Description

---

What are prime numbers? How are they related to physics? And why should we care about them? This concise though friendly book contains the answers to the previous questions and many others, explained from a unique point of view. João da Silva begins with a brief review of the history of mathematics, which inevitably introduces the infamous primes. He tells us that just as atoms are the basic building blocks of matter in our physical universe, prime numbers are their arithmetical counterpart in the world of mathematics. He then shows that such numbers are everywhere, from the moment we go online to make any sort of electronic transaction and back to the beginning of time itself. The author analyzes the primes by taking an interdisciplinary approach combined with an original perspective, making it possible to delve into the intrinsic properties of these mysterious numbers. Such an unconventional method of scientific research applied to the so-called random distribution of the primes leads to astonishing correlations between these seemingly abstract numbers and various real-life disciplines such as experimental mathematics and computational number theory. Several chapters are dedicated to the implications of such findings, at both theoretical and practical levels. The author concludes with the discovery of his largest personal primes. Related Topics

---

Number Theory