Bernhard Riemann
I have been reading Prime Obsession by John Derbyshire. The book is about Bernhard Riemann, who is father of what is regarded as the greatest unsolved problem in mathematics, The Riemann Hypothesis, which states “All non-trivial zeros of the zeta function have real part one-half”. This relates to his proposed formula to count the number of prime numbers less than a given quantity. The book covers Riemann’s life in general, as well as providing in-depth coverage of his hypothesis.
I find this book to be a good read. It is not too technical in terms of the math used to describe the background requisites as well as the Hypothesis itself. Anyone who is comfortable with basic math, algebra, and elementary calculus will find the content tractable – at least to the point I have thus far read. The calculus used is quite basic, and was fun to see again (I have not done any calculus in many years). Note that I have not yet finished the book, and I’m sure the math will soon leave me behind.
In any case I have found the first two thirds of the book enjoyable and thought to comment.
