000 02251nam a22002657a 4500
008 250624b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020 _a9789353452537
037 _cPurchased
_nMathrubhumi Books, Kaloor
041 _aEnglish
082 _a512.92
_bCHA
100 _aChandrashekhar B Khare
245 _aCHASING A CONJECTURE
_b: Inside the Mind of a Mathematician
250 _a1
260 _aNew Delhi
_bJuggernaut Books
_c2025
300 _g319
500 _aA conjecture is like an unfulfilled fantasy in the world of pure mathematics where the most fantastic things happen routinely. Proving a conjecture is like trying to make a fantasy come true, and it can consume a mathematician for years, just as the effort to produce a great work of fiction, music or art can take over the life of its creator. This unusual, beguiling memoir is about such a journey. It begins with a child growing up in Mumbai, fascinated by mathematics, and ends with a man, just turned 40, winning a prestigious prize for proving, with a fellow-traveller, one of the most important conjectures in number theory – the branch of mathematics that studies whole numbers. In this compelling account, Khare illuminates a quest that might seem impossibly esoteric to the outsider, but seen through his eyes, becomes palpably real and human. At its core, this is a book about the creative process; the mysterious ways by which ideas arise in the mind and take flight, amid many false starts and obstacles. While this undoubtedly requires solitude, a lot of the action also takes place in a delightfully collaborative atmosphere, across continents, which Khare evokes vividly. Paraphrasing a famous mathematician, Khare says, ‘It is the person and not the method who solves a mathematical problem.’ So, appropriately, this book is also about a person, most poignantly about a man navigating the push and pull of creative ambition while trying to fulfil personal commitments such as wanting to be with his ill mother in Mumbai.
650 _aMathematics 
650 _aAlgebra 
650 _aFoundations of Algebra 
650 _aAlgebra & Number Theory
650 _aBiography of Mathematician
942 _cLEN
942 _2ddc
942 _2ddc
999 _c195738
_d195738