The definitive account of the Everests of mathematics--the seven unsolved problems that define the state of the art in contemporary math. In 2000, the Clay Foundation announced a historic competition: whoever could solve any of seven extraordinarily difficult mathematical problems, and have the solution acknowledged as correct by the experts, would receive $1 million in prize money. There was some precedent for doing this: In 1900 the mathematician David Hilbert proposed twenty-three problems that set much of the agenda for mathematics in the twentieth century. The Millennium Problems--chosen by a committee of the leading mathematicians in the world--are likely to acquire similar stature, and their solution (or lack of it) is likely to play a strong role in determining the course of mathematics in the twenty-first century. Keith Devlin, renowned expositor of mathematics and one of the authors of the Clay Institute's official description of the problems, here provides the definitive account for the mathematically interested reader.

基思·德夫林是斯坦福大学语言与信息研究中心行政主任，斯坦福大学数学系教授。他不仅与西蒙定期为美国全国公共电台的“周末版”节目撰写稿件(在节目中他被称作“数学小子”)，而且出现在“说说国民”、“科学星期五”、“听上去像是科学”、“就我们的知识所及”等节目中。他是25本著作、一张互动式CD光盘与75篇数学研究论文的作者。他是美国科学院数学科学教育委员会委员、美国科学促进会成员和世界经济论坛成员。现居加利福尼亚州帕洛阿尔托市。