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Article: Prime problem.(Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics)(Book Review)
- Article from:
- New Criterion
- Article date:
- April 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Foundation for Cultural Review. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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John Derbyshire Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics. Joseph Henry Press, 412 pages, $24.95
With the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem in 1994, Derbyshire says, "the Riemann Hypothesis is now the great white whale of mathematical research." Even before that, it was regarded by mathematicians as the more significant problem--though not as old as FLT, it is more central to mathematics and probably a good deal harden
And harder to explain. Of the two new books offering an account for a popular audience, Prime Obsession and Karl Sabbagh's The Riemann Hypothesis (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux), Derbyshire's offers the ...