If I were to awaken after having slept for a thousand years, my first question would be: Has the

Riemann hypothesis been proven?

These words of David Hilbert show the kind of challenge that the mathematical world faces. The
Riemann hypothesis, unsolved for more than 150 years, is one of the reasons why I like number theory.
The fact that a pattern, observed in a particular set of numbers, holds for all the numbers requires more
than a century to prove is in itself motivating. Fermats Last Theorem, too, took more than 350 years
before Andrew Wiles proof was formally published. The past has shown that analytic methods used in
conjunction with geometric ideas prove very useful in attacking number theory problems. A geometric
perspective of the Riemann zeta function reveals much information about the distribution of prime
numbers. However, my personal taste would be to exploit ideas in analysis in order to understand the
intricacies involved in number theory. Accumulating the enormous mathematical artillery to arrive at
the subtleties in number theory is what I look forward to. I want to utilize methods of analytic functions
to study problems in number theory. Surely there remain vast areas in this field still untrodden.
Ramanujans tau function is another fascination of mine. It was in a lecture by Prof. Eknath Ghate in IIT-
Bombay that I first came to know about the Ramanujans tau function. While I did not possess the
mathematical sophistication at that time, it was fascinating enough to come back to it and try to
understand it at a later time. I still havent been able to digest it completely due to the lack of
mathematical maturity. Many such problems in number theory invite an enthusiast with their
deceptively simple statements, but then reveal their formidability when one tries to prove those
statements. Moreover, since most of the conjectures in number theory are the building blocks to more
advanced applications, it becomes necessary to prove them. While a layman may be happy when a
hypothesis holds true for sufficient number of values, a mathematician can never be satisfied unless it
can be proved rigorously. This is what I want to achieve: a thirst for rigor in mathematics. Number
theory is where I find a lot of opportunities to develop this. The unsolved problems themselves are
tempting. Understanding the analytic functions, using them to grasp the concepts in number theory, and
admiring the milestones while trying to digest their subtleties is what I would consider my aim in
learning number theory.