"Do you know, the Devil confided, 'not even the best mathematicians on other planets - all far ahead of yours - have solved it? Why, there's a chap on Saturn - he looks something like a mushroom on stilts who solves partial differential equations mentally; and even he's given up".
Simon Singh's Fermat's Last Theorem explores a three-century-old mathematical mystery. The tale begins with a young boy named Andrew Wiles, who stumbles upon this complex puzzle in E.T. Bell's book, "The Last Problem", at the tender age of ten. Singh's narrative takes us on a journey, intertwining the life of Wiles with the historical development of mathematics.
The riddle brings life from the famous Pythagoras equation, which states:
Fermat's last theorem asserts that no solutions exist for the equation of the form:
When n is greater than 2. The theorem's namesake, Pierre de Fermat, was a 17th-century genius, dubbed the "prince of amateurs" by E.T. Bell, despite his skills far surpassing an amateur's. Fermat, a judge by profession, dedicated his leisure time to his love for mathematics. Fermat enjoyed a particular pleasure in challenging his contemporaries with riddles and witnessing their humiliation. Fermat's unique habit of not documenting complete proofs for his theorems led to creating one of history's most complex mathematical riddles.
The book navigates through different eras of mathematics, introducing luminaries from Euler to Kummer, Wolfskehl to Wiles, and Pythagorean Brotherhood to Taniyama-Shimura. He explores various mathematical concepts, from proof by contradiction to induction, and highlights the struggles faced by women mathematicians like Sophie Germain.
Except for Cossits of the 18th century, mathematicians typically collaborate during their work. Still, Wiles chose to work in isolation for seven years, driven by his childhood obsession to prove Fermat's Last Theorem. His research began with analysing the pitfalls encountered by prominent mathematicians of past centuries who attempted and failed to solve the theorem. On June 23, 1993, after seven years of relentless effort, Wiles delivered a lecture at Cambridge that took the world by storm. Did Wiles fulfil his childhood dream of solving the most complex puzzle? Was it that simple to be solved alone? What if there were apparent cracks?
I would love to leave it to you to find out what happened next by reading this gem of a work. Whether a math enthusiast or a casual reader, "Fermat's Last Theorem" will make you fall in love with mathematics.
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