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Fermat's Enigma

The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem

By Simon Singh

(56)

| Hardcover | 9780802713315

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Book 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 futureContinue

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.

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  • 1 person find this helpful

    A disclosed mystery

    Simon Singh tells the fascinating story of the theorem whose demonstration was too long for being written in the margin of a page and had to be faced by generations of mathematicians, waiting the advent of Andrew Wiles, who put an end to this unsolved question after three centuries and a half of fai ... (continue)

    Simon Singh tells the fascinating story of the theorem whose demonstration was too long for being written in the margin of a page and had to be faced by generations of mathematicians, waiting the advent of Andrew Wiles, who put an end to this unsolved question after three centuries and a half of failures.
    The extraordinary abilities of the author make this book interesting to every kind of reader, even to someone who’s closed his last Math book forty years ago.

    Is this helpful?

    Andrea said on May 4, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Maths made interesting :)

    Simon Singh really has the power to tell a really good story about just about anything.

    Is this helpful?

    Hans said on Nov 13, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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