Unsolved Problems in Number Theory (Unsolved Problems in Intuitive Mathematics) (v. 1)

To many laymen, mathematicians appear to be problem solvers, people who do'hard sums'. Even inside the profession we dassify ouselves as either theorists or problem solvers. Mathematics is kept alive, much more than by the activities of either dass, by the appearance of a succession of unsolved problems, both from within mathematics itself and from the increasing number of disciplines where it is applied. Mathematics often owes more to those who ask questions than to those who answer them. The solution of a problem may stifte interest in the area around it. But'Fermat's Last Theorem', because it is not yet a theorem, has generated a great deal of'good'mathematics, whether goodness is judged by beauty, by depth or by applicability. To pose good unsolved problems is a difficult art. The balance between triviality and hopeless unsolvability is delicate. There are many simply stated problems which experts tell us are unlikely to be solved in the next generation. But we have seen the Four Color Conjecture settled, even if we don't live long enough to learn the status of the Riemann and Goldbach hypotheses, of twin primes or Mersenne primes, or of odd perfect numbers. On the other hand,'unsolved'problems may not be unsolved at all, or than was at first thought. Mathematics is kept alive by the appearance of new unsolved problems, problems posed from within mathematics itself, and also from the increasing number of disciplines where mathematics is applied. This book provides a steady supply of easily understood, if not easily solved, problems which can be considered in varying depths by mathematicians at all levels of mathematical maturity. For this new edition, the author has included new problems on symmetric and asymmetric primes, sums of higher powers, Diophantine m-tuples, and Conway's RATS and palindromes. The author has also included a useful new feature at the end of several of the sections: lists of references to OEIS, Neil Sloane's Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. About the First Edition: "...many talented young mathematicians will write their first papers starting out from problems found in this book." - András Sárközi, MathSciNet. Number theory has fascinated both the amateur and the professional for a longer time than any other branch of mathematics, so that much of it is now of considerable technical difficulty.