Number Devil Sparknotes

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Hans Magnus Enzensberger’s, The Number Devil, is a mathematical adventure about a devil who teaches a little boy named Robert very important mathematical principles. Over a series of twelve dreams, Robert learns to love math with the help of the the number devil. The number devil shows Robert how to understand math and makes it easier by introducing mathematical concepts such as Christian Goldbach’s Conjecture and the Goldbach-Euler theorem. Christian Goldbach was born in Königsberg, Germany. He was the son of a pastor and studied at the Royal Albertus University. After graduating, he went on fourteen years of voyages. Over the course of his voyages, Goldbach met many mathematicians along the way such as, Leonhard Euler and many others. After his voyages, he continued to focus on mathematics and proved many theories. One …show more content…

Goldbach’s conjecture is one of the most well-known theories in all of mathematics. His conjecture states that, “every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two primes.” Goldbach’s conjecture includes the Goldbach number and many other algebraic expressions. Goldbach’s conjecture is so crucial that it was even featured in Hans Magnus Enzensberger’s The Number Devil. During the 5th night, the number devil shows Robert the Goldbach conjecture. On page 98 of The Number Devil, the number devil gives Robert examples of how to solve and work Goldbach’s conjecture. The number devil uses triangles as an example to introduce Goldbach’s conjecture. The number devil makes Robert throw coconuts to make triangles. This example shows a perfect example of Goldbach’s conjecture because it shows that “every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two primes.” The number

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