Number Theory (Dover Books on Mathematics) [Paperback]

George E. Andrews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 1994 | Series: Dover Books on Mathematics

Written by a distinguished mathematician and teacher, this undergraduate text uses a combinatorial approach to accommodate both math majors and liberal arts students. In addition to covering the basics of number theory, it offers an outstanding introduction to partitions, plus chapters on multiplicativity-divisibility, quadratic congruences, additivity, and more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 259 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications; 1 edition (October 12, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486682528
• ISBN-13: 978-0486682525
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent text by expert in the field, December 22, 2000

By 

D. Taylor (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Number Theory (Dover Books on Mathematics) (Paperback)

George Andrews is the reigning expert on partitions in the mathematical community who has written many seminal papers on the subject over the past half-century! If you don't know what partitions are in the theoretical sense, don't worry, the text provides ample introduction. I don't think you can find a more elementary introduction to the difficult, but extraordinarily powerful and elegant theory of partitions. The book covers the basics of number theory well, but it is the chapters on partitions that make this text stand out. It covers the Rogers-Ramanujan identities as well as the Jacobi triple product identity. It is rare in the mathematical community that an expert in a subject also writes a ground-level introductory text - but that's what you have here. Thanks to the dover edition, it's now quite affordable.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars chimpanzee oven mitts, July 1, 2005

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Michael De (St Andrews, Scotland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Number Theory (Dover Books on Mathematics) (Paperback)

I have a background in logic but absolutely none in elementary number theory or abstract algebra and I am using this as a first-time study guide. I find it very good. I have to mull over some of the proofs and examples since certain shortcuts are not immediately evident to me, but everything is generally clear and easy to follow. There are very few historical remarks which may or may not be a bonus for some. And as Dover does, they are practically giving this thing away.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible text in elementary number theory, January 5, 2009

By 

C. Woo "fragglehax" (Old Bridge, NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Number Theory (Dover Books on Mathematics) (Paperback)

Despite the deceptively small size of the text compared to many of its type, be sure to carry at least twice as many sheets of paper to fully get all you can out of it. George Andrew's pedagogical style of using combinatorics (basic gambling probability) to explain advanced concepts in number theory is executed brilliantly, and leaves even first-year undergraduates like me without a doubt in the world.

It is essential to do the problems in this book! Do not skip them thinking writing down the definitions and theorems will be enough-- some of the problems will kill you if you go in only knowing the written theorems, without any proper thought into the subject. Like any mathematical subject, it requires rigorous thinking and hours of reading before even considering going on to more advanced topics, like algebraic number theory, abstract algebra, or residue theory.

Breaking down the book into parts, I find it slightly disconcerting that despite the small nature of the book, the concept of quadratic congruences are only introduced in a less-than-introductory fashion, in comparison to other number theory books. It may be true that the author's main research was based off partition theory (the largest section in the book), but quadratic congruences have large applied mathematical influences, and should be considered to be read on, after the book as been finished.

Despite that, this text is an incredible foray into elementary number theory, and is a recommended buy for all those interested in the mathematical world.