,
(Simon & Schuster, 1986). Prime numbers feature in an interstellar transmission received by
scientists on Earth.
D.L. van Krimpen, Proving the Riemann Hypothesis
and other simple things (Lulu, 2007) - a collection of short science-fiction stories, including one
called "Juggling with the zeta function".
W. Ernst, One Person's Junk
(science fiction involving prime numbers in DNA sequences)
In his book River Out of Eden, biologist Richard Dawkins imaginatively
llustrates the precision of the DNA code with the story of an imprisoned microbiologist alerting the world to
his captors' evil plans by genetically engineering a virus containing a coded message. The
message is 'flagged' by a sequence of prime numbers.
According to E. Weisstein's MathWorld
site,
"Remarkably, noted science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke described the prime spiral in
his novel The City and the Stars (1956, Ch. 6, p. 54). Clarke wrote, "Jeserac sat
motionless within a whirlpool of numbers. The first thousand primes.... Jeserac was no
mathematician, though sometimes he liked to believe he was. All he could do was to search
among the infinite array of primes for special relationships and rules which more talented
men might incorporate in general laws. He could find how numbers behaved, but he could not
explain why. It was his pleasure to hack his way through the arithmetical jungle, and
sometimes he discovered wonders that more skillful explorers had missed. He set up the
matrix of all possible integers, and started his computer stringing the primes across its
surface as beads might be arranged at the intersections of a mesh."
However, Clarke never actually performed this thought experiment (personal communication from E.
Pegg Jr., May 27, 2002), thus leaving discovery of the unexpected properties of the prime
spiral to Ulam."
More about this, including an explanatory comment from Clarke himself
can be found here.
music
Number theorist Jeffrey Stopple of UC Santa
Barbara has created an audio clip based on the
Riemann-von Mangoldt explicit formula. He explains:
"Using the Audio package in Mathematica it is not hard to create a sound file in which each note has the same
amplitude and frequency as the corresponding term in the explicit formula, coming from a single zero of the zeta function.
In this sound file there are the contributions of the first 100 zeros, added one at a time, in intervals of .2 seconds.
Finally all 100 zeros play together for ten seconds. This sound is best listened to with headphones or external speakers.
For maximum effect, play it LOUD."
Robert Munafo's Riemann zeta function MP3, an
eerie 30 second audio clip based on the zeta function's behaviour on
the critical line
[documentation]
Andrey Kulsha's Riemann zeta function audio files
Chris Caldwell's "The
Prime Number Listening Guide"
Marcel Langerberger's Prime
Music
D. Cummerow's three-part MIDI composition
based on the sequence of prime numbers
La Symphonie
Primordiale - a prime number based composition by Adrian Bamford
Michael J. Schumacher's The Four Stills
"The Four Stills are expressions of the number system that
I have used since 1989 in my electronic compositions. These numbers
form the basis for dozens of rhythmic processes executed by the
computer, from playing a midi grand piano, to deciding a range within
a sample buffer to play, to determining larger structural aspects
such as the alternation of sound and silence within a particular
part. The fact that they are prime numbers prevents predictable
patterns from emerging. The limit of six maintains structural
coherence."
Joe Monzo's theory of intonation based on prime numbers
A note from sci.math on how the
Riemann zeta function relates to tuning.
Further discussion of how Riemann zeta function relates to tuning:
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
B. Warren, "An interesting group of combination-product sets produces some
very nice dissonances", The Journal of the Just Intonation Network 9
(1):1 (1995) 4-9.
"Sets of 12 pitches are generated from a sequence of five consecutive prime
numbers, each of which is multiplied by each of the three largest numbers in the
sequence. Twelve scales are created in this manner, using the prime sequences up
to the set (37, 41, 43, 47, 53). These scales give rise to pleasing dissonances that
are exploited in compositions assisted by computer programs as well as in live keyboard
improvisations."
J. Dudon, "The golden scale", Pitch I/2 (1987) 1-7.
"The Golden scale is a unique unequal temperament based on the Golden number.
The equal temperaments most used, 5, 7, 12, 19, 31, 50, etc. are
crystallizations through the numbers of the Fibonacci series, of the same universal
Golden scale, based on a geometry of intervals related in Golden proportion. The author
provides the ratios and dimensions of its intervals and explains the specific intonation
interest of such a cycle of Golden fifths, unfolding into microtonal coincidences with the
first five significant prime numbers ratio intervals (3:5:7:11:13)." [Note that here the
Fibonacci sequence mentioned differs slightly from, but is closely related to, the usual one.]
