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'''Number theory''' is a branch of [[pure mathematics]] devoted primarily to the study of the [[integers]]. Any attempt to conduct such a study naturally leads to an examination of the properties of [[prime numbers]] (the building blocks of integers) as well
as the properties of objects made out of integers (such as [[rational numbers]]) or defined as generalisations of the integers (such as, for example, [[algebraic integers]]).

Integers can be considered either in themselves or as solutions to equations 
([[diophantine geometry]]). Questions in number theory are often best understood through
the study of [[Complex analysis|analytical]] objects (e.g., the [[Riemann zeta function]]) that encode properties of the integers, primes or other number-theoretic objects in some fashion ([[analytic number theory]]). One may also study real numbers in relation to rational numbers, e.g., as approximated by the latter ([[diophantine approximation]]).

The older term for number theory is ''arithmetic''; it was superseded by "number theory"
in the nineteenth century, though the adjective ''arithmetical'' is still fully current. 
By 1921,
[[T. L. Heath]] had to explain: "By arithmetic Plato meant, not arithmetic
in our sense, but the science which considers numbers in themselves, in other words,
what we mean by the Theory of Numbers."<ref name=HeathAr>Sir Thomas Heath, A History of Greek Mathematics, vol. 1, Dover,
1981, p. 13.</ref> The general public now uses ''arithmetic'' to mean
elementary calculations, whereas mathematicians use ''arithmetic'' as this article shall,
viz., as an older synonym for ''number theory''. (The use of the term ''arithmetic'' 
for ''number theory'' has regained
some ground since Heath's time, arguably in part due to French influence.<ref>Take, e.g.,
[[Jean-Pierre Serre|Serre]]'s ''A Course in Arithmetic'' (1970; translated into 
English in 1973). In 1952, [[Harold Davenport|Davenport]] still had to specify that he
meant ''The Higher Arithmetic''. [[G. H. Hardy|Hardy]] and Wright wrote in the introduction to ''An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers'' (1938): "We proposed at one time to change [the title] to ''An introduction to arithmetic'', a more novel and in some ways a more appropriate title; but it was pointed out that this might lead to misunderstandings about the content of the book."</ref> In particular, ''arithmetical'' is preferred as an adjective to ''number-theoretic''. Moreover, "the arithmetic of" is used, whereas
"the number theory of" is not; thus, for example, the ''[[arithmetic of elliptic curves]]''.)

== History ==

===The beginnings===

While there are elements of what in retrospect can be seen as number theory
in [[Babylonian mathematics|Babylonian]] and ancient Chinese mathematics
(see [[Plimpton 322]] and the [[Chinese Remainder Theorem]], respectively), the history of number theory truly starts with the Greek and Indian traditions.

The [[irrational number|irrationality]] of <math>\scriptstyle \sqrt{2}</math> is credited to
the early [[Pythagoreans]].<ref>Plato, Theaetetus, p. 147 B, cited in: Kurt von Fritz, "The discovery of incommensurability by Hippasus of Metapontum", p. 212, in: J. Christianidis (ed.), Classics in the History of Greek Mathematics, Kluwer, 2004. [[Plato]] reports on further work by Theodorus on
irrationality.</ref> [[Euclid]] gave an algorithm for computing the
greatest common divisor of two numbers ([[Euclid's Elements]], Prop. VII.2) and a proof
that there are infinitely many primes (Elements, Prop. IX.20).
Much later in the Hellenistic period, [[Diophantus]] studied rational solutions to equations
and systems of equations. 

