Around 1637, the French jurist Pierre de Fermat scribbled in the margin of his copy of the book Arithmetica what came to be known as Fermat's Last Theorem, the most famous question in mathematical history. Stating that it is impossible to split a cube into two cubes, or a fourth power into two fourth powers, or any higher power into two like powers, but not leaving behind the marvelous proof he claimed to have had, Fermat prompted three and a half centuries of mathematical inquiry which culminated only recently with the proof of the theorem by Andrew Wiles.

This book offers the first serious treatment of Fermat's Last Theorem since Wiles's proof. It is based on a series of lectures given by the author to celebrate Wiles's achievement, with each chapter explaining a separate area of number theory as it pertains to Fermat's Last Theorem. Together, they provide a concise history of the theorem as well as a brief discussion of Wiles's proof and its implications. Requiring little more than one year of university mathematics and some interest in formulas, this overview provides many useful tips and cites numerous references for those who desire more mathematical detail.

The book's most distinctive feature is its easy-to-read, humorous style, complete with examples, anecdotes, and some of the lesser-known mathematics underlying the newly discovered proof. In the author's own words, the book deals with "serious mathematics without being too serious about it." Alf van der Poorten demystifies mathematical research, offers an intuitive approach to the subject—loosely suggesting various definitions and unexplained facts—and invites the reader to fill in the missing links in some of the mathematical claims.

Entertaining, controversial, even outrageous, this book not only tells us why, in all likelihood, Fermat did not have the proof for his last theorem, it also takes us through historical attempts to crack the theorem, the prizes that were offered along the way, and the consequent motivation for the development of other areas of mathematics. Notes on Fermat's Last Theorem is invaluable for students of mathematics, and of real interest to those in the physical sciences, engineering, and computer sciences—indeed for anyone who craves a glimpse at this fascinating piece of mathematical history.

An exciting introduction to modern number theory as reflected by the history of Fermat's Last Theorem

This book displays the unique talents of author Alf van der Poorten in mathematical exposition for mathematicians. Here, mathematics' most famous question and the ideas underlying its recent solution are presented in a way that appeals to the imagination and leads the reader through related areas of number theory. The first book to focus on Fermat's Last Theorem since Andrew Wiles presented his celebrated proof, Notes on Fermat's Last Theorem surveys 350 years of mathematical history in an amusing and intriguing collection of tidbits, anecdotes, footnotes, exercises, references, illustrations, and more.

Proving that mathematics can make for lively reading as well as intriguing thought, this thoroughly accessible treatment

Helps students and professionals develop a background in number theory and provides introductions to the various fields of theory that are touched upon

• Offers insight into the exciting world of mathematical research
• Covers a number of areas appropriate for classroom use
• Assumes only one year of university mathematics background even for the more advanced topics
• Explains why Fermat surely did not have the proof to his theorem
• Examines the efforts of mathematicians over the centuries to solve the problem
• Shows how the pursuit of the theorem contributed to the greater development of mathematics

A memorial conference for Leon Ehrenpreis was held at Temple University, November 15-16, 2010. In the spirit of Ehrenpreis's contribution to mathematics, the papers in this volume, written by prominent mathematicians, represent the wide breadth of subjects that Ehrenpreis traversed in his career, including partial differential equations, combinatorics, number theory, complex analysis and a bit of applied mathematics. With the exception of one survey article, the papers in this volume are all new results in the various fields in which Ehrenpreis worked . There are papers in pure analysis, papers in number theory, papers in what may be called applied mathematics such as population biology and parallel refractors and papers in partial differential equations. The mature mathematician will find new mathematics and the advanced graduate student will find many new ideas to explore. A biographical sketch of Leon Ehrenpreis by his daughter, a professional journalist, enhances the memorial tribute and gives the reader a glimpse into the life and career of a great mathematician."