Musical Theory and Ancient Cosmology (involving primes)
Prime numbers and the music of Olivier Messiaen
Messiaen's Quartet
for the End of Time
"Messiaen uses rhythmic motifs of 17 notes and 29 notes which play together. The different prime
numbers ensure that the motifs are constantly creating new combinations of sound as the music evolves.
It gives the piece a sense of timelessness because it takes a very long time before the two motifs will repeat
a pattern already heard. Messiaen is using the same principle as the prime number cicada who avoids its
periodic predator by choosing a prime number life cycle."
M. Rubinstein informed
me that he intends to build a stringed musical instrument that allows
the exploration of musical relationships of
Farey sequences, and that the experimental instrument-maker
Harry Partch built a similar
one a long time ago. He also informed me that his tabla instructor,
Warren Ashford, discovered that Farey sequences are involved in
traditional Indian tabla rhythms.
John Kaizan Neptune, Prime Numbers
"It just so happens that the traditional Japanese instruments used here all contain
prime numbers: 3-stringed shamisen, 5-holed shakuhachi, 13-stringed koto, and 17-stringed
bass koto. This also points to a basic fundamental of Japanese arts in general: things
are deliberately simplified, often understated, to create a very special kind of space.
This is true of traditional Japanese music and the instruments themselves.... we have ten
fingers, why only five holes on the shakuhachi? The contemporary music recorded here covers
a broad range of textures some of which have definitely not been deliberately simplified.
As with much of my music, there are influences from many parts of the world - Japan,
Europe, India, and Africa. You can find free rhythm, odd meters, polyrhythm, polyphony,
pentatonic and diatonic scales, and even an imitation of African Pygmy yodeling in five.
"Simple" instruments made from natural materials, recorded in a natural wood hall, direct
to digital 2-track recording, wonderful recording engineers, and good musician friends to
share some sounds with.... add it all together and you get Prime Numbers!"
Jonas Tauber with William Thomas, Doug Haning, Prime Numbers
"The second in producer Jonas Tauber's Zurich Series for Origin, Prime Numbers
is a wholly improvised journey through nine original tunes, all based and inspired by
prime numbers. Thoughts of an intellectual exercise are soon laid to rest as the recording
unfolds in an organic sea of deeply musical explorations. Featuring longtime purveyors of
the Northwest free jazz sound - pianist Doug Haning and drummer William Thomas -
Zurich-based bassist Jonas Tauber finds great foils for his impressive, classically rooted
virtuosity."
graphic art
A. Leatherland -
Pulchritudinous Primes
Experimental
Prime Visualisations
J.-F. Colonna's
graphics inspired by the Riemann zeta function, etc.
T. Armand - Aesthetics of the
Prime Sequence
images
of the filled Julia set for the Riemann zeta function
some Riemann zeta function wallpaper
"Woman With
Prime Numbers" - a painting by Joe Rebholz
"1801: 14
Prime Numbers" - a painting by "faux-primitive" artist Michael Eastman (yours for only $5,750!)
The
prime number-inspired artwork of Kenneth A. Huff
Tom Marine's charity painting
of the 2000-digit "Millenium prime" discovered by John Cosgrave in 1999. Curiously, this prime was
announced to the world on 22/11/99, the day before this website was launched
(I had chosen the date 23/11/99 some time earlier, unaware of Cosgrave's discovery). The millenial connection
was picked up on by the media, and quite possibly as a result of the sudden burst of coverage, prime numbers were
more prominent in popular consciousness on that day than at any other time in history.
"Rationality and
Unpredictablility" - and essay on the artist Esther Ferrer
"In many of Esther Ferrer's works, we can perceive rigorous principles of
permutation, which she constructs in a rational way. A conscious creation of
serial modifications leads to new images. Through it all, the meaning of
specific actions is transformed. They become abstract structures in which the
usual dimensionality of perception seems diluted. The configurations created in
the performances, organised like scores, strangely resemble those created in
the paintings in which Esther Ferrer worked with prime numbers.
Those pictures appear as analogies of the deconstructions and
reconstructions of the performances. The relationships among the prime numbers
become visible through different materials. As the system does not always begin
counting from the beginning but for example, from the centre to the sides, it
shows constantly changing shapes that are unpredictable. Is there an order
behind it all? Esther Ferrer spoke about the creation of a chaos in which she
felt there was an internal order."
For her 2nd solo show at moniquemeloche,
Karen Reimer will exhibit her ongoing series "Endless Set" which made its inaugural debut in early 2007 at VONZWECK. "It is a hard-line conceptual project, based on rules Reimer conceived
before threading the first needle. Each crazy-quilt pillowcase is made up of a predetermined number of irregularly shaped, irregularly patterned patches.
