10/04/2016
.
|Professor Who
Solved 's
Wins
Math's
March 17, 2016|
*In 1637, French mathematician
scribbled an
elegant equation in the margins
of his copy of the ancient Greek
text Arithmetica.
In it, he said that for any three
whole numbers, a , b and c ,
the equation a^n + b^n = c^n
could not be satisfied by any
whole number greater than 2.
Although he claimed to have
discovered a proof for the
seemingly simple puzzle, he did
not provide one. With Fermat’s
death in 1665, the equation —
now known as “Fermat’s Last
Theorem” — soon became
(in)famous as the most difficult
mathematical problem ever
conceived, spawning a plethora
of unsuccessful proofs.
And so it remained for over 350
years.
*Mathematics professor
Andrew Wiles has won a prize
for solving Fermat's Last
Theorem.
