Introduction To Modern Prime Number Theory

This 1952 book attempts to prove the Vinogradov-Goldbach theorem: that every sufficiently large odd number is the sum of three primes.

This edition has been called ‘startlingly up-to-date’, and in this corrected second printing you can be sure that it’s even more contemporaneous. It surveys from a unified point of view both the modern state and the trends of continuing development in various branches of number theory. Illuminated by elementary problems, the central ideas of modern theories are laid bare. Some topics covered include non-Abelian generalizations of class field theory, recursive computability and Diophantine equations, zeta- and L-functions. This substantially revised and expanded new edition contains several new sections, such as Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, and relevant techniques coming from a synthesis of various theories.

At first glance the prime numbers appear to be distributed in a very irregular way amongst the integers, but it is possible to produce a simple formula that tells us (in an approximate but well defined sense) how many primes we can expect to find that are less than any integer we might choose. The prime number theorem tells us what this formula is and it is indisputably one of the great classical theorems of mathematics. This textbook gives an introduction to the prime number theorem suitable for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students. The author's aim is to show the reader how the tools of analysis can be used in number theory to attack a 'real' problem, and it is based on his own experiences of teaching this material.

This book is a revised and greatly expanded version of our book Elements of Number Theory published in 1972. As with the first book the primary audience we envisage consists of upper level undergraduate mathematics majors and graduate students. We have assumed some familiarity with the material in a standard undergraduate course in abstract algebra. A large portion of Chapters 1-11 can be read even without such background with the aid of a small amount of supplementary reading. The later chapters assume some knowledge of Galois theory, and in Chapters 16 and 18 an acquaintance with the theory of complex variables is necessary. Number theory is an ancient subject and its content is vast. Any intro ductory book must, of necessity, make a very limited selection from the fascinat ing array of possible topics. Our focus is on topics which point in the direction of algebraic number theory and arithmetic algebraic geometry. By a careful selection of subject matter we have found it possible to exposit some rather advanced material without requiring very much in the way oftechnical background. Most of this material is classical in the sense that is was dis covered during the nineteenth century and earlier, but it is also modern because it is intimately related to important research going on at the present time.

This well-developed, accessible text details the historical development of the subject throughout. It also provides wide-ranging coverage of significant results with comparatively elementary proofs, some of them new. This second edition contains two new chapters that provide a complete proof of the Mordel-Weil theorem for elliptic curves over the rational numbers and an overview of recent progress on the arithmetic of elliptic curves.

Originally published in 1934, this volume presents the theory of the distribution of the prime numbers in the series of natural numbers. Despite being long out of print, it remains unsurpassed as an introduction to the field.

Growing out of a course designed to teach Gauss's Disquisitiones Arithmeticae to honors-level undergraduates, Flath's Introduction to Number Theory focuses on Gauss's theory of binary quadratic forms. It is suitable for use as a textbook in a course or self-study by advanced undergraduates or graduate students who possess a basic familiarity with abstract algebra. The text treats a variety of topics from elementary number theory including the distribution of primes, sums of squares, continued factions, the Legendre, Jacobi and Kronecker symbols, the class group and genera. But the focus is on quadratic reciprocity (several proofs are given including one that highlights the p−q symmetry) and binary quadratic forms. The reader will come away with a good understanding of what Gauss intended in the Disquisitiones and Dirichlet in his Vorlesungen. The text also includes a lovely appendix by J. P. Serre titled Δ=b2−4ac. The clarity of the author's vision is matched by the clarity of his exposition. This is a book that reveals the discovery of the quadratic core of algebraic number theory. It should be on the desk of every instructor of introductory number theory as a source of inspiration, motivation, examples, and historical insight.

In a manner accessible to beginning undergraduates, An Invitation to Modern Number Theory introduces many of the central problems, conjectures, results, and techniques of the field, such as the Riemann Hypothesis, Roth's Theorem, the Circle Method, and Random Matrix Theory. Showing how experiments are used to test conjectures and prove theorems, the book allows students to do original work on such problems, often using little more than calculus (though there are numerous remarks for those with deeper backgrounds). It shows students what number theory theorems are used for and what led to them and suggests problems for further research. Steven Miller and Ramin Takloo-Bighash introduce the problems and the computational skills required to numerically investigate them, providing background material (from probability to statistics to Fourier analysis) whenever necessary. They guide students through a variety of problems, ranging from basic number theory, cryptography, and Goldbach's Problem, to the algebraic structures of numbers and continued fractions, showing connections between these subjects and encouraging students to study them further. In addition, this is the first undergraduate book to explore Random Matrix Theory, which has recently become a powerful tool for predicting answers in number theory. Providing exercises, references to the background literature, and Web links to previous student research projects, An Invitation to Modern Number Theory can be used to teach a research seminar or a lecture class.