From Zero to Infinity: What Makes Numbers Interesting 1st Edition by Constance Reid (PDF)

Description

From Zero to Infinity is a combination of number lore, number history, and sparkling descriptions of the simply stated but exceedingly difficult problems posed by the most ordinary numbers that first appeared in 1955 and has been kept in print continuously ever since. With the fifth edition this classic has been updated to report on advances in number theory over the last 50 years, including the proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem. Deceptively simple in style and structure, it is a book to which the reader will return again and again, gaining greater understanding and satisfaction with each reading.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐For those of us who have passed out of our secondary schools & liked Mathematics – though our yearly transcripts told a different story – this book is a wonderful walk down the memory lane. Without the fear of our scores in Mathematics being a reflection of our worth, number theory is not just interesting – as in a intellectual domain – but also awe inspiring – as in the philosophical domain around what these numbers are telling us by exhibiting all these relationships.We have gotten more & more efficient at telling if a number is prime, & yet we have no method of generating one. We know the each number can be squared, & both the count of numbers & the corresponding count of their squares are infinite, yet the constructs of equality, congruence & basic mathematical operations are baffling when applied to infinity. In chapters dwelling from 0 to 9 & then going onto ‘e’ & ‘aleph zero’ – or infinity of first order cardinality – Reid brings alive the ‘easiest to understand intuitively but very difficult to prove Mathematically’ relationships, theorems & properties of the entire number system. To be fair, some of it was a little terse & made my head spin & imagination boggle, in Bertie Wooster’s words, – but that could just be me – & some of it, was plain riveting.Most of the chapters, contrary to my initial expectation, were actually about wider concepts than just the numbers themselves. For example, 2 was about the binary number system, 3 about the primes, 4 about squares, 6 about perfect numbers & 8 about cubes. With7, I was plainly baffled, & I have no recall of what that was about – perhaps primes of a different type or something. The chapter on ‘aleph-zero’ would take me a few rebirths, per the Hindu system, to comprehend.On an idle Saturday, if you want to revisit what Maths at school was like – read this book. It’ll bring joy or make you feel like an worthless nincompoop. I do not know any Maths to tell you which one of the two is more likely – & yes, I have heard of statistical probability & measures of confidence & all that. :)@souvikstweets

⭐I read this book when I was younger. Enjoyed it very much.

⭐I like math books . . .

⭐Constance Reid is one of those authors where I ended up buying everything she wrote. If you are advanced in mathematics she might be a tad elementary; but if you are an imbecile when it comes to mathematics as I am, you may find her interesting. It is number theory; however Reid’s relationship with the little fellows seems to be more personal, more introspective than many number theorists.

⭐Two other books that should be read alongside this one: Finding Zero, by Amir D Aczel, and Infinitesimal by Amir Alexander. Both incredible books.

⭐Required book for school.

⭐Hooray always for Constance Reid.

⭐great read

⭐I was a bit put off initially by the so-called proof that all numbers are interesting which appears after the contents page. (It isn’t called a proof here, but it is later on page xv). Had proof been written in quotes it would have been OK, since to my mind it certainly isn’t a proof and this led me to wonder how rigorous the rest of the book would be.Every now and then there are sentences or phrases which are a bit cumbersome which one has to read several times to understand what is being said. but perhaps this is because it is by an american author.Also surprising, considering this is the fifth edition, to find the odd error e.g. on p 112, which is presumably a typo?However, despite all that, an interesting book and one which might encourage one to go deeper into some of the topics covered.

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