This book consists of both expository and research articles solicited from speakers at the conference entitled "Arithmetic and Ideal Theory of Rings and Semigroups," held September 22-26, 2014 at the University of Graz, Graz, Austria. It reflects recent trends in multiplicative ideal theory and factorization theory, and brings together for the first time in one volume both commutative and non-commutative perspectives on these areas, which have their roots in number theory, commutative algebra, and algebraic geometry. Topics discussed include topological aspects in ring theory, Prufer domains of integer-valued polynomials and their monadic submonoids, and semigroup algebras. It will be of interest to practitioners of mathematics and computer science, and researchers in multiplicative ideal theory, factorization theory, number theory, and algebraic geometry.

Traditionally a subject of number theory, continued fractions appear in dynamical systems, algebraic geometry, topology, and even celestial mechanics. The rise of computational geometry has resulted in renewed interest in multidimensional generalizations of continued fractions. Numerous classical theorems have been extended to the multidimensional case, casting light on phenomena in diverse areas of mathematics. This book introduces a new geometric vision of continued fractions. It covers several applications to questions related to such areas as Diophantine approximation, algebraic number theory, and toric geometry. The reader will find an overview of current progress in the geometric theory of multidimensional continued fractions accompanied by currently open problems. Whenever possible, we illustrate geometric constructions with figures and examples. Each chapter has exercises useful for undergraduate or graduate courses.

Number theory has been a perennial topic of inspiration and importance throughout the history of philosophy and mathematics. Despite this fact, surprisingly little attention has been given to research in learning and teaching number theory per se. This volume is an attempt to redress this matter and to serve as a launch point for further research in this area. Drawing on work from an international group of researchers in mathematics education, this volume is a collection of clinical and classroom-based studies in cognition and instruction on learning and teaching number theory. Although there are differences in emphases in theory, method, and focus area, these studies are bound through similar constructivist orientations and qualitative approaches toward research into undergraduate students' and preservice teachers' subject content and pedagogical content knowledge. Collectively, these studies draw on a variety of cognitive, linguistic, and pedagogical frameworks that focus on various approaches to problem solving, communicating, representing, connecting, and reasoning with topics of elementary number theory, and these in turn have practical implications for the classroom. Learning styles and teaching strategies investigated involve number theoretical vocabulary, concepts, procedures, and proof strategies ranging from divisors, multiples, and divisibility rules, to various theorems involving division, factorization, partitions, and mathematical induction.

Limit theorems and asymptotic results form a central topic in probability theory and mathematical statistics. New and non-classical limit theorems have been discovered for processes in random environments, especially in connection with random matrix theory and free probability. These questions and the techniques for answering them combine asymptotic enumerative combinatorics, particle systems and approximation theory, and are important for new approaches in geometric and metric number theory as well. Thus, the contributions in this book include a wide range of applications with surprising connections ranging from longest common subsequences for words, permutation groups, random matrices and free probability to entropy problems and metric number theory.

The book is the product of a conference that took place in August 2011 in Bielefeld, Germany to celebrate the 60th birthday of Friedrich Gotze, a noted expert in this field."

Srinivasa Ramanujan was a mathematician brilliant beyond comparison who inspired many great mathematicians. There is extensive literature available on the work of Ramanujan. But what is missing in the literature is an analysis that would place his mathematics in context and interpret it in terms of modern developments. The 12 lectures by Hardy, delivered in 1936, served this purpose at the time they were given. This book presents Ramanujan's essential mathematical contributions and gives an informal account of some of the major developments that emanated from his work in the 20th and 21st centuries. It contends that his work still has an impact on many different fields of mathematical research. This book examines some of these themes in the landscape of 21st-century mathematics. These essays, based on the lectures given by the authors focus on a subset of Ramanujan's significant papers and show how these papers shaped the course of modern mathematics.

This book presents multiprecision algorithms used in number theory and elsewhere, such as extrapolation, numerical integration, numerical summation (including multiple zeta values and the Riemann-Siegel formula), evaluation and speed of convergence of continued fractions, Euler products and Euler sums, inverse Mellin transforms, and complex $L$-functions. For each task, many algorithms are presented, such as Gaussian and doubly-exponential integration, Euler-MacLaurin, Abel-Plana, Lagrange, and Monien summation. Each algorithm is given in detail, together with a complete implementation in the free Pari/GP system. These implementations serve both to make even more precise the inner workings of the algorithms, and to gently introduce advanced features of the Pari/GP language. This book will be appreciated by anyone interested in number theory, specifically in practical implementations, computer experiments and numerical algorithms that can be scaled to produce thousands of digits of accuracy.