Results in number theory within [[Indian mathematics]] date from the period that would correspond to the medieval era in Europe. [[Aryabhata]] gave an algorithm for solving<ref name="Aryabhata">Āryabhaṭa,
''Āryabhatīya'', Chapter 2, verses 32-33, cited in: K. Plofker, ''Mathematics in India'', Princeton University Press, 2008,
pp. 134-140.
See also W. E. Clark, ''The Āryabhaṭīya of Āryabhaṭa: An ancient Indian work on Mathematics and Astronomy'', University of Chicago Press, 1930, pp. 42-50. A slightly more explicit description of the ''kuṭṭaka'' was later given in [[Brahmagupta]],
''Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta'', XVIII, 3-5 (in Colebrooke, ''Algebra, with Arithmetic and Mensuration, from the Sanscrit of Brahmegupta and Bháscara'', London, 1817, p. 325, cited in: Clark, op. cit., p. 42).</ref>
pairs of [[congruences]]
<math>\scriptstyle n\equiv a_1 \text{ mod } m_1</math>,
<math>\scriptstyle n\equiv a_2 \text{ mod } m_2</math>,
apparently with astronomical applications in mind.<ref name="Plofker">K. Plofker, ''Mathematics in India'', Princeton University Press, 2008, p. 119.</ref>
[[Brahmagupta]] started the systematic study of indefinite quadratic equations, including
what would later be misnamed [[Pell's equation]]. A general procedure (the [[chakravala method|chakravala]], or "cyclic method") for solving Pell's equation was 
finally found by Jayadeva (cited in the eleventh century; his work is otherwise lost); the earliest surviving exposition appears in [[Bhāskara II]]'s
Bīja-gaṇita (twelfth century).<ref name="PlofBha">Plofker, op. cit., p. 194</ref>
Unfortunately, these achievements were largely unknown in the West until the late eighteenth century.<ref name="Ploper">Plofker, op. cit., p. 283</ref>

Much Greek mathematics and some Indian mathematics was available to Arabic scholars from the early ninth century onwards. Part of the treatise ''al-Fakhri'' (by [[al-Karaji|al-Karajī]], 953 - ca. 1029) builds on Diophantus's work to some extent.

=== Modern number theory ===

Modern number theory begins with [[Pierre de Fermat]], inspired in part by his study of Diophantus. Continuous activity on the subject started almost a century later with [[Euler]].<ref>A. Weil, 'Number theory: an approach through history - from Hammurapi to Legendre'', Birkhäuser, 1984, pp. 1-2.</ref> [[Lagrange]] provided proofs of some of Fermat's and Euler's key statements. He and [[Legendre]] also set the basis
of the study of quadratic forms; Legendre was the first to state the law of [[quadratic reciprocity]]. In [[Disquisitiones Arithmeticae]], Gauss gave the first valid proof of this law, developed the theory of quadratic forms further, and started the modern study of [[cyclotomy]].

Starting early in the nineteenth century, the following developments gradually took place:
* The rise to self-consciousness of number theory (or ''higher arithmetic'') as a field of study.<ref>See the discussion in section 5 of C. Goldstein and N. Schappacher, "A book in search of a discipline (1801-1860)', in C. Goldstein, N. Schappacher and J. Schwermer (eds.), "The shaping of arithmetic after C. F. Gauss's Disquisitiones Arithmeticae", Springer, 2007. Early signs of self-consciousness are present already in letters by Fermat: thus his remarks on what number theory is, and how "Diophantus's work [...] does not really belong to [it]" (quoted in A. Weil, op. cit., p. 25).</ref>
* The development of much of modern mathematics necessary for basic modern number theory: complex analysis, group theory, Galois theory -- accompanied by greater rigor in analysis and abstraction in algebra.
* The rough subdivision of number theory into its modern subfields - in particular, [[analytic number theory|analytic]] and [[algebraic number theory]].

Algebraic number theory may be said to start with the study of reciprocity and cyclotomy, but truly came into its own with the development of abstract algebra and early ideal theory and valuation theory; see below. An obvious conventional starting point for analytic number theory would be [[Riemann]]'s memoir on the [[Riemann zeta function]] (1859); there is also
[[Dirichlet's theorem on arithmetic progressions]], which preceded it in the study of the
[[Riemann zeta function|zeta function]] and even [[L-functions]] (for <math>\scriptstyle Re(s)>1</math>), or
[[Jacobi]]'s work on the four square theorem, which connected arithmetical questions with [[elliptic functions]]. The first use of analytical arguments in number theory goes further back,
to [[Euler]].<ref>H. Iwaniec and E. Kowalski, Analytic number theory, AMS Colloquium Pub., Vol. 53, 2004, p. 1.</ref>

The history of each subfield is sketched in its own section below. Many of the most interesting questions in each area remain open and are being actively worked on.

