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IAP 2006 Activity


The Prime Number Theorem, History and Proof
Prof. Sigurdur Helgason
Thu Jan 12, 12:30-02:00pm, 2-132

No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event

The location of prime numbers is a central question in number theory. Around 1808, Legendre offered experimental evidence that the number P(x) of primes < x behaves like x/log x for large x. Tchebychev proved (1848) the partial result that the ratio of P(x) to x/log x for large x lies between 7/8 and 9/8. In 1896 Hadamard and de la Vallée Poussin proved the Prime Number Theorem that this limit is exactly 1. Many distinguished mathematicians (including our N. Wiener) have contributed to a simplification of the proof and now (by an important device by D.J. Newmann) a very short and easy proof is available. This will be given in the lecture in full and elementary detail.
Contact: Sigurdur Helgason, 2-182, x3-3668, helgason@MIT.EDU
Sponsor: Mathematics
Latest update: 29-Dec-2005


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