This book presents the most up-to-date and sophisticated account of the theory of Euclidean lattices and sequences of Euclidean lattices, in the framework of Arakelov geometry, where Euclidean lattices are considered as vector bundles over arithmetic curves. It contains a complete description of the theta invariants which give rise to a closer parallel with the geometric case. The author then unfolds his theory of infinite Hermitian vector bundles over arithmetic curves and their theta invariants, which provides a conceptual framework to deal with the sequences of lattices occurring in many diophantine constructions. The book contains many interesting original insights and ties to other theories. It is written with extreme care, with a clear and pleasant style, and never sacrifices accessibility to sophistication.

This second edition is a corrected and extended version of the first. It is a textbook for students, as well as a reference book for the working mathematician, on cohomological topics in number theory. In all it is a virtually complete treatment of a vast array of central topics in algebraic number theory. New material is introduced here on duality theorems for unramified and tamely ramified extensions as well as a careful analysis of 2-extensions of real number fields.

This book offers an essential textbook on complex analysis. After introducing the theory of complex analysis, it places special emphasis on the importance of Poincare theorem and Hartog's theorem in the function theory of several complex variables. Further, it lays the groundwork for future study in analysis, linear algebra, numerical analysis, geometry, number theory, physics (including hydrodynamics and thermodynamics), and electrical engineering. To benefit most from the book, students should have some prior knowledge of complex numbers. However, the essential prerequisites are quite minimal, and include basic calculus with some knowledge of partial derivatives, definite integrals, and topics in advanced calculus such as Leibniz's rule for differentiating under the integral sign and to some extent analysis of infinite series. The book offers a valuable asset for undergraduate and graduate students of mathematics and engineering, as well as students with no background in topological properties.

This introduction to cryptography employs a programming-oriented approach to study the most important cryptographic schemes in current use and the main cryptanalytic attacks against them. Discussion of the theoretical aspects, emphasizing precise security definitions based on methodological tools such as complexity and randomness, and of the mathematical aspects, with emphasis on number-theoretic algorithms and their applications to cryptography and cryptanalysis, is integrated with the programming approach, thus providing implementations of the algorithms and schemes as well as examples of realistic size.

A distinctive feature of the author's approach is the use of Maple as a programming environment in which not just the cryptographic primitives but also the most important cryptographic schemes are implemented following the recommendations of standards bodies such as NIST, with many of the known cryptanalytic attacks implemented as well. The purpose of the Maple implementations is to let the reader experiment and learn, and for this reason the author includes numerous examples. The book discusses important recent subjects such as homomorphic encryption, identity-based cryptography and elliptic curve cryptography. The algorithms and schemes which are treated in detail and implemented in Maple include AES and modes of operation, CMAC, GCM/GMAC, SHA-256, HMAC, RSA, Rabin, Elgamal, Paillier, Cocks IBE, DSA and ECDSA. In addition, some recently introduced schemes enjoying strong security properties, such as RSA-OAEP, Rabin-SAEP, Cramer--Shoup, and PSS, are also discussed and implemented. On the cryptanalysis side, Maple implementations and examples are used to discuss many important algorithms, including birthday and man-in-the-middle attacks, integer factorization algorithms such as Pollard's rho and the quadratic sieve, and discrete log algorithms such as baby-step giant-step, Pollard's rho, Pohlig--Hellman and the index calculus method.

This textbook is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of computer science, engineering and mathematics, satisfying the requirements of various types of courses: a basic introductory course; a theoretically oriented course whose focus is on the precise definition of security concepts and on cryptographic schemes with reductionist security proofs; a practice-oriented course requiring little mathematical background and with an emphasis on applications; or a mathematically advanced course addressed to students with a stronger mathematical background. The main prerequisite is a basic knowledge of linear algebra and elementary calculus, and while some knowledge of probability and abstract algebra would be helpful, it is not essential because the book includes the necessary background from these subjects and, furthermore, explores the number-theoretic material in detail. The book is also a comprehensive reference and is suitable for self-study by practitioners and programmers."

