Need game and number theory books

[j_gomberski]

Can anyone recommend me a good game theory and a good number theory book? I would like to learn these topics without taking any classes at university. Is there any good books that are reasonably priced? I think i just need introductory books given that i have no background in either of these fields.


Thanks for any help

[Andrew Karpinski]

Just watch PI.

[atrifix]

Osborne's book, An Introduction to Game Theory, is a very good textbook on the subject. It's not exactly light reading, though. IMO it is a more exact introduction to the subject than Dixit, and more intuitive than Binmore.

[j_gomberski]

'tis this movie that got me so interested in these topics

[MelchyBeau]

what is your mathematical background?

[Mrs. Utah]

Prisoners Dilemma by Poundstone is a great game theory primer and it is a fun read.

[sweetjazz]

Niven and Zuckerman is a good introduction to number theory.

[j_gomberski]

AP Calculus in HS and Bus. Calc and finite math in college so far with most in between and some stats classes as well.

[wooly_chicken]

Tom apostle has a pretty good introductory number theory text "intro to Analytic number theory" or something like that. I think it covers your basic elementary number theory, but is more "analytical" than some books (it includes an outline of the prime number theorem for instance).

I used a book once called "Elementary Number theory" by Burton that seemed pretty good.

Another number theory book with a more computer science flavor is "Elementary Number Theory and its Applications". In addition to the theory, it has programming projects and presumably more applications (I don't remember).

[MelchyBeau]

I made a thread here last week about downloadable math texts, it had some number theory and game theory books, check that thread

Melch

[jason_t]

[ QUOTE ]
Niven and Zuckerman is a good introduction to number theory.

[/ QUOTE ]

[BruceZ]

You can't go wrong with the following 2 books because you can pick each one up for just a few dollars, and they require mainly just an understanding of high school algebra. The one by Andrews uses combinatorial proofs as an alternative to the traditional ones. Ore takes an historical perspective.

Number Theory by George E. Andrews (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486682528/sr=8-1/qid=1148817721/ref=sr_1_1/103-4065920-8312605?%5Fencoding=UTF8)

Number Theory and Its History by Oystein Ore (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486656209/sr=8-1/qid=1148817804/ref=sr_1_1/103-4065920-8312605?%5Fencoding=UTF8)


The following 2 works are well-respected. Hardy was the mathematician who worked with the Indian genius Ramanujan.

The Higher Arithmetic by H. Davenport (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521634466/ref=sr_11_1/103-4065920-8312605?%5Fencoding=UTF8)

An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers by G.H. Hardy and E.M. Wright (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0198531710/sr=8-1/qid=1148818127/ref=sr_1_1/103-4065920-8312605?%5Fencoding=UTF8)