engleski

Number Theory

Number theory is a branch of mathematics that is primarily focused on the study of positive integers, or natural numbers, and their properties such as divisibility, prime factorization, or solvability of equations in integers. Number theory has a very long and diverse history, and some of the greatest mathematicians of all time, such as Euclid, Euler and Gauss, have made significant contributions to it. Throughout its long history, number theory has often been considered as the "purest" branch of mathematics in the sense that it was the furthest from any concrete application. However, a significant change took place in the mid-1970s, and nowadays, number theory is one of the most important branches of mathematics for applications in cryptography and secure information exchange. This book is based on teaching materials from the courses Number Theory and Elementary Number Theory, which are taught at the undergraduate level studies at the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, and the courses Diophantine Equations and Diophantine Approximations and Applications, which were taught at the doctoral program of mathematics at that faculty. The book thoroughly covers the content of these courses, but it also contains other related topics such as elliptic curves, which are the subject of the last two chapters in the book. The book also provides an insight into subjects that were and are at the centre of research interest of the author of the book and other members of the Croatian group in number theory, gathered around the Seminar on Number Theory and Algebra. This book is primarily intended for students of mathematics and related faculties who attend courses in number theory and its applications. However, it can also be useful to advanced high school students who are preparing for mathematics competitions in which at all levels, from the school level to international competitions, number theory has a significant role, and for doctoral students and scientists in the fields of number theory, algebra and cryptography. In the English edition, there are only minor changes compared with the Croatian version. Several misprints noticed by the author and the readers were corrected. Some information and references were updated, in particular, those related to elliptic curves rank records and new constructions of families of rational Diophantine sextuples. At just a few places in the Croatian version of the book only the references to literature in Croatian were given ; these references were expanded in the English edition with the appropriate recommendations of literature in English. The list of references has been expanded to include some recent books and papers, as well as some references which were mentioned in the text of the Croatian edition but were not included in the list of references.

Number theory, Diophantine equations, elliptic curves

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