(Two, the first in the series, is made up of two patches; Thirty-Seven is composed of 37 patches, and so on.) Onto each pillowcase, the artist has
stitched the accompanying prime number, a piece of white cotton fabric that is the same height in inches as the number it represents (e.g.,
Thirty-Seven is 37 inches tall)... As the series progresses and the numbers grow in value and height, the cases become more abstract, the sequence
more oblique and indecipherable. The bright patchwork gives in to the growing swathes of white. Any portion of the number that does not fit within the
grid of the pillowcase, Reimer has folded back onto itself, obscuring the prime-number sequence even further." [Jake Malooley, Time Out Chicago
issue 112]
number theory and ancient Chinese aesthetics
film
Cube (1997)
"A group of people are trapped in a nightmare lattice of cubic
rooms and have to figure out how to escape. Cartesian coordinates and
prime numbers play a key role. The moral: factor or die! The most
interesting math here is in thinking about how they made the movie."
Contact
(1997)
"Jodie Foster is perfect when she defines prime numbers for a group
of Washington bigwigs and is greeted by blank stares. But why does the
movie have to work so hard explaining her devotion to science? The
book's nonsense about pi is not in the movie."
The Mirror
has Two Faces (1996)
"Hunk math prof Jeff Bridges explains the Twin Prime Conjecture
(that there are infinitely many pairs of primes only two numbers
apart) to dowdy english prof Barbara Streisand who actually gets it.
She critiques his calculus teaching. Bridges proposes."
[Remake of Le Miroir a Deux Faces (1959)]
A Beautiful Mind
(2001)
This is an Oscar-winning "fictionalised biography" about John
Nash, whose descent into paranoid schizophrenia was at least partly
linked to a compulsion to prove the Riemann Hypothesis. The film
contains a scene based around the stream-of-consciousness "proof" which Nash
gave at a Columbia University conference in February 1959 (it was this event which fully alerted the mathematical
community to his mental illness). Before fleeing the lecture theatre pursued by
hallucinated Russian agents, actor Russell Crowe mumbles the memorable line: "The
zeros of the Riemann zeta function correspond to singularities in spacetime."
more favourable review (M. du Sautoy)
less
favourable review (R.Lisker)
Sneakers
(1992)
"The number field sieve makes a brief appearance in the Hollywood film Sneakers. Robert Redford sits listening to
a young mathematician lecturing about [factorising] very big numbers: 'The number field sieve is the best method currently
available. There exists an intriguing possibility of a far more elegant approach...But maybe, just maybe, there is a short cut...'
sure enough, this whizz-kid, palyed by Donal Logue, has discovered such a method, 'a breakthrough of Gaussian proportions',
and has wired it into a small box which unsurprisingly falls into the evil hands of the film's villain, played by Ben Kingsley. The
plot is so outlandish that most viewers must imagine that this could never happen in the real world. Yet as the credits for the
film roll, up pops 'Mathematical Advisor: Len Adleman', the A in RSA. As Adleman admits, this is not a scenario that we can
guarantee won't happen. Larry Lascar, who wrote Sneakers, Awakening and War Games, came to
Adleman to make sure he got the maths right. 'I liked Larry and his desire for verisimilitude, so I agreed. Larry offered money,
but I countered with Robert Redford &dnash; I would do the scene if my wife Lori could meet Redford'"
M. du Sautoy, The Music of the Primes (Fourth
Estate, 2003) p. 240
"To convey an idea of scale: A typical instance of the deepest factoring or
primality-proving runs of the modern era involves perhaps 1016 to 1018
machine operations. Similarly, a full-length graphically rendered synthetic movie of today - for example, the
1999 Pixar/Disney movie Toy Story 2 - involves operation counts in the same range. It
is amusing that for this kind of Herculean machine effort one may either obtain a single
answer (a factor, maybe even a single "prime/composite" decision bit) or create a full-length
animated feature whose character is as culturally separate from a one-bit answer as can be.
It is interesting that a computational task of say 1017 operations is one ten-millionth of the
overall historical computing effort by all Earth-bound machinery."
R.Crandall and C. Pomerance, Prime Numbers: A Computational Perspective
(Springer, 2001) p.4
The Kubrick/Clarke film 2001 exploited as a dubious
metaphor for the mysterious Riemann zeta function
theatre
Cicada Dance, a musical/sonic play (involving prime numbers)
by Malcolm Ruhl
Proof,
an award-winning play by David Auburn which revolves around the proof
of a result involving prime numbers.
