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Product Description
Written by an award-winning filmmaker, Fermat's Enigma tells the story of the epic quest to solve the greatest mathematical problem of all time: Fermat's Last Theorem--a problem that looked simple, yet would baffle the finest mathematical minds for more than three and a half centuries. 30 illustrations.
Amazon.com 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.
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