510 Mathematics
Hoffman, Paul. The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth. (Illus.) NY: Hyperion, 1998. 302pp. $22.95. 98-14027. ISBN 0-7868-6362-5. Index; C.I.P.
YA–T, GA ++
This is a fascinating account of the life of the Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdös (1913–1986), who was consummate at posing and solving problems, particularly in his specialties of combinatorics and elementary number theory. These areas, while often deep and difficult, are relatively easy to explain, and the author is able to convey considerable mathematics in his account. Erdös was generous in sharing his insights and collaborated in hundreds of research papers. He was eccentric even among mathematicians, and he left, in his wake, as he constantly traveled the Western world, the ingredients for a host of anecdotes that the author shares with the reader. As a consequence, this biography is an engaging book.—W. R. Utz, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
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