"In 2000, an esoteric off-Broadway show called The Five Hysterical Girls Theorem paid homage to [F.N. Cole's 1903]
calculation by having one of the girl's [factorise] Cole's number [267 – 1]. Prime numbers are a recurrent
theme in this play about a mathematical family's trip to the seaside. The father laments his daughter's coming of age, not
because she will be old enough to run off with her lover, but because 17 is a prime number, whereas 18 can be divided by
four other numbers!"
M. du Sautoy, The Music of the Primes (Fourth
Estate, 2003) p. 224
biology
E. Goles, O. Schulz and M. Markus,
"Prime Number Selection of Cycles In a Predator-Prey Model",
Complexity, 6 No. 4 (2001)
[abstract:]"The fact that some species of cicadas appear every 7, 13, or 17 years and
that these periods are prime numbers has been regarded as a coincidence. We found a simple
evolutionary predator-prey model that yields prime-periodic preys having cycles
predominantly around the observed values. An evolutionary game on a spatial array leads to
travelling waves reminiscent of those observed in excitable systems. The model marks an
encounter of two seemingly unrelated disciplines: biology and number theory. A restriction
to the latter, provides an evolutionary generator of arbitrarily large prime numbers."
"A Biological
Generator of Prime Numbers"
Why do periodical cicadas adopt a life cycle which has a prime number of years?
Published scientific literature on periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.).
J. Yoshimura, "The evolutionary origins of periodical cicadas during ice ages",
American Naturalist 149 (1) (1997) 112-124.
[excerpt:] "Periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.) are known for their strikingly
synchronized emergence, strong site tenacity, and unusually long (17- and 13-yr) life
cycles for insects. Several explanations have been proposed for the origin and
maintenance of synchronization. However, no satisfactory explanations have been made
at for the origins of the prime-numbered life-cycles. I present an evolutionary hypothesis
of a forced developmental delay due to climate cooling during ice ages. Under this
scenario, extremely low adult densities, caused by their extremely long juvenile stages,
selected for synchronized emergence and site tenacity because of limited mating
opportunities. The prime numbers (13 and 17) were selected for as life cycles because
these cycles were least likely to coemerge, hybridize, and break down with other synchronized
cycles."
J. Tohá and M.A. Soto, "Biochemical
identification of prime numbers", Medical Hypotheses, 53 (4) (October 1999) 361-361
[Abstract:] "A biochemical technique is proposed whereby prime numbers may be identified."
The following items are all based on the idea that there might be some deep
connection between genetic coding and the distribution of prime numbers. They vary
in degree of academic credibility, and are not
terribly convincing, but perhaps collectively
signal an interesting tendency on the level of archetypal psychology
(1) J. Yan, A. Yan, and B. Yan, "Prime numbers and the amino acid code: analogy in coding
properties", Journal of Theoretical Biology 151 (3) (1991) 333-341.
[Commentary from R. Crandall and C. Pomerance, Prime Numbers: A Computational Perspective
(Springer, 2001) p.389:]
"These authors infer that certain amino acid sequences in genetic matter exhibit patterns
expected of (binary representations of) prime numbers. In one segment they say:
"Additively generated numbers can be primes or nonprimes. Multiplicatively
generated numbers are nonprimes ("composites" in number thoery terminology). Thus,
prime numbers are more creative than nonprimes. . . The creativeness and indivisibility
of prime numbers leads one to infer that the primes smaller than 64 are the number equivalents
of amino acids; or that anmino acids are such Euclid units of living molecules."
The authors go on to suggest Diophantine rules for their theory. The present authors do
not intend to critique the interdisciplinary notion that composite numbers somehow contain
less information (are less profound) than the primes. Rather, we simply point out that some
thought has gone into this connection with genetic codes."
(2) M. Sluyser and E.
Sonnhammer , "Molecular biology and futuristic problem solving" (from
Visions
of the Future, ed. C.A. Pickover, Science Reviews, Northwood,
England, 1992, pp. 151-157)
"Sluyser and Sonnhammer take software used to study DNA and RNA and
apply it to sequences of prime numbers. RNA sequences involve four bases -
A, U, C, G - that bond in pairs to form the famous double helix.
Sequences of biological significance are expected to possess some
nonrandomness, because patterns in the RNA can cause it to fold into more
stable configurations. These have less "free energy" than random unfolded
sequences. The article shows that sequences of primes can produce
significant results when interpreted as RNA sequences. A side effect is
that certain new kinds of regularity in primes become apparent."
