Number Theory I: Fundamental Problems, Ideas and Theories

Preface Among the various branches of mathematics, number theory is characterized to a lesser degree by its primary subject ("integers") than by a psychologi­ cal attitude. Actually, number theory also deals with rational, algebraic, and transcendental numbers, with some very specific analytic functions (such as Dirichlet series and modular forms), and with some geometric objects (such as lattices and schemes over Z). The question whether a given article belongs to number theory is answered by its author's system of values. If arithmetic is not there, the paper will hardly be considered as number-theoretical, even if it deals exclusively with integers and congruences. On the other hand, any mathematical tool, say, homotopy theory or dynamical systems may become an important source of number-theoretical inspiration. For this reason, com­ binatorics and the theory of recursive functions are not usually associated with number theory, whereas modular functions are. In this report we interpret number theory broadly. There are compelling reasons to adopt this viewpoint. First of all, the integers constitute (together with geometric images) one of the primary subjects of mathematics in general. Because of this, the history of elementary number theory is as long as the history of all mathematics, and the history of modern mathematic began when "numbers" and "figures" were united by the concept of coordinates (which in the opinion of LR. Shafarevich also forms the basic idea of algebra).