Dr. Riemann's zeros: [the search for the $1 million solution to the greatest problem in mathematics]

In 1859 Bernhard Riemann, a shy German mathematician, wrote an eight-page article, suggesting an answer to a problem that had long puzzled mathematicians. For the next 150 years, the world's mathematicians have longed to confirm the Riemann hypothesis. So great is the interest in its solution that in 2001, an American foundation offered a million-dollar prize to the first person to demonstrate that the hypothesis is correct. Karl Sabbagh's book paints vivid portraits of the mathematicians who spend their days and nights on the race to solve the problem. Cover About the Book and the Author Collected Photos Dr Riemann's Zeros Copyright © Karl Sabbagh 2002 ISBN 184354 101 7 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS THE MATHEMATICIANS A NOTE ABOUT THE TOOLKITS PROLOGUE 1 Prime time 2 'Gorgeous stuff ́ 3 New numbers for old 4 Indian summer 5 'Very probably' 6 Proofs and refutations 7 The Bieberbach Conjecture 8 In search of zeros 9 The Princeton tea party 10 A driven man 11 The physics of mathematics 12 A laudable aim 13 'No simple matter'I 14 Taking a critical lineIt 15 Abstract delights 16 Discovered or invented? 17 'What's it all about?'It TOOLKITS TOOlKIT 1: logarithms and exponents TOOlKIT 2; Equations TOOLKIT 3; Infinite series TOOlKIT 4; The Euler identity TOOLKIT 5; Graphs in maths TOOLKIT 6; Matrices and eigenvalues NOTES APPENDIX: De Branges's proof The Riemann Hypothesis for Dirichlet Zeta functions FURTHER READING INDEX The only book about the search for a proof to the Riemann Hypothesis.'An insider's view of the highly competitive, fascinating world of mathematics' --John Cornwell, Sunday Times The Riemann Hypothesis emerged from the attempts of mathematicians to understand the subtleties of prime numbers.