(3) R. Brooks,
"Pattern
in number...from primes to DNA"
(4) J.-Y. Boulay, "Numeric
Structures of the Genetic Code"
[The author explains:] "The number of protons contained in every amino acid and the configuration of DNA's
bases of their respective genetic coding are connected by numeric phenomena.
These phenomena consist of effects of multiple of prime numbers including the totality of the relations enters
the configuration of the genetic code ( 64 codons) and the values of the numbers of protons (or atomic numbers)
coded 64 (61 amino acids and 3 stop).
These phenomena describe important effects of a symmetry as for their distributions in the board of the genetic code.
These phenomena of multiple symmetric imply prime numbers: 7 - 11 - 13."
There is in fact an established an established link between DNA and number theory,
although rather obscure:
L.A. Newberg and D. Naor, "A
lower bound on the number of solutions to the probed partial digest problem", Advances in Applied Mathematics
14 (1993) 172-183.
[abstract:] "The probed partial digestion mapping method partially digests a DNA strand
with a restriction enzyme. A probe, which attaches to the DNA between two restriction enzyme
cutting sites, is hybridized to the partially digested DNA, and the sizes of fragments to which
the probe hybridizes are measured. The objective is to reconstruct the linear order of the
restriction enzyme cutting sites from the multiset of measured lengths. In many cases, more
than one underlying linear ordering is consistent with a multiset of measured lengths. This
article shows that a multiset of N measured lengths can have as many as
\Omega(Nt) solutions for any t < \zeta-1(2), where
\zeta(t) is the Riemann zeta function and \zeta-1(2) ~ 1.73."
The introductory section of the following paper contains a thorough explanation of the probed partial digest
problem (which concerns DNA sequences) and Naor and Newberg's result relating it to the
number theoretical function H(n):
B. Chor, P. Lemke and Z. Mador, "On
the number of ordered factorizations of natural numbers", Discrete
Mathematics 214 (2000) 123-133
[abstract:] "We study the number of ways to factor a natural number n into an ordered
product of integers, each factor greater than one, denoted by H(n). This counting
function from number theory was shown by Newberg and Naor (Adv. Appl. Math. 14
(1993) 172-183) to be a lower bound on th enumber of solutions to the so-called probed partial
digest problem, which arises in the analysis of data from experiments in molecular biology. Hille
(Acta Arith. 2 (1) (1936) 134-144) established a relation between H(n)
and the Riemann zeta function..."
The technique developed here:
B.L. Hao, H.C. Lee and S.Y. Zhang, "Fractal related to long DNA
sequences and complete genomes", Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 11 (2000) 825
is used here:
Chung-Ming Ko, "Distribution
of the units digit of primes", Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 13 (2002)
1295-1302
[abstract:] "A sequence is formed by the units digit of consecutive prime numbers. The
sequence is not random. To visualize the non-randomness of the sequence, we utilize a method
put forward by Hao et. al. [Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 11 (2000) 825]. A
fractal-like structure is observed."
S. Nelson, "A Phyllotaxis
Prime Number Sieve"
[Abstract:] "An efficient prime number sieve was found in a daisy integer map. The sieving
algorithm is demonstrated for a daisy with Fibonacci (21,34)-phyllotaxis using a
three-dimensional diagram of a daisy capitulum and a two-dimensional spreadsheet."
V. Bezgin, M. Endo, A. Khrennikov, and M. Yuoko, "Statistical biological
models with p-adic stabilization", Dokl. Akad. Nauk 334,
no.1 (1994) 5-8.
A. Khrennikov, "p-adic model for population growth", from
Fractals in Biology and Medicine, 2, Eds. G.A. Losa, et. al.
(Birkhauser, 1998).
A. Khrennikov, "p-adic dynamical systems: description of concurrent
struggle in biological population with limited growth", Dokl. Akad.
Nauk 361 no. 6 (1998) 752-754.
psychology and consciousness
excerpts from Chapter 23 of Oliver Sacks' The
Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat which documents the astonishing
case of a pair of autistic twins who appear to have direct psychic access
to the 'landscape' of prime numbers.
In 2005, dubious points were noticed in Oliver Sacks' report. Here is a note
by Makoto Yamaguchi of The University of Tokyo.
