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Calculus Textbook Editions for 2011-12
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Ezra Brown - Let F be a field. An elliptic curve is a polynomial over F of the form EF: y2 = x3 + px + q, where the cubic x3 + px + q has distinct roots. The theory of elliptic curves lies at the intersection of many diverse branches of mathematics. These deceptively simple-looking curves have been used to devise new integer factoring and primality testing algorithms, and as tools for solving many problems, most famously Fermat's Last Theorem. My interest in the subject begins with the fact that you can make the set of points on EF into an abelian group under the so-called chord-and-tangent addition. The Mordell-Weil Theorem states that over the field Q of rational numbers, the group of points on E is a finitely generated abelian group, whose rank r is the subject of much research. This rank is the subject of the Birch--Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture, one of the major unsolved problems in all of mathematics. Prove (or disprove) the conjecture and win a million dollars!Click here for more information.