Fermat's enigma

the quest to solve the world's greatest mathematical problem

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  • 3.94 ·
  • 17 Ratings
  • 86 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 25 Have read

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Last edited by MARC Bot
July 13, 2024 | History

Fermat's enigma

the quest to solve the world's greatest mathematical problem

  • 3.94 ·
  • 17 Ratings
  • 86 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 25 Have read

Fermat's Last Theorem became the Holy Grail of mathematics. Whole and colorful lives were devoted, and even sacrificed, to finding a proof. Leonhard Euler, the greatest mathematician of the eighteenth century, had to admit defeat. Sophie Germain took on the identity of a man to do research in a field forbidden to females, and made the most significant breakthrough of the nineteenth century.

The dashing Evariste Galois scribbled down the results of his research deep into the night before venturing out to die in a duel in 1832. Yutaka Taniyama, whose insights would ultimately lead to the solution, tragically killed himself in 1958. On the other hand, Paul Wolfskehl, a famous German industrialist, claimed Fermat had saved him from suicide, and established a rich prize for the first person to prove the theorem.

And then came Princeton professor Andrew Wiles, who had dreamed of proving Fermat's Last Theorem ever since he first read of it as a boy of ten in his local library. In 1993, some 356 years after Fermat's challenge, and after seven years of working in isolation and secrecy - "a kind of private and very personal battle I was engaged in" - Wiles stunned the world by announcing a proof, though his own journey would be far from over.

Fermat's Enigma is the story of the epic quest to solve the greatest math problem of all time. A human drama of high dreams, intellectual brilliance, and extraordinary determination, it will bring the history and culture of mathematics into exciting focus for all who read it.

Publish Date
Publisher
Walker
Language
English
Pages
315

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Previews available in: English Spanish French German

Edition Availability
Cover of: Fermat's last theorem
Cover of: El enigma de Fermat
El enigma de Fermat
September 2004, Planeta
Paperback in Spanish
Cover of: Le Dernier Théorème de Fermat
Le Dernier Théorème de Fermat
July 31, 2000, J.-C. Lattès, JC Lattès
Paperback in French
Cover of: Fermats letzter Satz
Cover of: El Ultimo Teorema de Fermat
El Ultimo Teorema de Fermat
June 1999, Grupo Editorial Norma
Paperback in Spanish
Cover of: Fermat's enigma
Cover of: Fermat's enigma
Fermat's enigma: the epic quest to solve the world's greatest mathematical problem
1998, Anchor Books
in English - 1st Anchor Books edition
Cover of: Fermat's Enigma
Fermat's Enigma: the epic quest to solve the world's greatest mathematical problem
September 8, 1998, Anchor
in English
Cover of: Fermat's enigma
Cover of: Fermat's enigma
Cover of: Fermat's enigma

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. 301-305) and index.

Published in
New York

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
512/.74
Library of Congress
QA244, QA244 .S55 1997

Contributors

Foreword
John Lynch

The Physical Object

Pagination
xviii, 315 p.
Number of pages
315

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL22471139M
ISBN 10
0802713319
LCCN
97020748
OCLC/WorldCat
36969738
Library Thing
36729
Goodreads
615456

Work Description

xn + yn = zn, where n represents 3, 4, 5, ...no solution "I have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain." With these words, the seventeenth-century French mathematician Pierre de Fermat threw down the gauntlet to future generations. What came to be known as Fermat's Last Theorem looked simple; proving it, however, became the Holy Grail of mathematics, baffling its finest minds for more than 350 years.

In Fermat's Enigma--based on the author's award-winning documentary film, which aired on PBS's "Nova"--Simon Singh tells the astonishingly entertaining story of the pursuit of that grail, and the lives that were devoted to, sacrificed for, and saved by it. Here is a mesmerizing tale of heartbreak and mastery that will forever change your feelings about mathematics.

Excerpts

It was the most important mathematics lecture of the century.
added anonymously.

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History

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July 13, 2024 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
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November 14, 2008 Created by ImportBot Imported from Talis record