Exploring similar themes, we find:
M. Anderson, N. O'Connor and B. Hermelin,
"A
specific calculating ability", Intelligence 26 (1998) 383-403
[abstract:] "We report two experiments that investigate the calculating strategy used by a
low IQ savant to identify prime numbers. Hermelin and O'Connor (1990) had suggested previously
that this subject may use a procedure first described by Eratosthenes to detect a prime number,
namely, dividing a target number by all primes up to the square root of the target number and
testing for a remainder. In the first experiment, we compare the reaction times of the savant
to decide whether a number is prime with those of a control subject proficient in mathematical
calculation. In addition, we measured the savant's speed of information processing using an
inspection time task. We found that the reaction times of the savant, although generally
faster, followed the same pattern of the control subject who reported using the Eratosthenes
procedure. The savant's inspection time indicated that his speed of processing was far superior
to that expected from someone of his IQ. In the second experiment, we measured the time it
takes mathematics students to divide by different prime numbers and we also tested them on the
prime identification task. We used their division times to simulate their performance on the
prime number identification task under the assumption that they used the Eratosthenes
procedure. We also simulated the reaction times that would result from a simple memory-based
procedure for identifying primes. We found that the Eratosthenes simulation, in contrast to the
memory simulation, provided a good fit to both the students' and the savant's reaction times.
We conclude that the savant is using a complex computational algorithm to identify primes and
suggest two explanations of how the apparent contradiction between his low general intelligence
and his superior numerical ability might be resolved."
and
A. W. Snyder and D.J. Mitchell,
"Is
integer arithmetic fundamental to mental processing?: The mind's secret arithmetic"
which references this:
H. Welling, "Prime number identificators in idiot savants: can they calculate them?"
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorder 24 (1994) 199-207.
This Ghent University dissertation is also relevant (although, obviously in Dutch):
P. Butseraen, "Het effect van een
dynamische visuele storings-techniek op het identificeren van priemgetallen"
("The effect of a dynamic visual storage technique on the identification of prime numbers")
M. Haddon, the curious incident of the dog in the night-time (Doubleday, 2003)
"Prime numbers are also a recurrent theme in the book. Christopher loves primes; he knows each one up to 7,057 and
numbers all of this book's chapters with prime numbers. He introduces prime numbers to the reader with a very readable
explanation of the Sieve of Eratosthenes, and he makes it clear to even the most uninitiated reader that finding large primes is
quite difficult. He also alludes to the Prime Number Theorem (or, rather, his inability to recall it when over-stressed) on p. 212."
(from Maria G. Fung's review for MAA Online)
Daniel Tammet, a "high-functioning autistic savant" mentions in his
book Born on a Blue Day that "I see each prime as a
smooth-textured shape, distinct from composite numbers (non-primes) that are grittier and less distinctive. Whenever I identify a number
as prime, I get a rush of feeling in my head (in the front center) which is hard to put into words. It's a special feeling, like the
sudden sensation of pins and needles.
Sometimes I close my eyes and imagine the first thirty, fifty, hundred numbers as I experience them spatially, synesthetically. Then
I can see in my mind's eye just how beautiful and special the primes are by the way they stand out so sharply from the other number
shapes. It's exactly for this reason that I look and look and look at them; each one is so different from the one before and the one
after. Their loneliness among the other numbers makes them so conspicuous and interesting to me.
There are moments, as I'm falling into sleep at night, that my mind fills suddenly with bright light and all I can see are numbers — hundreds, thousands of them — swimming rapidly over my eyes. The experience is beautiful and soothing to me. Some nights, when I'm
having difficulty falling asleep, I imagine myself walking around my numerical landscapes. Then I feel safe and happy. I never feel lost,
because the prime number shapes act as signposts."
G.G. Globus, "Dual mode ontology and its application to the Riemann
Hypothesis", from
Brain And Being: At the Boundary Between Science, Philosophy, Language (eds. G.G. Globus,
K.H. Pribram, G. Vitiello) (J. Benjamins, 2004) 87-110
[abstract:] "Dual mode quantum brain dynamics (QBD) is reviewed and examined ontologically, with
special attention to consciousness, subjectivity and existence. The provenance of dual mode QBD is both
ontological and epistemological: presence and trace. Quotidian and monadological ontological interpretations of
dual mode QBD are compared. The monadological approach is applied to the Riemann Hypothesis (RH) regarding prime
numbers. The prime numbers, Riemann's nontrivial zeros of the zeta function and Being itself are closely connected."
a discussion between some Jungian theorists concerning the
archetypal, and "poetic/ecstatic" language often found in the literature concerning the
fundamental issues surrounding the prime numbers
A. Khrennikov, "Human subconscious as a p-adic dynamical system", Journal of Theoretical Biology 193 (1999) 179-196.
S. Albeverio, A. Khrennikov and P. Kloeden,
"Memory retrieval as a
p-adic dynamical system", Biosystems 49 (1999) 105-115.
