Overview

The extraordinary 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. A remarkable story of human endeavour and intellectual brilliance over three centuries, Fermat ‘s Last Theorem will fascinate both specialist and general readers.

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9781841157917

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Reviews

'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

'If you enjoyed Dava Sobel's Longitude you will enjoy this.' Evening Standard 'This is probably the best popular account of a scientific topic I have ever read.' Irish Times 'Reads like the chronicle of an obsessive love affair. It has the classic ingredients that Hollywood would recognise.' Daily Mail 'To read it is to realise that there is a world of beauty and intellectual challenge that is denied to 99.9 per cent of us who are not high-level mathematicians.' The Times 'This tale has all the elements of a most exciting story: an impenetrable riddle; the ambition and frustration of generations of hopefuls; and the genius who worked for years in secrecy to realise his childhood dream.' Express

This tells a fascinating tale spanning more than 350 years of investigation into the greatest riddle in mathematics. Whether Fermat himself ever did have a proof of his famous last theorem we will never know; but the saga of the many attempts to find a proof, and the ultimate success of Andrew Wiles in the 1990s, makes absorbing reading. In 1993, Wiles, a Cambridge mathematician, electrified the world of mathematics - and appeared in the news worldwide - when he announced he had solved the eponymous theorem. To do this he had worked alone for seven years; when his proof was found to have a flaw, he had to devote another year to it. Singh's book is respectful of the maths, but also offers a colourful history of the theorem and the personalities of the mathematicians involved in it. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Simon Singh is a science journalist and TV producer. Having completed his PhD at Cambridge he worked from 1991 to 1997 at the BBC producing Tomorrow’s World and co-directing the BAFTA award-winning documentary Fermat’s Last Theorem for the Horizon series. In 1997, he published Fermat’s Last Theorem, which was a no 1 best-seller in Britain and translated into 22 languages. In 1999, he published The Code Book which was also an international bestseller and was the basis for the Channel 4 series The Science of Secrecy.

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