MAA Writing Awards

What Is the Most Surprising Result in Mathematics?

by Tom M. Apostol

Year of Award: 1998

Award: Trevor Evans

Publication Information: (Part II), Math Horizons, Feb. 1999, pp. 26-31

Summary: How one could conjecture the prime number theorem by examining a table of primes.

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About the Author: (from Math Horizons, Feb. (1997)) Tom M. Apostol, emeritus professor of mathematics at Caltech, is director of Project Mathematics!