Recreations in the Theory of Numbers (Dover Math Games & Puzzles)
P**N
Highly addictive!
I strongly advise against buying this book - it will waste hundreds of hours with fascinating patterns and absorbing connections that most never dreamed of! While requiring nothing more than middle high school mathematics, the text still contains quite advanced ideas - for example and simple proof that Format number that are prime are also the constructible number with ruler and compass. There are also superb discussions (in an entertaining way) of Farey series, primitive roots, Pellian numbers, Pythagorean triples, quadratic residues, prime number distribution and the zeta function, and on and on - never boring. Essential reading for budding numbers' men! The book is not new but it has stood the test of time and is still a masterpiece - one of the greatest time burners I have ever read!
M**S
Excellent for a numbers geek
This is a great book for everyone who loves to learn about the properties of numbers at times. Though somewhat difficult at times and a bit old-fashioned now, still a great book that I keep going back to time and again.
S**E
Great introduction to number theory
Great introduction to number theory...always wondered how they figured out this kind of stuff. Surprisingly readable for it's content.
A**R
Serious Fun With Number Theory
An excellent book for anyone who enjoys fooling around with numbers. I mainly used it for programming a HP50g to solve Pell's equations, as well as other fun programs, i.e.,finding all pairs of squares which sum up to a given number (for example the hp50g takes about 25 seconds to find the 8 pairs of squares that sum up to 8,724,165,747,570, once you write the program. Has chapter with challenging problems, although you will need to spend quite some time reading the book (and understand what you are reading)!
M**L
Very interesting -- May be a difficult read for a high school math student
This book is extremely entertaining and shows the intriguing interplay between the different properties of numbers. I would recommend this book to anyone interested and proficient in mathematics. Even though the book states that it has a target audience of anyone who has completed high school mathematics, the depth and breadth of the analysis and theory presented in this book lends itself to a much more educated reader. I can not recommend this book highly enough.
A**.
Wouldn't recommend it to someone who is new to number theory
Hard to comprehend. Sometimes I had to read the same paragraph multiple times in order to understand the logical process. Wouldn't recommend it to someone who is new to number theory.
O**H
Excellent and Fun
Replacing a copy that is falling apart.
N**A
Five Stars
Item as described. Thank you.
V**S
Really good book- for very smart math people :D
Highly recommended for people who love math and all things related to math! It's a nice thick book, high quality and made for the smart person who adores solving complex riddles.Truthfully, this was a gift for my husband and he adores it. He's very into the sciences and he patiently explains the book to me and why he's laughing in delight while I do my best to 'get it'. It was part of our marriage vows that math and physics wouldn't be talked about before my morning coffee and other than that I'm happy to learn lol!It's a really cool book and if I get my wind up, I'll give it a read, but for now it gives my hubby hours of delight. If you have 'that person' in your life, buy them this book and try to learn a bit from it while you do, you'll both be better for it :)
S**B
Very good overall
As described. Arrived slightly early.
L**I
Tht's what I was looking for!
I was interested in Number Theory since I was a child, producing programs on my Commodore 64.Books that I have bought were related either to automatic calculus (Concrete mathematics by Knuth, Prime Numbers by Crandall and Pomerance) or to abstract number theory. This book is instead related to problems and problem solving, with numerical examples and the theory behind them restricted to the problem. The Author also gives hints on how to enhance the search, offering heuristics and optimization ideas.All in all, a wonderful book to learn computing techniques focusing the study to the actual subject.
G**T
Excellent
Fabuleux livre pour les amoureux de l'arithmétique, ou même les simples curieux.Un bagage niveau DEUG permet d'apprécier les trésors contenus dans ce livre.A noter qu'il est en anglais et que l'auteur semble avoir beaucoup d'humour, certains passages sont délicats à traduire mais rien d'insurmontable.On y retrouve beaucoup de grands classiques mais surtout des curiosités originales et bien amenées. Comme beaucoup de livre de ce genre, il ne se veut pas comme un manuel de mathématiques académique et donc certains passage vous demanderont de démontrer vous-même les blancs d'une affirmation à l'autre. Ou alors de vous laisser porter par le propos de l'auteur pour accéder à des résultats intéressants.C'est donc une lecture très stimulante et instructive.
P**T
Five Stars
EXCELLENT
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