Product Description

The story of the solving of a puzzle that has confounded mathematicians since the 17th century. The solution of Fermat's Last Theorem is the most important mathematical development of the 20th century. In 1963, a schoolboy browsing in his local library stumbled across the world's greatest mathematical problem: Fermat's Last Theorem, a puzzle that every child can understand but which has baffled mathematicians for over 300 years. Aged just ten, Andrew Wiles dreamed that he would crack it. Wiles's lifelong obsession with a seemingly simple challenge set by a long-dead Frenchman is an emotional tale of sacrifice and extraordinary determination. In the end, Wiles was forced to work in secrecy and isolation for seven years, harnessing all the power of modern maths to achieve his childhood dream. Many before him had tried and failed, including a 18-century philanderer who was killed in a duel. An 18-century Frenchwoman made a major breakthrough in solving the riddle, but she had to attend maths lectures at the Ecole Polytechnique disguised as a man since women were forbidden entry to the school.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1603 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
When Cambridge mathematician Andrew Wiles announced a solution for 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 laboured 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 colourful history that has build up around Fermat's last theorem over the years. The book contains some problems that offer a taste for the maths, but it also includes limericks to give a feeling for the quirkier side of mathematicians.

Review
'If you enjoyed Dava Sobel's Longitude you will enjoy this' Evening Standard 'Far from being a dry textbook it reads like the chronicle of an obsessive love affair. It has the classic ingredients that Hollywood would recognise' Daily Mail

From the Author
A problem worthy of attack proves its worth by fighting back
For the last seven years I have worked as a science journalist for BBC television in London, and, without doubt, the story of Fermat's Last Theorem is the most compelling scientific tale I have encountered. As soon as Andrew Wiles solved the problem of the Last Theorem, I began working on a TV documentary describing his achievement (which was aired in the UK on BBC's Horizon series and in the USA as part of the NOVA series), but it was obvious that there was much more to the story than could be squeezed into 60 minutes of television. The book is intended to do justice to the extraordinary history of the problem, involving tragedy, obsession, rich prizes, suicide and even transvestism. At the same time, it was an opportunity to desribe the beautiful mathematical ideas behind Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. Mathematics is not about balancing checkbooks, it's about exploring an abstract universe of numbers, filled with profound and subtle concepts. Since the moment I heard about Fermat's Last Theorem I was fascintated by it, and I hope that you will be equally enthralled.

Customer Reviews

Setting the gold standard for those that followed.
In or around 1637, Pierre de Fermat wrote in the margin of a maths book notes describing what became known as Fermatean Triples. He claimed to have found an equation that was hard to solve. "I have a truly marvellous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain". That one sentence was to tease mathematicians for centuries. The proposition, known as Fermat's Last Theorem, is simple to describe such that even a child can understand it: that there was no solution to the equation "a**n + b**n = c**n" (where '**' is 'to the power of', a, b, and c are whole numbers greater than 1, and 'n' is greater than 2).

Written like a detective story where the answer is known, this book is easy to follow, and leads readers through a maze of ideas, concepts and subtleties that would be a disaster in the hands of a lesser writer. This is absorbing narrative, leading up to the lecture where Andrew Wiles presented his proof of the non-solution of the equation. However, the proof presented on 23rd June 1993 was the beginning of a nightmare for Wiles, as a serious logic error was subsequently discovered that took an all-consuming 15 months to rescue.

The story of how a very gifted mathematician devoted himself for seven secretive years to a question that others had given up on is only half the tale that Singh tells. It is a journey through some of the history of mathematics, with the solution to the amateur mathematician Fermat's problem being an accidental occurrence. Along the way there are very good insights into the differences between mathematical proofs and scientific proofs; the former must be indisputable, whereas scientific proofs are only ever probabilistically true, and do change as knowledge increases.

There is no need for a great interest in or knowledge of mathematics to enjoy the story, which itself draws the reader onwards. I k now nothing of the similarities between modular equations and elliptical equations, tied up within what became known as the Taniyama – Shimura conjecture, yet can appreciate the means by which Wiles was able to prove Fermat's theorem by establishing the mathematical truth of the latter.

Simon Singh started by investigating the story of Andrew Wiles and Fermat for a British television program. This book that he subsequently produced set new levels for the history of science as a popular writing genre. At the end, Singh goes further, and raises questions as to whether the discovery was worth it. If Wiles had not been able to rescue his proof, it is suggested that the effort would not have been in vain, as there were significant advances in mathematic knowledge obtained in the trying. Singh also discusses other difficult areas, and muses on whether some of these will be unprovable, or insoluble. Fermat's Last Theorem, having frustrated the best mathematical brains for over 350 years, is now established, and is not one of the 'unknowable truths of mathematics'!

In concluding, it is fitting to use the words with which Andrew Wiles concluded his 1993 lecture: "I think I'll stop here".

Peter Morgan Bath, UK (morganp@supanet.com)

Fermat's last theorem is 'unputdownable'
My only reservation about this superb book is that it forces the reader to read it too quickly and therefore does not represent value for money in terms of time! The problem had fascinated maths enthusiasts for a few centuries but Singh begins his tale way back in the 6th century B.C. It may seem inconcievable that a 2500 year long story can be told in 300 or so pages but Singh manages it brilliantly.

In 1637 Pierre de Fermat, a French 'amateur' mathematician stated that there were no solutions to a pythagorean type expression using powers above the value of two. Tantalisingly he wrote in the margin that he had a 'marvellous demonstration' which the margin was too narrow to contain. This was to torment mathematicians for over three hundred years. Did Fermat have a proof? Could he possibly have had a proof? What was the proof?

Andrew wiles was a young boy when he encountered Fermat's riddle and decided there and then that he would be the one who would solve it. Singh takes us on this journey and we become embroiled in the riddle ourselves. The appendices demonstrate mathematical techniques so eloquently and succinctly that the reader suddenly thinks that he, the reader, must have immense, hitherto undiscovered mathematical talent. Not so. The talent is that of Simon Singh, a talent that kept me totally enthralled for several hours, untol the book was finished. I felt disappointed that it did not go on longer, but the story was told and the ending was sensational. Not to worry, I have just ordered 'The code book' and 'The big bang' both by Simon Singh, I know I will not be disappointed.

Brilliant from beginning to end
OK, I'll admit it, as a mathematician I've been acquainted with - and fascinated by - Fermat's last theorem for decades. I bought this book for holiday reading, and was not disappointed. The book goes into the history of mathematics, including Pierre de Fermat's intriguing background, and shows how Andrew Wiles drew on centuries of knowledge and discoveries in order - finally - to nail a proof for Fermat's Last Theorem. The whole "story" is remarkably pacey but wonderfully clear.

I admit I did already know some of the details given in this book, but the history and the description of the characters in the world of mathematics added an extra dimension (no pun intended!) and made it all the more fascinating. Names like Euler, Dirichlet, Cauchy, LaGrange ... before I read the book they had merely been names of equations, polynomials, boundary conditions and the like, but the author gave us some fascinating details of their lives, what type of people they were (I've gone off Cauchy now, and I so loved his polynomials) and even the interactions that went on among some of these famous names.

And I loved the description of Wiles's "Eureka" moment when he realises he's finally got the proof ... it must have been like solving the world's most difficult crossword clue!

I don't know whether to go straight back and read the whole thing again, or lend it to a friend and share the experience.

On reflection, my friends can buy their own copy.