== Approaches and subfields ==

===Introductory texts and elementary tools===

Two of the most popular introductions to the subject are:
* [[G_H_Hardy|G. H. Hardy]] and E. M. Wright, ''An introduction to the theory of numbers'', 6th ed., rev. by D. R. Heath-Brown and J. H. Silverman, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008 (first published in 1938).
* [[Ivan_Matveyevich_Vinogradov|I. M. Vinogradov]], ''Elements of Number Theory'', Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2003, reprint of the 1954 edition.

Hardy and Wright's book is a comprehensive classic, though its clarity sometimes suffers due to the authors' insistence on elementary methods.<ref name="MR0568909">T. M. Apostol,
Review of ''An introduction to the theory of numbers'', Mathematical Reviews, MR0568909.</ref>
Vinogradov's main attraction consists in its set of problems, which quickly lead to Vinogradov's own research interests; the text itself is very basic and close to minimal.

The term ''[[elementary proof|elementary]]'' generally denotes a method that does not use [[complex analysis]]. For example, the [[prime number theorem]] was first proven in 1896, but an elementary proof was found only in 1949. The term is somewhat ambiguous: for example, proofs based on [[Tauberian theorem|Tauberian theorems]] are often seen as quite enlightening but not elementary, in spite of using Fourier analysis, rather than complex analysis as such. Here as elsewhere, an ''elementary'' proof may be longer and more difficult for most readers than a non-elementary one.

Number theory has the reputation of being a field many of whose results can be stated to the layperson. At the same time, the proofs of these results are not particularly accessible, in part because the range of tools they use is, if anything, unusually broad within mathematics.

Popular choices for a second textbook include [[Borevich]] and [[Igor_Shafarevich|Shafarevich]]'s ''Number theory'' and [[Jean-Pierre_Serre|Serre]]'s ''Cours d'arithmetique''. Textbooks for later stages in one's study tend to branch into analytic and algebraic number theory, among other subfields.

===Main fields===
====Analytic number theory====

''Analytic number theory'' is generally held to denote the study of problems in number theory by analytic means, i.e., by the tools of
[[calculus]]. Some would emphasize the use of [[complex analysis]]: the study of the [[Riemann zeta function]] and other [[L-functions]] can be seen as the epitome of analytic number theory. At the same time, the subfield is often held to cover studies of elementary problems by elementary means, e.g., the study of the divisors of a number without the use of analysis, or the application of [[sieve methods]]. A problem in number theory can be said to be ''analytic'' simply if it involves statements on quantity or distribution, or if the ordering of the objects studied (e.g., the [[prime numbers|primes]]) is crucial. Several different senses of the word ''analytic'' are thus conflated in the designation ''analytic number theory'' as it is commonly used.

The following are examples of problems in analytic number theory: the [[prime number theorem]], the [[Goldbach conjecture]] (or the [[twin prime conjecture]], or the [[Hardy-Littlewood conjectures]]), the [[Waring problem]] and the [[Riemann Hypothesis]]. Some of the most important tools of analytic number theory are the [[circle method]], [[sieve methods]] and [[L-functions]] (or, rather, the study of their properties).

One may ask analytic questions about [[algebraic numbers]], and use analytic means to answer such questions; it is thus that algebraic and analytic number theory intersect. For example, one may define [[prime ideals]] (generalisations of [[prime number|prime numbers]] living in the field of algebraic numbers) and ask how many prime ideals there are up to a certain size. This question can be answered by means of an examination of [[Dedekind zeta function]]s, which are generalisations of the [[Riemann zeta function]], an all-important analytic object that controls the distribution of prime numbers.

====Algebraic number theory====

''Algebraic number theory'' studies algebraic properties and algebraic objects of interest in number theory. (Thus, analytic and algebraic number theory can and do overlap: 
the former is defined by its methods, the latter by its objects of study.)
A key topic is that of the [[algebraic number|algebraic numbers]], which are generalisations of the rational numbers. Briefly, an ''algebraic number'' is any complex number that is a solution to some polynomial equation <math>\scriptstyle f(x)=0</math> with rational coefficients;
for example, every solution <math>x</math> of <math>\scriptstyle x^5 + (11/2) x^3 - 7 x^2 + 9 = 0
</math> (say) is an algebraic number. Fields of algebraic numbers are also called ''[[algebraic number field]]s''.

