Simon Singh - Fermat's Last Theorem [1997][A]

Book Description
Publication Date: November 1997
‘I have a truly marvellous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.’
It was with these words, written in the 1630s, that Pierre de Fermat intrigued and infuriated the mathematics community. For over 350 years, proving Fermat’s Last Theorem was the most notorious unsolved mathematical problem, a puzzle whose basics most children could grasp but whose solution eluded the greatest minds in the world. In 1993, after years of secret toil, Englishman Andrew Wiles announced to an astounded audience that he had cracked Fermat’s Last Theorem. He had no idea of the nightmare that lay ahead.
In ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem’ Simon Singh has crafted a remarkable tale of intellectual endeavour spanning three centuries, and a moving testament to the obsession, sacrifice and extraordinary determination of Andrew Wiles: one man against all the odds.

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
When Andrew Wiles of Princeton University announced a solution of Fermat's last theorem in 1993 it electrified the world of mathematics. After a flaw was discovered in the proof, Wiles had to work for another year--he had already labored in solitude for seven years--to establish that he had solved the 350-year-old problem. Simon Singh's book is a lively, comprehensible explanation of Wiles's work and of the star-, trauma-, and wacko-studded history of Fermat's last theorem. Fermat's Enigma contains some problems that offer a taste for the math, but it also includes limericks to give a feeling for the goofy side of mathematicians.

From School Library Journal
The riveting story of a mathematical problem that sprang from the study of the Pythagorean theorem developed in ancient Greece. The book follows mathematicians and scientists throughout history as they searched for new mathematical truths. In the 17th century, a French judicial assistant and amateur mathematician, Pierre De Fermat, produced many brilliant ideas in the field of number theory. The Greeks were aware of many whole number solutions to the Pythagorean theorem, where the sum of two perfect squares is a perfect square. Fermat stated that no whole number solutions exist if higher powers replace the squares in this equation. He left a message in the margin of a notebook that he had a proof, but that there was insufficient space there to write it down. His note was found posthumously, but the solution remained a mystery for 350 years. Finally, after working in isolation for eight years, Andrew Wiles, a young British mathematician at Princeton University, published a proof in 1995. Although this famous question has been resolved, many more remain unsolved, and new problems continually arise to challenge modern minds. This vivid account is fascinating reading for anyone interested in mathematics, its history, and the passionate quest for solutions to unsolved riddles. The book includes 19 black-and-white photos of mathematicians and occasional sketches of ancient mathematicians as well as diagrams of formulas. The illustrations help to humanize the subject and add to the readability.A. Penny Stevens, Centreville Regional Library, Centreville, VA

From Library Journal
For over 350 years, despite the efforts of many ingenious mathematicians, the postulate known as Fermat's Last Theorem remained unproven. It seemed that the 1993 solution proposed by Princeton professor Andrew Wiles would become another casualty until he rescued it with a brilliant insight. Singh, a physicist who also directed a documentary film on this topic, relates the theorem's story over 2500 years, moving from ancient Greece, where it was first conceived, to its recent, triumphant solution. Through his engaging renderings of the mathematicians who took on Fermat's challenge over the years, the author captures the joys and frustrations of this quest for an extremely elusive proof. Readers with a high school-level knowledge of number theory will have no trouble following the text. Comparatively, Amir Aczel's Fermat's Last Theorem (LJ 10/15/96) is more concise (it can be read in two hours) and somewhat easier to understand, but Singh's book has more perspective and builds to a truly engrossing climax. It's a mathematical page-turner.?Gregg Sapp, Univ. of Miami Lib., Coral Gables, Fla.

From Kirkus Reviews
The proof of Fermat's Last Theorem has been called the mathematical event of the century; this popular account puts the discovery in perspective for non-mathematicians. As one of the producers of the BBC Horizons show on how the 300-year-old puzzle was solved, Singh had ample opportunity to interview Andrew Wiles, the Princeton professor who made the historic breakthrough. As a schoolboy in England, Wiles stumbled across a popular account of Fermat's puzzle: the assertion that no pair of numbers raised to a power higher than two can add up to a third number raised to the same power. Singh traces the roots of the problem in ancient geometry, from the school of Pythagoras (whose famous theorem is clearly its inspiration) up to the flowering of mathematics in the Renaissance, when Fermat, a French judge who dabbled in number theory, stated the problem and claimed to have found a proof of it. Generations of the finest mathematicians failed to corroborate his claim. Singh gives a colorful and generally easy-to-follow summary of much of the mathematical theory that was generated in attempts to prove Fermat's conjecture. Finally, in the 1950s, two Japanese mathematicians came up with a conjecture concerning elliptical equations that, at the time, seemed to have nothing to do with Fermat's problem. But it was the Taniyama-Shimuru conjecture that gave Wiles the opening to solve the problem after working in isolation for seven years. He announced his proof at a famous mathematical congress in Cambridge, England--a truly great moment in mathematical history. Then a flaw in the proof presented itself- -and Wiles went back to work for over a year to patch it up. Finally he succeeded, and the greatest problem in mathematical history was laid to rest. A good overview of one of the great intellectual puzzles of modern history. (photos and line drawings)

Reviews
I strongly recommend this book to anyone wishing to catch a glimpse of what is one of the most important and ill-understood, but oldest, cultural activities of humanity. Although I do have some minor reservations about the book (mainly to do with a few places where the author's descriptions of mathematical examples cause a little confusion because of minor lacunae), I believe it to be an excellent and very worthwhile account of one of the most dramatic and moving events of the century. -- The New York Times Book Review, Roger Penrose

"An excellent account of one of the most dramatic and moving events of the century."--Sir Roger Penrose, New York Times Book Review

"It is hard to imagine a more gripping account of...this centuries-long drama of ingenious failures, crushed hopes, fatal duels, and suicides."--Jim Holt, The Wall Street Journal

"Though Singh may not ask us to bring too much algebra to the table, he does expect us to appreciate a good detective story."--Boston Sunday Globe

"The history of mathematics comes alive even for those who dread balancing their checkbooks."--Publishers Weekly

"Singh captures the joys and frustrations of this quest for an extremely elusive proof...and builds to a truly engrossing climax. It's a mathematical page-turner."
--Library Journal

From the Inside Flap
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.

About the Author
Simon Singh received his PhD from the University of Cambridge. A former BBC producer, he directed the BAFTA Award-winning documentary film 'Fermat's Last Theorem', about Andrew Wiles and the world's most famous maths problem, and he wrote the book of the same title. He is also the author of 'The Code Book' and 'Big Bang'.