Fermat's Last Theorem
by Simon Singh
4.0
Open LibraryFirst lines
It was the most important mathematics lecture of the century.
It was the most important mathematics lecture of the century.
About this book
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.
Themes & subjects
Fermat's last theoremmathematicsnumber theoryelliptic curvesproof31.01 history of mathematics
First published 1997Characters & people
Setting
PrincetonCambridgeAlexandria
About the author
Simon Singh
19 September 1964
Simon Lehna Singh, MBE is a British popular science author, theoretical and particle physicist. *--Wikipedia*
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