For the most part, this book is the translation from Japanese of the earlier book written jointly by Koji Doi and the author who revised it substantially for the English edition. It sets out to provide the reader with the basic knowledge of elliptic modular forms necessary to understand the recent developments in number theory. The first part gives the general theory of modular groups, modular forms and Hecke operators, with emphasis on the Hecke-Weil theory of the relation between modular forms and Dirichlet series. The second part is on the unit groups of quaternion algebras, which are seldom dealt with in books. The so-called Eichler-Selberg trace formula of Hecke operators follows next and the explicit computable formula is given. In the last chapter, written for the English edition, Eisenstein series with parameter are discussed following the recent work of Shimura: Eisenstein series are likely to play a very important role in the future progress of number theory, and this chapter provides a good introduction to the topic.

The relation between mathematics and physics has a long history, in which the role of number theory and of other more abstract parts of mathematics has recently become more prominent.

More than ten years after a first meeting in 1989 between number theorists and physicists at the Centre de Physique des Houches, a second 2-week event focused on the broader interface of number theory, geometry, and physics.

This book is the result of that exciting meeting, and collects, in 2 volumes, extended versions of the lecture courses, followed by shorter texts on special topics, of eminent mathematicians and physicists.

The present volume has three parts: Random matrices, Zeta functions, Dynamical systems.

The companion volume is subtitled: On Conformal Field Theories, Discrete Groups and Renormalization and will be published in 2006 (Springer, 3-540-30307-3).

"Recent Advances in Harmonic Analysis and Applications" features selected contributions from the AMS conference which took place at Georgia Southern University, Statesboro in 2011 in honor of Professor Konstantin Oskolkov's 65th birthday. The contributions are based on two special sessions, namely "Harmonic Analysis and Applications" and "Sparse Data Representations and Applications." Topics covered range from Banach space geometry to classical harmonic analysis and partial differential equations.Survey and expository articles by leading experts in their corresponding fields are included, and the volume also features selected high quality papers exploring new results and trends in Muckenhoupt-Sawyer theory, orthogonal polynomials, trigonometric series, approximation theory, Bellman functions and applications in differential equations.

Graduate students and researchers in analysis will be particularly interested in the articles which emphasize remarkable connections between analysis and analytic number theory. The readers will learn about recent mathematical developments and directions for future work in the unexpected and surprising interaction between abstract problems in additive number theory and experimentally discovered optical phenomena in physics. This book will be useful for number theorists, harmonic analysts, algorithmists in multi-dimensional signal processing and experts in physics and partial differential equations. "

This book features challenging problems of classical analysis that invite the reader to explore a host of strategies and tools used for solving problems of modern topics in real analysis. This volume offers an unusual collection of problems - many of them original - specializing in three topics of mathematical analysis: limits, series, and fractional part integrals. The work is divided into three parts, each containing a chapter dealing with a particular problem type as well as a very short section of hints to select problems. The first chapter collects problems on limits of special sequences and Riemann integrals; the second chapter focuses on the calculation of fractional part integrals with a special section called 'Quickies' which contains problems that have had unexpected succinct solutions. The final chapter offers the reader an assortment of problems with a flavor towards the computational aspects of infinite series and special products, many of which are new to the literature. Each chapter contains a section of difficult problems which are motivated by other problems in the book. These 'Open Problems' may be considered research projects for students who are studying advanced calculus, and which are intended to stimulate creativity and the discovery of new and original methods for proving known results and establishing new ones. This stimulating collection of problems is intended for undergraduate students with a strong background in analysis; graduate students in mathematics, physics, and engineering; researchers; and anyone who works on topics at the crossroad between pure and applied mathematics. Moreover, the level of problems is appropriate for students involved in the Putnam competition and other high level mathematical contests.

