In
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, Probabilistic number theory is a subfield of
number theory
Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777â ...
, which explicitly uses
probability
Probability is the branch of mathematics concerning numerical descriptions of how likely an Event (probability theory), event is to occur, or how likely it is that a proposition is true. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and ...
to answer questions about the
integers
An integer is the number zero (), a positive natural number (, , , etc.) or a negative integer with a minus sign (−1, −2, −3, etc.). The negative numbers are the additive inverses of the corresponding positive numbers. In the language o ...
and
integer-valued functions. One basic idea underlying it is that different
prime number
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
s are, in some serious sense, like
independent random variables
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
. This however is not an idea that has a unique useful formal expression.
The founders of the theory were
Paul Erdős
Paul Erdős ( hu, Erdős Pál ; 26 March 1913 – 20 September 1996) was a Hungarian mathematician. He was one of the most prolific mathematicians and producers of mathematical conjectures of the 20th century. pursued and proposed problems in ...
,
Aurel Wintner
Aurel Friedrich Wintner (8 April 1903 – 15 January 1958) was a mathematician noted for his research in mathematical analysis, number theory, differential equations and probability theory. He was one of the founders of probabilistic number theor ...
and
Mark Kac
Mark Kac ( ; Polish: ''Marek Kac''; August 3, 1914 – October 26, 1984) was a Polish American mathematician. His main interest was probability theory. His question, " Can one hear the shape of a drum?" set off research into spectral theory, the i ...
during the 1930s, one of the periods of investigation in
analytic number theory
In mathematics, analytic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses methods from mathematical analysis to solve problems about the integers. It is often said to have begun with Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet's 1837 introduction of Diric ...
. Foundational results include the
Erdős–Wintner theorem and the
Erdős–Kac theorem In number theory, the Erdős–Kac theorem, named after Paul Erdős and Mark Kac, and also known as the fundamental theorem of probabilistic number theory, states that if ''ω''(''n'') is the number of distinct prime factors of ''n'', then, loosely ...
on
additive function
In number theory, an additive function is an arithmetic function ''f''(''n'') of the positive integer variable ''n'' such that whenever ''a'' and ''b'' are coprime, the function applied to the product ''ab'' is the sum of the values of the funct ...
s.
See also
*
Number theory
Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777â ...
*
Analytic number theory
In mathematics, analytic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses methods from mathematical analysis to solve problems about the integers. It is often said to have begun with Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet's 1837 introduction of Diric ...
*
Areas of mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
*
List of number theory topics {{Short description, none
This is a list of number theory topics, by Wikipedia page. See also:
*List of recreational number theory topics
*Topics in cryptography
Divisibility
*Composite number
**Highly composite number
*Even and odd numbers
**Par ...
*
List of probability topics
This is a list of probability topics, by Wikipedia page.
It overlaps with the (alphabetical) list of statistical topics. There are also the outline of probability and catalog of articles in probability theory. For distributions, see List of probab ...
*
Probabilistic method
The probabilistic method is a nonconstructive method, primarily used in combinatorics and pioneered by Paul Erdős, for proving the existence of a prescribed kind of mathematical object. It works by showing that if one randomly chooses objects fr ...
*
Probable prime
In number theory, a probable prime (PRP) is an integer that satisfies a specific condition that is satisfied by all prime numbers, but which is not satisfied by most composite numbers. Different types of probable primes have different specific con ...
References
*
Further reading
*
Number theory
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