Re: What's a good math text?

["Dana W. Albrecht" <dwa@corsair.com>]

> I'm not on the list just now, my work won't allow me the time to follow it.
> I'm still just as interested in cryptography though, and would like
> y'all to email me recommendations on good math books that will give me
> the background to understand the papers in the field.  I'm sure that will
> include a good numbers theory text.  If a beginner at number theory
> would have a hard time understanding it, please recommend background
> texts as well:)  What else would I need?  My computer science texts
> explain complexity theory well, what would I need in information theory.
> What would I have to read to understand factoring complexity?  Are there
> any new texts that cover the recent breakthroughs in factoring?
 
An excellent introductory cryptography textbook that's oriented toward
number theory is:

     A Course in Number Theory and Cryptography, 2nd ed.
     by Neal Koblitz
     Springer Verlag

If you want a "classic" number theory text, I recommend:

     An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers, 5th ed.
     by G.H. Hardy and E.M. Wright
     Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press

If you'd like a good introduction to factoring, try:

     Factorisation and Primality Testing
     by David Bressoud
     Springer Verlag

Of course, it goes without saying that anyone studying cryptography ought
to have a copy of:

     Applied Cryptography, 2nd ed.
     by Bruce Schneier
     John Wiley

Hope that helps.

Dana W. Albrecht
dwa@corsair.com