Fermat's Last Theorem : The Story Of A Riddle That Confounded The World's Greatest Minds For 358 Years :

Simon Singh ; ( Foreword ) John Lynch

ISBN 10: 1841157910 / ISBN 13: 9781841157917

Published by Fourth Estate Publishing, 2002

About this Item

Published In 2002 : 1st. Edition : 5th. Printing : Fourth Estate Publishing : This Copy Is New : We've Downgraded It Because There Are A Few Light , Shallow Line Indentations & Bumps To The Covers : Mainly The Back Face : Otherwise , As New Throughout : Still Crisp & Tight , With No Inscriptions : Good Solid Binding With Bright Clear Text & Photographs : Overall , A Very Nice Book :

Seller Inventory # 53 - 21615

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Fermat's Last Theorem : The Story Of A Riddle That Confounded The World's Greatest Minds For 358 Years :
• Publisher: Fourth Estate Publishing
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1841157910
• ISBN 13: 9781841157917
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Seller catalogs:
  • Science
  • Mathematics

About this title

Synopsis

‘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.

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.