It could be argued that the simplest kind of number fields (viz., quadratic fields) were already studied by [[Gauss]], as the discussion of quadratic forms in ''Disquisitiones arithmeticae'' can be restated in terms of [[Ideal (mathematics)|ideals]] and 
[[Norm (mathematics)|norms]] in quadratic fields. (A ''quadratic field'' consists of all
numbers of the form <math>\scriptstyle a + b \sqrt{d}</math>, where
<math>a</math> and <math>b</math> are rational numbers and <math>d</math>
is a fixed rational number whose square root is not rational.)
For that matter, the 11th-century [[chakravala method]] amounts - in modern terms - to an algorithm for finding the units of a real quadratic number field. However, neither [[Bhāskara II|Bhāskara]] nor Gauss knew of number fields as such.

The grounds of the subject as we know it were set in the late nineteenth century, when ''ideal numbers'', the ''theory of ideals'' and ''valuation theory'' were developed; these are three complementary ways of dealing with the lack of unique factorisation in algebraic number fields. (For example, in the field generated by the rationals
and <math>\scriptstyle \sqrt{-5}</math>, the number <math>6</math> can be factorised both as <math>\scriptstyle 6 = 2 \cdot 3</math> and
<math>\scriptstyle 6 = (1 + \sqrt{-5}) ( 1 - \sqrt{-5})</math>; all of <math>2</math>, <math>3</math>, <math>\scriptstyle 1 + \sqrt{-5}</math> and 
<math>\scriptstyle 1 - \sqrt{-5}</math>
are irreducible, and thus, in a naïve sense, analogous to primes among the integers.)
The initial impetus for the development of ideal numbers (by [[Ernst Kummer|Kummer]]) seems to have come from the study
of higher reciprocity laws,<ref name="Edwards">H. M. Edwards, Fermat's Last Theorem: a genetic introduction to algebraic number theory, Springer Verlag, 1977, p. 79.</ref> i.e., generalisations of [[quadratic reciprocity]].

Number fields are often studied as extensions of smaller number fields: a field ''L'' is said to be an ''extension'' of a field ''K'' if ''L'' contains ''K''.
(For example, the complex numbers ''C'' are an extension of the reals ''R'',
and the reals ''R'' are an extension of the rationals ''Q''.)
Classifying the possible extensions of a given number field is a difficult and partially open problem. Abelian extensions -- that is, extensions ''L'' of ''K'' such that the [[Galois group]]<ref>The Galois group
of an extension ''K/L'' consists of the operations ([[isomorphisms]]) that send elements
of L to other elements of L while leaving all elements of K fixed.
Thus, for instance, ''Gal(C/R)'' consists of two elements: the identity element
(taking every element ''x+iy'' of ''C'' to itself) and complex conjugation
(the map taking each element ''x+iy'' to ''x-iy'').
The Galois group of an extension tells us many of its crucial properties. The study of Galois groups started with [[Evariste Galois]]; in modern language, the main outcome of his work is that an equation ''f(x)=0'' can be solved by radicals
(that is, ''x'' can be expressed in terms of the four basic operations together
with square roots, cubic roots, etc.) if and only if the extension of the rationals by the roots of the equation ''f(x)=0'' has a Galois group that is  [[solvable]]
in the sense of group theory. ("Solvable", in the sense of group theory, is
a simple property that can be checked easily for finite groups.)</ref> ''Gal(L/K)'' of ''L'' over ''K'' is an [[abelian group]] -- are relatively well understood. 
Their classification was the object of the programme of [[class field theory]], which was initiated in the late 19th century (partly by [[Kronecker]] and [[Eisenstein]]) and carried out largely in 1900--1950.

The [[Langlands program]], one of the main current large-scale research plans in mathematics,  is sometimes described as an attempt to generalise class field theory to non-abelian extensions of number fields.

====Diophantine geometry====

The central problem of ''Diophantine geometry'' is to determine when a [[Diophantine equation]] has solutions, and if it does, how many. The approach taken is to think of the solutions of an equation as a geometric object.

