Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh Read Free Book Online Page A

good company.
    For over 300 years many of the greatest mathematicians had tried to rediscover Fermat’s lost proof and failed. As each generation failed, the next became even more frustrated and determined. In 1742, almost a century after Fermat’s death, the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler asked his friend Clêrot to search Fermat’s house in case some vital scrap of paper still remained. No clues were ever found as to what Fermat’s proof might have been. In Chapter 2 we shall find out more about the mysterious Pierre de Fermat and how his theorem came to be lost, but for the time being it is enough to know that Fermat’s Last Theorem, a problem that had captivated mathematicians for centuries, had captured the imagination of the young Andrew Wiles.
    Sat in Milton Road Library was a ten-year-old boy staring at the most infamous problem in mathematics. Usually half the difficulty in a mathematics problem is understanding the question, but in this case it was simple – prove that
x
n +
y
n =
z
n has no whole number solutions for
n
greater than 2. Andrew was not daunted by the knowledge that the most brilliant minds on the planet had failed to rediscover the proof. He immediately set to work using all his textbook techniques to try and recreate the proof. Perhaps he could find something that everyone else, except Fermat, had overlooked. He dreamed he could shock the world.
    Thirty years later Andrew Wiles was ready. Standing in the auditorium of the Isaac Newton Institute, he scribbled on the board and then, struggling to contain his glee, stared at his audience. The lecture was reaching its climax and the audience knew it. One or two of them had smuggled cameras into the lecture room and flashes peppered his concluding remarks.
    With the chalk in his hand he turned to the board for the lasttime. The final few lines of logic completed the proof. For the first time in over three centuries Fermat’s challenge had been met. A few more cameras flashed to capture the historic moment. Wiles wrote up the statement of Fermat’s Last Theorem, turned towards the audience, and said modestly: ‘I think I’ll stop here.’
    Two hundred mathematicians clapped and cheered in celebration. Even those who had anticipated the result grinned in disbelief. After three decades Andrew Wiles believed he had achieved his dream, and after seven years of isolation he could reveal his secret calculation. However, while euphoria filled the Newton Institute tragedy was about to strike. As Wiles was enjoying the moment, he, along with everyone else in the room, was oblivious of the horrors to come.

2
The Riddler
    â€˜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.’
    Arthur Porges, ‘The Devil and Simon Flagg’
    Pierre de Fermat was born on 20 August 1601 in the town of Beaumont-de-Lomagne in south-west France. Fermat’s father, Dominique Fermat, was a wealthy leather merchant, and so Pierre was fortunate enough to enjoy a privileged education at the Franciscan monastery of Grandselve, followed by a stint at the University of Toulouse. There is no record of the young Fermat showing any particular brilliance in mathematics.
    Pressure from his family steered Fermat towards a career in the civil service, and in 1631 he was appointed
conseiller au Parlement de Toulouse
, a councillor at the Chamber of Petitions. If locals wanted to petition the King on any matter they first had to convince Fermat or one of his associates of the importance of their request. The councillors provided the vital link between the province and Paris. As well as liaising between the locals and the monarch, the councillors made sure that royal decrees