AN ADVENTURER'S GUIDE TO NUMBER THEORY

With the Agassi book, The Continuing Revolution (1178, J-454), this establishes a new series under the general editorship of Dr. Daniel Greenberg; judging from the first two, it will be an excellent, even exciting project. Dr. Friedberg writes with the skill and personal involvement of an enthusiast. Rather than claiming a multitude of uses for his subject, he treats the discipline of number theory as if it were interesting purely in its own right; the topic comes alive (""7 is dark and full of liquid""). His historical survey travels from the Greeks through the Middle Ages up to the foundation of modern mathematics with Gauss, Euler, LaGrange, etc. The book is not for mathematical sissies; although written with great clarity, it rapidly acquires substance. But it is not a dry document, in part because the author makes effective use of wit: ""On a Clear Day You Can Count Forever"" introduces number sequences; ""When the Clock Strikes Thirteen"" deals with the concepts of modulus and congruence. Although there are any number of texts which take a historical approach to mathematics and include number theory, this is equal to the best of them.