Fermat's Last Theorem

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.

subjects: Fermat's last theorem,  mathematics,  number theory,  elliptic curves,  proof,  31.01 history of mathematics,  Wiskunde,  Theorema van Fermat,  History,  Fermatsche Vermutung,  Beweis,  Geschichte,  Fermat-Vermutung,  New York Times reviewed,  Teorema di Fermat,  Grand théorème de Fermat,  Teorema de Fermat,  Studies,  Wiles, Andrew,  Feruma no mondai

People: Andrew Wiles,  John Coates,  Leonhard Euler,  Sam Loyd,  Ken Ribet,  Pythagoras,  Richard Taylor

Places: Princeton,  Cambridge,  Alexandria