For example, an equation in two variables defines a curve in the plane. More generally, an equation, or system of equations, in two or more variables defines a [[algebraic curve|curve]], a [[algebraic surface|surface]] or some other such object in ''n''-dimensional space. In Diophantine geometry, one asks whether there are any ''[[rational points]]'' (points all of whose coordinates are rationals) or
''integral points'' (points all of whose coordinates are integers) on the curve or surface. If there are any such points, the next step is to ask how many there are and how they are distributed. A basic question in this direction is: are there finitely
or infinitely many rational points on a given curve (or surface)? What about integer points?

An example here may be helpful. Consider the equation <math>x^2+y^2 = 1</math>;
we would like to study its rational solutions, i.e., its solutions 
<math>(x,y)</math> such that
''x'' and ''y'' are both rational. This is the same as asking for all integer solutions
to <math>a^2 + b^2 = c^2</math>; any solution to the latter equation gives
us a solution <math>x = a/c</math>, <math>y = b/c</math> to the former. It is also the
same as asking for all points with rational coordinates on the curve
described by <math>x^2 + y^2 = 1</math>. (This curve happens to be a circle of radius 1 around the origin.)

The rephrasing of questions on equations in terms of points on curves turns out to be felicitous. The finiteness or not of the number of rational or integer points on an algebraic curve - that is, rational or integer solutions to an equation <math>f(x,y)=0</math>, where <math>f</math> is a polynomial in two variables - turns out to depend crucially on the ''genus'' of the curve. The ''genus'' can be defined as follows:<ref>It may be useful to look at an example here. Say we want to study the curve <math>y^2 = x^3 + 7</math>. We allow ''x'' and ''y'' to be complex numbers: <math>(a + b i)^2 = (c + d i)^3 + 7</math>. This is, in effect, a set of two equations on four variables, since both the real
and the imaginary part on each side must match. As a result, we get a surface (two-dimensional) in four dimensional space. After we choose a convenient hyperplane on which to project the surface (meaning that, say, we choose to ignore the coordinate ''a''), we can
plot the resulting projection, which is a surface in ordinary three-dimensional space. It
then becomes clear that the result is a [[torus]], i.e., the surface of a doughnut (somewhat
stretched). A doughnut has one hole; hence the genus is 1.</ref> allow the variables in <math>f(x,y)=0</math> to be complex numbers; then <math>f(x,y)=0</math> defines a 2-dimensional surface in (projective) 4-dimensional space (since two complex variables can be decomposed into four real variables, i.e., four dimensions). Count
the number of (doughnut) holes in the surface; call this number the ''genus'' of <math>f(x,y)=0</math>. Other geometrical notions turn out to be just as crucial.

There is also the closely linked area of [[diophantine approximations]]: given a number <math>x</math>, how well can it be approximated by rationals? (We are looking for approximations that are good relative to the amount of space that it takes to write the rational: call <math>a/q</math> (with <math>gcd(a,q)=1</math>) a good approximation to <math>x</math> if <math>\scriptstyle |x-a/q|<\frac{1}{q^c}</math>, where <math>c</math> is large.) This question is of special interest if <math>x</math> is an algebraic number. If <math>x</math> cannot be well approximated, then some equations do not have integer or rational solutions. Moreover, several concepts (especially that of [[height]]) turn out to be crucial both in diophantine geometry and in the study of diophantine approximations.

Diophantine geometry should not be confused with the [[geometry of numbers]], which is a collection of graphical methods for answering certain questions in algebraic number theory. ''Arithmetic geometry'', on the other hand, is a contemporary term
for much the same domain as that covered by the term ''diophantine geometry''. The term ''arithmetic geometry'' is arguably used
most often when one wishes to emphasise the connections to modern algebraic geometry (as in, for instance, [[Faltings' theorem]]) rather than to techniques in diophantine approximations.

===Recent approaches and subfields===

The areas below date as such from no earlier than the mid-twentieth century, even if they are based
on older material. For example, as is explained below, the matter of algorithms in number theory is very old, in some sense older than the concept of proof; at the same time, the modern study of computational complexity dates only from the 1930s and 1940s.

====Probabilistic number theory ====

Take a number at random between one and a million. How likely is it to be prime? This is just another way of asking how many primes there are between one and a million. Very well; ask further: how many prime divisors will it have, on average? How many divisors will it have altogether, and with what likelihood? What is the probability that it have many more or many fewer divisors or prime divisors than the average?

