The Great Mathematical Problems[note 1] is a 2013 book by Ian Stewart. It discusses fourteen[1] mathematical problems and is written for laypersons.[2] The book has received positive reviews.
Content
Stewart describes important open or recently closed problems in mathematics:
Goldbach's conjecture
Squaring the circle
Four colour theorem
Kepler's conjecture
Mordell's conjecture
Fermat's Last Theorem
Three-body problem
Riemann hypothesis
Poincare conjecture
P versus NP problem
Navier–Stokes equation
Mass gap
Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture
Hodge conjecture
Reception
Ian Stewart belongs to a very small, very exclusive club of popular science and mathematics writers who are worth reading today.
Robert Schaefer of New York Journal of Books[3]
Kirkus Reviews said Stewart "succeed[ed] in illuminating many but not all of some very difficult ideas", and that the book "will enchant math enthusiasts as well as general readers who pay close attention".[1] Robert Schaefer from the New York Journal of Books described "The Great Mathematical Problems" as "both entertaining and accessible", although later noted that "in the end chapters ... explanations of the conjectures get more complicated".[3]
Fred Bortz gave the book a positive review in The Dallas Morning News, commenting "few authors are better at understanding their readers than the prolific mathematics writer Ian Stewart" and saying that "anyone who has always loved math for its own sake or for the way it provides new perspectives on important real-world phenomena will find hours of brain-teasing and mind-challenging delight in the British professor’s survey of recently answered or still open mathematical questions".[4]
Notes
Also known as Visions of Infinity: The Great Mathematical Problems, Visions of Infinity or The Great Mathematical Problems: Marvels and Mysteries of Mathematics.
References
"VISIONS OF MATHEMATICS". Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus Media. December 11, 2012. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
"The Great Mathematical Problems: Marvels and Mysteries of Mathematics by Ian Stewart has been published under the auspices of the Dynasty Foundation". Dynasty Foundation. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
Schaefer, Robert. "Visions of Infinity: The Great Mathematical Problems". New York Journal of Books. Lisa Rojany Buccieri. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
Bortz, Fred (March 30, 2013). "Book review: 'Visions of Infinity: The Great Mathematical Problem,' by Ian Stewart". Retrieved January 1, 2015.
Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics
Graduate Studies in Mathematics
Hellenica World - Scientific Library
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