This volume presents an exhaustive treatment of computation and algorithms for finite fields. Topics covered include polynomial factorization, finding irreducible and primitive polynomials, distribution of these primitive polynomials and of primitive points on elliptic curves, constructing bases of various types, and new applications of finite fields to other areas of mathematics. For completeness, also included are two special chapters on some recent advances and applications of the theory of congruences (optimal coefficients, congruential pseudo-random number generators, modular arithmetic etc.), and computational number theory (primality testing, factoring integers, computing in algebraic number theory, etc). The problems considered here have many applications in computer science, coding theory, cryptography, number theory and discrete mathematics. The level of discussion presupposes only a knowledge of the basic facts on finite fields, and the book can be recommended as supplementary graduate text. For researchers and students interested in computational and algorithmic problems in finite fields.

This book, in honor of Hari M. Srivastava, discusses essential developments in mathematical research in a variety of problems. It contains thirty-five articles, written by eminent scientists from the international mathematical community, including both research and survey works. Subjects covered include analytic number theory, combinatorics, special sequences of numbers and polynomials, analytic inequalities and applications, approximation of functions and quadratures, orthogonality and special and complex functions. The mathematical results and open problems discussed in this book are presented in a simple and self-contained manner. The book contains an overview of old and new results, methods, and theories toward the solution of longstanding problems in a wide scientific field, as well as new results in rapidly progressing areas of research. The book will be useful for researchers and graduate students in the fields of mathematics, physics and other computational and applied sciences.

This edited volume presents a collection of carefully refereed articles covering the latest advances in Automorphic Forms and Number Theory, that were primarily developed from presentations given at the 2012 "International Conference on Automorphic Forms and Number Theory," held in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. The present volume includes original research as well as some surveys and outlines of research altogether providing a contemporary snapshot on the latest activities in the field and covering the topics of: Borcherds products Congruences and Codes Jacobi forms Siegel and Hermitian modular forms Special values of L-series Recently, the Sultanate of Oman became a member of the International Mathematical Society. In view of this development, the conference provided the platform for scientific exchange and collaboration between scientists of different countries from all over the world. In particular, an opportunity was established for a close exchange between scientists and students of Germany, Oman, and Japan. The conference was hosted by the Sultan Qaboos University and the German University of Technology in Oman.

The Proceedings contain twenty selected, refereed contributions arising from the International Conference on Public-Key Cryptography and Computational Number Theory held in Warsaw, Poland, on September 11-15, 2000. The conference, attended by eightyfive mathematicians from eleven countries, was organized by the Stefan Banach International Mathematical Center. This volume contains articles from leading experts in the world on cryptography and computational number theory, providing an account of the state of research in a wide variety of topics related to the conference theme. It is dedicated to the memory of the Polish mathematicians Marian Rejewski (1905-1980), Jerzy Rooycki (1909-1942) and Henryk Zygalski (1907-1978), who deciphered the military version of the famous Enigma in December 1932 ? January 1933. A noteworthy feature of the volume is a foreword written by Andrew Odlyzko on the progress in cryptography from Enigma time until now."

This is the most comprehensive survey of the mathematical life of the legendary Paul Erdos (1913-1996), one of the most versatile and prolific mathematicians of our time. For the first time, all the main areas of Erdos' research are covered in a single project. Because of overwhelming response from the mathematical community, the project now occupies over 1000 pages, arranged into two volumes. These volumes contain both high level research articles as well as key articles that survey some of the cornerstones of Erdos' work, each written by a leading world specialist in the field. A special chapter "Early Days", rare photographs, and art related to Erdos complement this striking collection. A unique contribution is the bibliography on Erdos' publications: the most comprehensive ever published. This new edition, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Paul Erdos' birth, contains updates on many of the articles from the two volumes of the first edition, several new articles from prominent mathematicians, a new introduction, more biographical information about Paul Erdos, and an updated list of publications. The first volume contains the unique chapter "Early Days", which features personal memories of Paul Erdos by a number of his colleagues. The other three chapters cover number theory, random methods, and geometry. All of these chapters are essentially updated, most notably the geometry chapter that covers the recent solution of the problem on the number of distinct distances in finite planar sets, which was the most popular of Erdos' favorite geometry problems.

