When Rosie decides to get her friends together for their very own version of Come Dine With Me she's bursting with excitement, even though her husband Stephen is less than keen. But Rosie is adamant. Four couples, each hosting a dinner party on a different night of the week, with a prize at the end for the best one. It'll be a good laugh, won't it? And a great way for everyone to get to know each other. What could possibly go wrong? What Rosie doesn't anticipate are the lengths her fellow hosts might be prepared to go to in order to claim the prize -- outlandish recipes, rare ingredients sourced from abroad, and a chocolate tart that looks just too good to be homemade...But perhaps she should be more worried about the mounting tension between the guests, as backbiting breaks out over the appetisers and a glass of wine too many leads to indiscreet flirtation. As the pressure in the kitchen rises, relationships begin to crack under strain, high-minded principles collide and the oven gloves come off...But that's all part of the fun. Isn't it?

Mahler measure, a height function for polynomials, is the central theme of this book. It has many interesting properties, obtained by algebraic, analytic and combinatorial methods. It is the subject of several longstanding unsolved questions, such as Lehmer's Problem (1933) and Boyd's Conjecture (1981). This book contains a wide range of results on Mahler measure. Some of the results are very recent, such as Dimitrov's proof of the Schinzel-Zassenhaus Conjecture. Other known results are included with new, streamlined proofs. Robinson's Conjectures (1965) for cyclotomic integers, and their associated Cassels height function, are also discussed, for the first time in a book.One way to study algebraic integers is to associate them with combinatorial objects, such as integer matrices. In some of these combinatorial settings the analogues of several notorious open problems have been solved, and the book sets out this recent work. Many Mahler measure results are proved for restricted sets of polynomials, such as for totally real polynomials, and reciprocal polynomials of integer symmetric as well as symmetrizable matrices. For reference, the book includes appendices providing necessary background from algebraic number theory, graph theory, and other prerequisites, along with tables of one- and two-variable integer polynomials with small Mahler measure. All theorems are well motivated and presented in an accessible way. Numerous exercises at various levels are given, including some for computer programming. A wide range of stimulating open problems is also included. At the end of each chapter there is a glossary of newly introduced concepts and definitions. Around the Unit Circle is written in a friendly, lucid, enjoyable style, without sacrificing mathematical rigour. It is intended for lecture courses at the graduate level, and will also be a valuable reference for researchers interested in Mahler measure. Essentially self-contained, this textbook should also be accessible to well-prepared upper-level undergraduates.

Many areas of active research within the broad field of number theory relate to properties of polynomials, and this volume displays the most recent and most interesting work on this theme. The 2006 Number Theory and Polynomials workshop in Bristol drew together international researchers with a variety of number-theoretic interests, and the book's contents reflect the quality of the meeting. Topics covered include recent work on the Schur-Siegel-Smyth trace problem, Mahler measure and its generalisations, the merit factor problem, Barker sequences, K3-surfaces, self-inversive polynomials, Newman's inequality, algorithms for sparse polynomials, the integer transfinite diameter, divisors of polynomials, non-linear recurrence sequences, polynomial ergodic averages, and the Hansen-Mullen primitivity conjecture. With surveys and expository articles presenting the latest research, this volume is essential for graduates and researchers looking for a snapshot of current progress in polynomials and number theory.