h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...life is but an empty dream.' That's Longfellow, I believe. I wondered if the solitary numbers were mournful.

Thanks for the cool explanation for us functional innumerates.

Thanks dmitri

There's not a lot of maths in this entry - I just thought it illustrated some of the futility of number theory. For every rare breakthrough they make (like public key cryptography, for example) there's an overwhelming amount of work deviing stuff like this which will probably never have any practical application.

'devising', that should read.

And the strain on the brain for numbers theorists is enormous - I've known a couple.

Someday, perhaps, a reason for number theory will be revealed. Until then, to me it resembles kabbalah.