Fermat's Last Theorem (Stranger Than...)

an interesting book about Mathematics and about mathematicians both the famous and not so famous

Dreams come and go, but mathematics is there forever (0/0 people found this helpful)

One of my dreams is to understand the proof of this theorem. (Another is to prove the Riemann conjecture, but that's a different history book.) Reading this one didn't get me anywhere nearer this, but on the other hand, neither did the book I got which purports to explain it in some mathematical detail.

What this book *does* give you is an insight into the mathematicians themselves. And on that count it pays in spades. When I read this at the end of the 90's I was considering whether to return to studying maths again after a break of some 15 years or so. After having finished it, I reckoned, yes I would. It's that good.

Singh is an excellent writer and conveys the drama of the story impeccably. Unfortunately, as with all books of this nature, it is not possible to go into the mathematical nitty-gritty behind the sweeping curves that make this theorem a thing of beauty - because it's too abstruse a subject. Even as a practising (amateur) mathematician myself, I can't get my head round the aspects of this particular topic. That can be kind of frustrating - but it won't stop me trying.

This book is as much about the mathematicians as the mathematics itself. They're an entertaining bunch - there's no such thing as a boring mathematician.

Mathematics is next year's new rock and roll.

Brilliant (0/0 people found this helpful)

The best bit about this book is that it is about people, crazy, clever, sad, mad and then about the numbers they were interested in. It really woke an interest in something I was not interested in.

Going against the grain here... (0/1 people found this helpful)

But I've got to say that I didn't really enjoy this book. There were areas that I thought should have been explored and explained more thoroughly, while some parts just got too much coverage.

The two Japanese chaps were worthy of far greater discussion for me, given the obvious differences between them and the rest of the mathematical community of the day, and Wiles himself was painted with very broad brush strokes by the author.

The bit between the problem with the original proof and its rectification was explained in too much detail given that we all knew that far into the book that it would work out in the end.

I was expecting a surprise and a big twist at the end. And all I got was a lengthy revised proof! I agree that it is highly unlikely, if not almost impossible that Fermat had a proof all those years ago. I was expecting Wiles to find, having been the long way round, that there was a massive simplification possible, and for him to arrive at a direct route to the proof that would have been open to Fermat without going round the block for 300 years.

Then again, it is a good subject with a great story, one that deserves its place on the book stands, even if it didn't really light me up in the way some of it was handled.

But I realise I'm in a minority on this view, and am not knocking anyone else's opinion. 5 stars is in the eye of the beholder!

Good, but inferior to "The Code Book" (1/1 people found this helpful)

As did most other readers, I thoroughly enjoyed Simon Singh's "Fermat's Last Theorem". Singh uses this holy grail of mathematics to provide an entertaining account of the history of number theory as well as a more detailed description of the years immediately surrounding Andrew Wiles' final proof. This is the second Simon Singh book I've read, the first being "The Code Book". The problem of this compared to "The Code Book" is that it feels rather less interactive and complete. In "The Code Book" Singh manages to really involve the reader in the encryption and code breaking process and only very rarely skips ideas and concepts that are too complicated for the intention of the book. In "Fermat" this is not really the case. We never truly gain an understanding of how Fermat's Last Theorem was actually proved, only a very broad survey of the people and concepts that paved the way. I understand that it is no easy task to present cutting edge mathematics in an easily digestible format, but it seems that once Singh gets into the 20th century he gives up altogether. There are plenty of mathematical appendices to the book, but most of them deal with old Greek proofs of Pythagoras and incidental forays into Game Theory, and not one of them relates to the mathematics directly required in proving Fermat.

Nonetheless this is a very entertaining history of mathematics that I found immensely difficult to put down. If you are interested in mathematical history and how mathematicians experience great discoveries this book has a lot to offer. If you want to learn mathematics, let alone understand how Fermat's Last Theorem was tackled, this can only serve as a historical supplement.

PS Be sure to check out the TV documentary of the same name, available on several well-known online video upload websites.

Fermat's Last Theorem (Stranger Than...)

Simon Singh

Reader Reviews:

Fermat's Last Theorem (0/0 people found this helpful)

Dreams come and go, but mathematics is there forever (0/0 people found this helpful)

Brilliant (0/0 people found this helpful)

Going against the grain here... (0/1 people found this helpful)

Good, but inferior to "The Code Book" (1/1 people found this helpful)

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