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"I loved every minute" - Andrew Wiles on solving Fermat's Last Theorem [video]
- hashim 3y agoFrom the top comment by scoutee, can't verify how accurate it is: "For context: this is Andrew Wiles. He solved a problem called Fermat's Last Theorem. Imagine it this way: You know the famous Pythagorean theorem, right? It says that in a right triangle, the square of the longest side (the hypotenuse) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. In numbers, it's like (a^2 + b^2 = c^2) for a triangle with sides a, b, and c.Fermat's Last Theorem is a bit like a twist on this. It says that if you try to use powers higher than 2 (like cubes, fourth powers, etc.), there are no whole numbers a, b, and c that can make the equation true. So, for any power higher than 2, there's no equivalent to the Pythagorean theorem. Fermat claimed he had a proof for this, but no one found it. Wiles worked on this problem for years in secret. In 1994, he finally presented a proof, and it was a big deal because the problem was unsolved for over 300 years! His solution involved deep concepts from mathematics, linking together different areas in a way no one had before. It was like solving a centuries-old puzzle that many thought might be impossible."
- levn11 3y agohttps://figshare.com/articles/preprint/Fermat_s_Last_and_the_Binomial_Theorem/24954183 https://figshare.com/articles/preprint/Fermat_s_Last_and_the...