|
 |
"Trying to figure it out": Review of The Millennium Problems: Seven Greatest Unsolved Mathematical Puzzles of Our Time, by Keith Devlin. Reviewed by Jeremy Gray. Nature, 14 November 2002.
Gray credits Devlin for his high level of mathematical exposition and success in conveying excitement about the seven unsolved problems (each with US$1 million reward for its solution) proposed by the Clay Mathematics Institute. The reviewer (and Devlin himself) acknowledges the difficulty in putting forth the nature of each problem for a large audience, since the problems are drawn from different areas of mathematics and each presents a challenge even to researchers with extensive knowledge in the subject. Although Gray hopes the book will inspire mathematically inclined students to pursue mathematics, he also hopes that "readers of Nature will find this book too easy and want to read something deeper" and predicts that "there will be other books, by other authors, aimed at readers who already know more mathematics." The editor notes after the review another book, Dr. Riemann's Zeros: The Search the US$1 million Solution to the Greatest Problem in Mathematics, by Karl Sabbagh, published by Atlantic Books.
--- Annette Emerson |
Comments: Email Webmaster |
