Using calculus to do number theory

(hidden-phenomena.com)

37 points | by cpp_frog 2 days ago

5 comments

  • NooneAtAll3 2 minutes ago
    author was so excited to point at calculus, that he forgot to derive actual mod3000 answer from chinese remainders...

    and it seems much more intuitive for me to see this technique as "find x mod p^n, then apply x->ans+p*x transformation and do everything at mod p^n+1" - and to derive that it results in derivatives from that

  • jjgreen 3 minutes ago
    If author is following this: minor typo in "we use the seem approximation trick again": seem -> same
  • pfortuny 14 minutes ago
    In some sense the title is a bit misleading (one is led to think of Analytic Number Theory). I'd rather use the title "Using differentials to...", which is more precise, as there is not exactly any "calculus" going on but there is indeed differential algebra and differential "number theory", so to speak.

    But great and elegant article. Thanks.

  • joshuaissac 2 hours ago
    The mathematical field of tackling number theory problems in this way is called analytic number theory.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytic_number_theory

    The prime number theorem, on how prime numbers are distributed amongst the integers, was first proved using analytic techniques.

    • arch1t3cht 40 minutes ago
      Analytic number theory exists and involves calculus, but it's not what the linked post is about. The article talks about Hensel's lemma, which is a purely algebraic statement with a purely algebraic proof, which, however, is inspired by techniques from calculus. This is typically still categorized as algebraic number theory.
      • jjgreen 10 minutes ago
        Get a load of number theorists in a room and there will always be a fight between the analytic and algebraic.
  • adampunk 44 minutes ago
    It's delightful (and unsurprising) that Newton's method shows up as the main bridge.