| Description |
Math 433 will cover methods of proving that certain numbers are transcendental. The tentative plan is to work through Siegel's "Transcendental Numbers." This is a famous work, in which Siegel proves that various numbers are transcendental, starting with the nineteenth century results that pi and e are transcendental, and then going on to various generalizations, including some remarkable results that he obtained. This book is based on lectures that Siegel gave in 1946 and is not up-to-date, but it is very clearly written and contains plenty of material, which can still serve as a solid introduction to the subject. |