CHASING A CONJECTURE : Inside the Mind of a Mathematician

A conjecture is like an unfulfilled fantasy in the world of pure mathematics where the most fantastic things happen routinely.Proving a conjecture is like trying to make a fantasy come true and it can consume a mathematician for years just as the effort to produce a great work of fiction music or art can take over the life of its creator.This unusual beguiling memoir is about such a journey. It begins with a child growing up in Mumbai fascinated by mathematics and ends with a man just turned 40 winning a prestigious prize for proving with a fellow-traveller one of the most important conjectures in number theory – the branch of mathematics that studies whole numbers.