D. Dubischar, V. Gundlach, O. Steinkamp, and A. Khrennikov, "A
p-adic model for the process of thinking disturbed by physiological
and information noise", Journal of Theoretical Biology 197
(1999) 451-467.
D. Dubischar, V.M. Gundlach, O. Steinkamp, and A. Khrennikov, "Attractors
of random dynamical systems over p-adic numbers and a model of noisy cognitive
processes", Physica D 130 (1999) 1-12
A. Khrennikov,
"Learning of p-adic neural
networks" (preprint, 1999)
[abstract:] "A p-adic model which describes a large class of neural
networks is presented. In this model the staes of neurons are described by
digits in the canonical expansion of a p-adic number. Thus each p-adic
number represents a configuration of firing and non-firing neurons. We present the
algorithm of learning for p-adic neural networks based on the minimization
of the error-functional (here we use a random search procedure in the space of
p-adic weights). This algorithm (or its more advanced versions) could be
applied for image recognition."
P.J. Marcer, "A quantum mechanical model of evolution and
consciousness" (involving Riemann's zeta function)
I. Miller and R. Marshall, The Auric
Key (Syndex Synergetics synopsis) This appears to be a fusion of traditional (e.g. Hindu
and Kabbalistic) numerological thought
with Buckminster
Fuller's 'Synergetics', informed by psychological
theorist Carl Jung's work on number symbolism and archetypes. See also
"A Synergetic Revisioning of
Number Dynamics". This work seems to have been endorsed by Fuller
himself, and to be noticeably more 'rigorous' than the vast majority of numerologically-oriented
material.
S. Huang, "Prime numbers as lawful creatures of the mind"
prime numbers and messianic delusions
"It's enough to make me conjecture that
infinity's prime and Riemann's Zeta function accounts for fractional
charge subatomically just for the Higg's boson with an involucral
matrix of ogdoad parity as midwife!"
E. Siegel, ""'Primorials' Lurking", or "Primes' Primorials'
'Jump-Chumps' 'Chump-Change'"
[more of Siegel's extraordinary "FUZZYICS" here: 1 2
3 4]
John Nash and the Riemann Hypothesis
a very strange
website on John Nash, the Riemann Hypothesis and quantum reality
J.S. Ratcliffe, The
Books of Angelhaunt
"In these four Angelhaunt books, Jason Stuart Ratcliff explores his
schizophrenia for all the creative treasures it holds within it.
Ratcliff puts art prose beyond where it has ever gone, making an
epic prose poem, and creating a manifesto to the world of literary
art that says, "We don't want tales and stories. Give us pure mind
and self, and everything terrible and holy within you.""
Here's part of a
summary of one section:
"Lincoln will return, and the world will end. Then, after
sixty-one plus one series of sixty-one milleniums of heaven, the
world will begin again with all its suffering. Most of their prophets
get doctorates in the study of mathematics, and are very
intelligent, but dull this intelligence with all kinds of
psychedelic substances. They hold that irrational numbers are the
cause of all suffering on earth, and that these will not exist in
heaven; that the infinite number of irrational numbers increases with
time; and that all that existed at the foundation of the world was
prime numbers, and that God made the world out of these."
history
Prime numbers and African artifact - a note from
the sci.anthropology newsgroup
Going to war over prime numbers by Duncan Campbell
Alan Turing's attempts to build a mechanical device
for calculating the zeros of the zeta function.
A.R. Booker, "Turing and the
Riemann Hypothesis", Notices of the AMS 53 (2006) 1208-1211
Ancient Greeks and Prime Numbers
St. Andrew's University mathematical history
project entry for 'prime numbers'
popular
Jean-Paul Delahaye, Merveilleux
Nombres Premiers - Voyage au Coeur de l'arithmetique
[here is a crude
English translation of this French review, courtesy of AltaVista's "Babelfish"]
M. du Sautoy,
"The Music of the Primes" - article for popular science readership reproduced
from Science Spectra 11 (1998)  
[simple text version]
On 28/09/05, BBC4 TV showed, "The Music of the Primes", a documentary presented by
du Sautoy.
The BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time ran an
episode on 12/02/06 about prime numbers with three guests, including Marcus du Sautoy.