The fields of algebraic functions of one variable appear in several areas of mathematics: complex analysis, algebraic geometry, and number theory. This text adopts the latter perspective by applying an arithmetic-algebraic viewpoint to the study of function fields as part of the algebraic theory of numbers, where a function field of one variable is the analogue of a finite extension of Q, the field of rational numbers. The author does not ignore the geometric-analytic aspects of function fields, but leaves an in-depth examination from this perspective to others.

Key topics and features:

* Contains an introductory chapter on algebraic and numerical antecedents, including transcendental extensions of fields, absolute values on Q, and Riemann surfaces

* Focuses on the Riemanna "Roch theorem, covering divisors, adeles or repartitions, Weil differentials, class partitions, and more

* Includes chapters on extensions, automorphisms and Galois theory, congruence function fields, the Riemann Hypothesis, the Riemanna "Hurwitz Formula, applications of function fields to cryptography, class field theory, cyclotomic function fields, and Drinfeld modules

* Explains both the similarities and fundamental differences between function fields and number fields

* Includes many exercises and examples to enhance understanding and motivate further study

The only prerequisites are a basic knowledge of field theory, complex analysis, and some commutative algebra. The book can serve as a text for a graduate course in number theory or an advanced graduate topics course. Alternatively, chapters 1-4 can serve as the base of an introductory undergraduate course for mathematicsmajors, while chapters 5-9 can support a second course for advanced undergraduates. Researchers interested in number theory, field theory, and their interactions will also find the work an excellent reference.

This is the most comprehensive survey of the mathematical life of the legendary Paul Erdos (1913-1996), one of the most versatile and prolific mathematicians of our time. For the first time, all the main areas of Erdos' research are covered in a single project. Because of overwhelming response from the mathematical community, the project now occupies over 1000 pages, arranged into two volumes. These volumes contain both high level research articles as well as key articles that survey some of the cornerstones of Erdos' work, each written by a leading world specialist in the field. A special chapter "Early Days", rare photographs, and art related to Erdos complement this striking collection. A unique contribution is the bibliography on Erdos' publications: the most comprehensive ever published. This new edition, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Paul Erdos' birth, contains updates on many of the articles from the two volumes of the first edition, several new articles from prominent mathematicians, a new introduction, and more biographical information about Paul Erdos with an updated list of publications. The second volume contains chapters on graph theory and combinatorics, extremal and Ramsey theory, and a section on infinity that covers Erdos' research on set theory. All of these chapters are essentially updated, particularly the extremal theory chapter that contains a survey of flag algebras, a new technique for solving extremal problems.

In the spring of 1976, George Andrews of Pennsylvania State University visited the library at Trinity College, Cambridge, to examine the papers of the late G.N. Watson. Among these papers, Andrews discovered a sheaf of 138 pages in the handwriting of Srinivasa Ramanujan. This manuscript was soon designated, "Ramanujan's lost notebook." Its discovery has frequently been deemed the mathematical equivalent of finding Beethoven's tenth symphony. This fifth and final installment of the authors' examination of Ramanujan's lost notebook focuses on the mock theta functions first introduced in Ramanujan's famous Last Letter. This volume proves all of the assertions about mock theta functions in the lost notebook and in the Last Letter, particularly the celebrated mock theta conjectures. Other topics feature Ramanujan's many elegant Euler products and the remaining entries on continued fractions not discussed in the preceding volumes. Review from the second volume:"Fans of Ramanujan's mathematics are sure to be delighted by this book. While some of the content is taken directly from published papers, most chapters contain new material and some previously published proofs have been improved. Many entries are just begging for further study and will undoubtedly be inspiring research for decades to come. The next installment in this series is eagerly awaited."- MathSciNet Review from the first volume:"Andrews and Berndt are to be congratulated on the job they are doing. This is the first step...on the way to an understanding of the work of the genius Ramanujan. It should act as an inspiration to future generations of mathematicians to tackle a job that will never be complete."- Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society