This book can be divided into two parts. The ?rst part is preliminary and consists of algebraic number theory and the theory of semisimple algebras. The raison d’ˆ etre of the book is in the second part, and so let us ?rst explain the contents of the second part. There are two principal topics: (A) Classi?cation of quadratic forms; (B) Quadratic Diophantine equations. Topic (A) can be further divided into two types of theories: (a1) Classi?cation over an algebraic number ?eld; (a2) Classi?...

A look at one of the most exciting unsolved problems in mathematics todayElliptic Tales describes the latest developments in number theory by looking at one of the most exciting unsolved problems in contemporary mathematics—the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture. In this book, Avner Ash and Robert Gross guide readers through the mathematics they need to understand this captivating problem.The key to the conjecture lies in elliptic curves, which m...

This self-contained introduction to modern cryptography emphasizes the mathematics behind the theory of public key cryptosystems and digital signature schemes. The book focuses on these key topics while developing the mathematical tools needed for the construction and security analysis of diverse cryptosystems. Only basic linear algebra is required of the reader; techniques from algebra, number theory, and probability are introduced and developed as required. This text provides an ideal in...

Analysis, assessment, and data management are core competencies for operation research analysts. This volume addresses a number of issues and developed methods for improving those skills. It is an outgrowth of a conference held in April 2013 at the Hellenic Military Academy, and brings together a broad variety of mathematical methods and theories with several applications. It discusses directions and pursuits of scientists that pertain to engineering sciences. It is also presents the theor...

This book guides undergraduate students in the use of Maxima—a computer algebra system—in solving problems in classical mechanics. It functions well as a supplement to a typical classical mechanics textbook.When it comes to problems that are too difficult to solve by hand, computer algebra systems that can perform symbolic mathematical manipulations are a valuable tool. Maxima is particularly attractive in that it is open-source, multiple-platform software that st...

This is the second in a series of three volumes dealing with important topics in algebra. Volume 2 is an introduction to linear algebra (including linear algebra over rings), Galois theory, representation theory, and the theory of group extensions. The section on linear algebra (chapters 1–5) does not require any background material from Algebra 1, except an understanding of set theory. Linear algebra is the most applicable branch of mathematics, and it is essential for students o...

This highly readable book aims to ease the many challenges of starting undergraduate research. It accomplishes this by presenting a diverse series of self-contained, accessible articles which include specific open problems and prepare the reader to tackle them with ample background material and references. Each article also contains a carefully selected bibliography for further reading.The content spans the breadth of mathematics, including many topics that are not normally address...

This book casts the theory of periods of algebraic varieties in the natural setting of Madhav Nori’s abelian category of mixed motives. It develops Nori’s approach to mixed motives from scratch, thereby filling an important gap in the literature, and then explains the connection of mixed motives to periods, including a detailed account of the theory of period numbers in the sense of Kontsevich-Zagier and their structural properties.Period numbers are central to number theory and al...

Eugène Charles Catalan made his famous conjecture – that 8 and 9 are the only two consecutive perfect powers of natural numbers – in 1844 in a letter to the editor of Crelle’s mathematical journal. One hundred and fifty-eight years later, Preda Mihailescu proved it.Catalan’s Conjecture presents this spectacular result in a way that is accessible to the advanced undergraduate. The author dissects both Mihailescu’s proof and the earlier work it made use of, taking great care to selec...

Covering topics in graph theory, L-functions, p-adic geometry, Galois representations, elliptic fibrations, genus 3 curves and bad reduction, harmonic analysis, symplectic groups and mould combinatorics, this volume presents a collection of papers covering a wide swath of number theory emerging from the third iteration of the international Women in Numbers conference, “Women in Numbers - Europe” (WINE), held on October 14–18, 2013 at the CIRM-Luminy mathematical conferenc...

This book contains selected papers based on talks given at the "Representation Theory, Number Theory, and Invariant Theory" conference held at Yale University from June 1 to June 5, 2015. The meeting and this resulting volume are in honor of Professor Roger Howe, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, whose work and insights have been deeply influential in the development of these fields. The speakers who contributed to this work include Roger Howe's doctoral students, Roger Howe himself, a...

This is the first in a series of three volumes dealing with important topics in algebra. It offers an introduction to the foundations of mathematics together with the fundamental algebraic structures, namely groups, rings, fields, and arithmetic. Intended as a text for undergraduate and graduate students of mathematics, it discusses all major topics in algebra with numerous motivating illustrations and exercises to enable readers to acquire a good understanding of the basic algebraic struc...