book, 25 Nov 2005 By  David (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews This review is from: The Music of the Primes: Why an Unsolved Problem in Mathematics Matters (Paperback) It was Singh's "Fermat's Last Theorem" that led me to look for another book on Number Theory, and I'm very pleased I stumbled upon "The Music of the Primes". I've read a lot of popular science books, but this is definitely my favourite. It is incredibly easy to read, and the author gets the balance perfectly right between historical information, description of individuals and circumstances, and the maths itself. I'm pleased the maths isn't covered too thoroughly - I suspect it would have left me upset that I couldn't follow it, and negatively affected the overall story. If you do feel the need, it's simple to get any information you like on the maths involved from the web - I have a print out of a very good explanation of the zeta function now tucked in the back of the book. The subject matter is mind-blowing, and I'm appalled that I hadn't heard about it properly before. I would love to have found out about this at a younger age, and will force my own children to read it as soon as possible!! Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   34 of 37 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and infuriating, 5 Oct 2004 By  P. J. A. Jennings "pja_jennings" (Oxfordshire) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This review is from: The Music of the Primes: Why an Unsolved Problem in Mathematics Matters (Paperback) This is a book I found fascinating and infuriating in turns. It is an excellent layman's history of number theory with particular reference to prime numbers and the Riemann zeta function. As such it is well worth the reading. However I found that there are certain elements, more of style than anything else, that annoyed me. Most of the results are handed to us without any proof whatsoever. All right, some of these proofs would be obviously well beyond the layman, but one is described as being understandable by the ancient Greeks (who started the whole thing) so why not include it as a footnote or appendix? Having established fairly early on that the points where a mathematical function "reaches sea level" are known as zeros, why keep reverting to the sea level analogy? And although the underlying theme throughout the book is the apparent inextricable link between the zeta function's zeros and counting primes, the Riemann hypothesis, I could find no clear, concise statement of exactly what Riemann said. Spanning over 2000 years, from the ancient Greeks to the 21st century, this is a book I would thoroughly recommend. Comment Comments (2) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   14 of 15 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, but could have been better..., 25 Feb 2007 By  David Evans (Birmingham, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This review is from: The Music of the Primes: Why an Unsolved Problem in Mathematics Matters (Paperback) I really wanted this book to be as good as Simon Singh's 'Fermat's Last Theorem', and while it shares many of the same characteristics as Singh's excellent debut, for me it didn't quite match up. Of course, there my be a couple of simple reasons why this may have been so. Firstly, the Riemann Hypothesis is a rather more conceptually difficult mathematical problem to grasp than Pierre de Fermat's simple but elusive conjecture. Du Sautoy tries to deal with this by using analogies to landscapes and music, but due to the gaps between my reading sessions, I sometimes forgot the origin of the analogical thread, which meant I had to search back through the text to 'catch up'. The other main reason why this book was less satisfying is because nobody has yet proven Riemann's Hypthesis to be true, whereas Fermat's Last Theorem was finally proven by Andrew Wiles in the 1990's. Lastly, the book could have benefited from a series of notes or appendices linked to the text, through which the keen reader could gain a mathematical explanation of what was being described in the text. Again, Singh's book is a beautiful example of how this should be done. Overall though, a very good book, which I am sure I will read again. Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 17 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars Never dry, but still plenty of meat for the afficianado Ever since I read Simon Singh's "Fermat's Last Theorem" I had wanted a similar treatment of the Riemann Hypothesis, and here it is. Read more Published 23 days ago by M. Appleton 5.0 out of 5 stars book review Thoroughly enjoyable and clearly written book about those strange numbers called primes, which leaves you with a fascination for them (if you didn't have it already). Read more Published 5 months ago by tonyB 3.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, but flawed The Music of the Primes by Marcus du Sautoy is an interesting look at the history of mathematical discoveries surrounding the prime numbers. Read more Published 6 months ago by Dan Sumption 3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not great It was fascinating to read about all these famous mathematicians and their backgrounds. It was great to be able to put a face, a personality and a background to an equation that I... Read more Published 15 months ago by K. Koh 3.0 out of 5 stars More about the mathematicians than the mathematics It's said that for every equation you include in a book, you halve the number of readers of that book. Read more Published 18 months ago by Matt Westwood 5.0 out of 5 stars insightful and complete account on Riemann Conjecture Being a mathematician myself I have always found it difficult to find a maths book that was, on one side of a level that could be followed without being sitting in a library with... Read more Published 22 months ago by Xavier Serra Guasch 4.0 out of 5 stars truly fantastic book Hi, This book is a brilliant and beautifully balanced introductory way to first explore the topic of 'number theory'. Read more Published on 6 Feb 2007 by ab..c 4.0 out of 5 stars Bsc Mathematics I am in my third year studying towards a bsc in Mathematics i found this book an enjoyable and helpful read. Read more Published on 28 Oct 2005 by Kimberley 1.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't finish it I do like popular science books, and I'm a physicist myself by training. However, I found this book a frustrating read, and in the end gave up the unequal struggle. Read more Published on 22 Nov 2004 by philwashere 5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic narrative, fascinating mathematics My best holiday read this year! For me, reading this book was a tense struggle. On the one hand, I wanted to read it quickly as I got dragged along by the momentum of an... Read more Published on 27 Nov 2003 Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 17 customer reviews...

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