3 ms·
The history of the Theorem and the attempts to crack it, and how Wiles finally got there is fantastic, and if you've not come across it in detail then I'd defin
by nicholassmith 13y ago
The history of the Theorem and the attempts to crack it, and how Wiles finally got there is fantastic, and if you've not come across it in detail then I'd definitely recommend finding out more about it.
If anyone is looking for a good book about the history of Fermat's Last Theorem I can thoroughly recommend Simon Singh's book about it [1], which is both accessible for those without a strong maths background (like myself) and paints a wonderful history of mathematics as well. In places it's more entertaining than fiction.
[1] http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fermats-Last-Theorem-confounded-greatest/dp/1841157910 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fermats-Last-Theorem-confounded-grea...
- aidos 13y agoI'd 2nd that. I've read two other of his books, The Code Book and Big Bang, in which he gives cryptography and physics similar treatment.
- dagw 13y agoGreat book, no matter your level of math knowledge or interest. I'm an all round science nerd with a MSc in maths, my wife is an architect with a background in art history and graphic design and a aversion to all things mathematical, yet we both really liked book.
- arh68 13y agoI read the book as a kid (I'm guessing 15), and while I probably understood little of it, I read the whole thing. It was definitely inspiring to learn Wiles' slow persistence/progress, and the never-would've-guessed kind of connections that come up in maths.
- dtparr 13y agoSomewhat off topic, but I was somewhat surprised that architect is a viable career for someone with an aversion to all things mathematical. Does she still need math, she just doesn't enjoy it, or does the modeling software these days take care of all the calculations necessary?
- dagw 13y agoThe role of the architect in Sweden is very different from the role of the architect in North America. In Sweden an architect deals with the planning and design phase and is not involved with the construction phase and has no practical or legal responsibilities with regards to the actual building process. All that is handled by a construction engineer.
- dtparr 13y agoInteresting. I would have thought at least some math would be required during the planning/design phase to ensure the design is physically stable (e.g. load calculations to ensure spans are supported well enough). Thanks for the info.
- dagw 13y agoMost houses are designed with standard, well understood materials and well within industry standard tolerances, so there is no need to do any heavy duty load calculations at every step. 97% of the time plugging some numbers into the standard formulas is plenty enough for a sanity check. If you're doing something really weird you sit down in collaboration with your engineers.
- alok-g 13y agoAfter reading the book, would I have some understanding of the actual proof, or learn mostly the historical context around it? Note: I have felt deceived after reading Godel's Proof [1] since the authors claimed in the preface to have given an outline of the complete proof in the last chapter but did not (it was grossly incomplete). I am still indebted to the book though for teaching me how to think about pure mathematics. [1] http://www.amazon.com/G%C3%B6dels-Proof-Ernest-Nagel/dp/0814758371/ http://www.amazon.com/G%C3%B6dels-Proof-Ernest-Nagel/dp/0814...
- ColinWright 13y agoA popular science book about Fermat's Last Theorem will certainly not give you any kind of real understanding of the proof. It will give you some historical context. It is a difficult proof, and some of the underlying basic concepts are already deep in their own right, deeper than will be covered in an advanced undergraduate degree. There are some attempts at higher level overviews on the web, and they are slowly getting fleshed out.