Much of probabilistic number theory can be seen as an important special case of the study of variables that are almost, but not quite, mutually [[statistical independence|independent]]. For example, the event that a random integer between one and a million be divisible by two and the event that it be divisible by three are almost independent, but not quite.

It is sometimes said that probabilistic combinatorics uses the fact that whatever happens with probability greater than <math>0</math> must happen sometimes; one may say with equal justice that many applications of probabilistic number theory hinge on the fact that whatever is unusual must be rare. If certain algebraic objects (say, rational or integer solutions to certain equations) can be shown to be in the tail of certain sensibly defined distributions, it follows that there must be few of them; this is a very concrete non-probabilistic statement following from a probabilistic one.

====Arithmetic combinatorics====

Let <math>A</math> be a set of integers. Consider the set <math>A+A</math> consisting of all sums of two elements of <math>A</math>. Is <math>A+A</math> much larger than A? Barely larger? If <math>A + A</math> is barely larger than <math>A</math>, must <math>A</math> have plenty of arithmetic structure - e.g., does it look like an arithmetic progression? 

If we begin from a fairly "thick" infinite set <math>A</math>, does it contain many elements in arithmetic progression: <math>a</math>,  
<math>a+b</math>, <math> a+2 b</math>, <math>a+3 b</math>,  ... , <math>a+10b</math>, say? Should it be possible to write large integers as sums of elements of <math>A</math>?

These questions are characteristic of ''arithmetic combinatorics''. This is a presently coalescing field; it subsumes ''additive number theory'' (which concerns itself with certain very specific sets <math>A</math> of arithmetic significance, such as the primes or the squares) and, arguably, some of the ''geometry of numbers'',
together with some rapidly developing new material. Its focus on issues of growth and distribution make the strengthening of links with ''ergodic theory'' likely. The term ''additive combinatorics'' is also used; however, the sets <math>A</math> being studied need not be sets of integers, but rather subsets of non-commutative [[groups]], for which the multiplication symbol, not the addition symbol, is traditionally used; they can also be subsets of [[ring|rings]], in which case the growth of <math>A+A</math> and <math>A</math>·<math>A</math> may be
compared.

====Computations in number theory====

While the word ''algorithm'' goes back only to certain readers of [[al-Khwārizmī]], careful descriptions of methods of solution are older than proofs: such methods - that is, algorithms - are as old as any recognisable mathematics - ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Vedic, Chinese - whereas proofs appeared only with the Greeks of the classical period.

There are two main questions: "can we compute this?" and "can we compute it rapidly?". Anybody can test whether a number is prime or, if it is not, split it into prime factors; doing so rapidly is another matter. We now know fast algorithms for [[primality test|testing primality]], but, in spite of much work, no truly fast algorithm for factoring.

The difficulty of a computation can be useful: modern protocols
for [[cryptography|encrypting messages]] (e.g., [[RSA]])
depend on functions that are known to all, but whose inverses (a) are known only to a chosen few, and (b) would take one too long a time to figure
out on one's own. For example, these functions can be such that their inverses can be computed only if certain large integers are factorised. While many difficult computational problems outside number theory are known, most working encryption protocols nowadays are based on the difficulty of a few number-theoretical problems.
 
On a different note - some things may not be computable at all; in fact, this can be proven. For instance, [[Alan Turing|Turing]] showed in 1936 that there is no algorithm for deciding in finite time whether a given algorithm ends in finite time. In 1970, it
was proven that there is [[Hilbert's 10th problem|no algorithm]] for solving any and all Diophantine equations. There are thus some problems in number theory that will never be solved. We even know the shape of some of them, viz., Diophantine equations in nine variables; we simply do not know, and cannot know, which coefficients give us equations for which 
the following two statements are both true: there are no solutions, and we shall never know that there are no solutions.

== References ==

<references/>

==External links==
{{Portal|Number theory}}
* [http://www.numbertheory.org Number Theory Web]
* [http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/known-math/index/11-XX.html The Mathematical Atlas - 11: Number theory]

{{Mathematics-footer}}
{{Number theory-footer}}

[[:Category:Number theory| ]]

==Attribution==

This article is copied from [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Number_theory Citizendium].