E. Klarreich,
"Prime Time" - another popular
exposition from New Scientist (11/11/00)
BBC
Radio 4 programme about prime numbers presented by Simon Singh
(originally broadcast 29/10/03)
BBC Radio 4 programme Material
World (originally broadcast 02/12/04)
Quentin Cooper "talks to Marcus du Sautoy, Professor of Maths at Oxford
University and Robin Wilson, Gresham professor of Geometry about the
power of primes." (This section of the programme starts about 16 minutes from
the beginning.)
the riemann hypothesis
K. Sabbagh, "Beautiful
Mathematics", Prospect (January 2002)
K. Sabbagh, Dr. Riemann's Zeros: The Search for the $1 Million Solution to the Greatest Problem in Mathematics (Atlantic Books, 2002) - a recently published popular account of the
Riemann hypothesis, to be published in the U.S. in April as The Riemann Hypothesis: The Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux)
K. Sabbagh talks to the BBC about writing his book on the Riemann hypothesis
Two more books of a similar nature followed in 2003:
J. Derbyshire, Prime
Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics, (JHP, 2003)
Marcus du Sautoy, The Music of the Primes: Searching
to Solve the Greatest Mystery in Mathematics (HaperCollins, 2003)
Observer profile of du Sautoy
Here
is K. Leutwyler's comparitive review of all three books from Scientific American.
Here is
another, by D. Lim, from The Village Voice.
...and another
by J.C. Alexander
A fourth 'popular science' book on the Riemann Hypothesis came out in May 2005:
D. Rockmore,
Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis:
The Quest to Find the Hidden Law of Prime Numbers (Random House, 2005)
Here is a radio interview with
Dan Rockmore about the book.
The Clay Mathematics Institute offers
$1,000,000
for a proof of the Riemann Hypothesis
T. Radford, "Maths holy grail could bring disaster for internet"
(from The Guardian, 7th September, 2004)
Professor J.E. Littlewood presents a brief argument as to
why he believes the Riemann Hypothesis to be
false.
G.G. Globus, "Dual mode ontology and its application to the Riemann
Hypothesis", from
Brain And Being: At the Boundary Between Science, Philosophy, Language (eds. G.G. Globus,
K.H. Pribram, G. Vitiello) (J. Benjamins, 2004) 87-110
[abstract:] "Dual mode quantum brain dynamics (QBD) is reviewed and examined ontologically, with
special attention to consciousness, subjectivity and existence. The provenance of dual mode QBD is both
ontological and epistemological: presence and trace. Quotidian and monadological ontological interpretations of
dual mode QBD are compared. The monadological approach is applied to the Riemann Hypothesis (RH) regarding prime
numbers. The prime numbers, Riemann's nontrivial zeros of the zeta function and Being itself are closely connected."
J.R. Partington's humorous article "How
I Proved the Riemann Hypothesis" (very British humour...)
D. Zeilberger,
The British Government Should Declassify Turing's Counterexample to the Riemann
Hypothesis (April 1st, 2000)
What appears to be
a sort of prophecy that the RH will be proven by 2003
T. McAlee's theological
"proof" of the RH
A. Misra, "Entropy and prime number distribution; (a non-heuristic approach)"
includes a philosophical-style argument attempting to prove the Riemann hypothesis, among other things
M. Persuy's semiotic "proof" of
the RH [more of the same sort of thing]
Some proposed proofs of the Riemann
Hypothesis (some more serious than others)
"Market
odds of "Riemann Hypothesis by 2020" at 65 to 80%"
B. Schechter, "143-year-old problem
still has mathematicians guessing". This is a fairly good New York Times article (2 July 2002) on the recent
zeta-functions conference at the Courant Institute (02/07/02). The online version
requires a user ID and password, but registration is free and only takes a couple
of minutes.
Highly tangential and variously zany, philosophical and technical (often wildly inaccurate)
discussion inspired by the above article, the Clay prize, etc. can be
found at SlashDot.org,
the self-described "News for Nerds" site.
J. Derbyshire, "All
Things Work for Good", an unpublished magazine article on the
Riemann Hypothesis
Andrew Wiles and Arthur
Jaffe attempt to explain the Riemann Hypothesis on America's National
Public Radio
A.R. Booker, "Turing and the
Riemann Hypothesis", Notices of the AMS 53 (2006) 1208-1211
a compass-and-straightedge approach
to the Riemann Hypothesis (part of this site)
extra-terrestrial
Using Prime Numbers to
Communicate with Other Civilizations
"Bipeds and Prime Numbers",
a speech by University College Cork's professor of philosophy Garrett Barden
The Arecibo Message -
the message consists of 1679 bits, arranged into 73 lines of 23 characters per line (these are both prime numbers, and
may help any alien recipients to decode the message).
Drake's Cryptogram
a rather strange proposal
to send the Ishango bone
into space