The World's Most Famous Math Problem: The Proof of Fermat's Last Theorem and Other Mathematical Mysteries

by Marilyn Vos Savant

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
80	1	334,497	(3.25)	2
June 23, 1993. A Princeton mathematician announces that he has unlocked, after thousands of unsuccessful attempts by others, the greatest mathematical riddle in the world. Dr. Wiles demonstrates to a group of stunned mathematicians that he has provided the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem (the equation x" + y" = z", wheren is an integer greater than 2, has no solution in positive numbers), a problem that has confounded scholars for over 350 years. Here in this brilliant new book, Marilyn vos Savant, the person with the highest recorded IQ in the world explains the mathematical underpinnings of Wiles's solution, discusses the history of Fermat's Last Theorem and other great math problems, and provides colorful stories of the great thinkers and amateurs who attempted to solve Fermat's puzzle.… (more)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

sharpwinter, zhuazhua88, Den85, escaque, rajivdholakia, ealarcon, tbr00, Bill.Elman

▾Tags

66 (1) Bill's Office Books (1) Box 30 (1) chess (2) Fermat (4) Fermat's Last Theorem (1) first edition (2) history (4) history of mathematics (1) math (24) Math and Statistics (1) mathematics - Fermats Last Theorem (1) mostly nonsense (1) non-fiction (3) number (1) own (1) owned (1) philosophy (1) popular science (1) proof (1) R4 (1) Ram Office (1) read (1) science (4) Shelf 4.5 (1) STEM: Recreational Mathematics (1) to keep (1) to-read (3) TV3 (1) unread (1)

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Lists

None

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 2 mentions

▾Member reviews

Pompous pompousity (?). yes, well, cool nonetheless. More for the mathematical drama queens of nothing else. or for the delightful thought that we have no system of mathematics or thought that actually fits the world appropriately, and the two major geometries are diametrically opposed to some extent. Or something. But you should never read books if you want to believe what you learn in school. Reading this book is the perfect use of 1.13 hours of time. Just don't believe anything this woman says, because the book has been thoroughly discredited. But delightful as an imaginative work of fiction. One should always be suspicious of writers whose only credentials are having the highest measured IQ in the world, whatever that might indicate, and depend excessively on being credentialed. (

)

ahovde01 | Jun 23, 2007 |

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors

▾Series and work relationships

▾Awards and Honors

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

▾Book descriptions

June 23, 1993. A Princeton mathematician announces that he has unlocked, after thousands of unsuccessful attempts by others, the greatest mathematical riddle in the world. Dr. Wiles demonstrates to a group of stunned mathematicians that he has provided the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem (the equation x" + y" = z", wheren is an integer greater than 2, has no solution in positive numbers), a problem that has confounded scholars for over 350 years. Here in this brilliant new book, Marilyn vos Savant, the person with the highest recorded IQ in the world explains the mathematical underpinnings of Wiles's solution, discusses the history of Fermat's Last Theorem and other great math problems, and provides colorful stories of the great thinkers and amateurs who attempted to solve Fermat's puzzle.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary