Fermat's Last Theorem: The story of a riddle that confounded the world's greatest minds for 358 years

click here for more details, find new or used items	Simon Singh Our price £5.07 (£8.99) New from £3.00 Used from £2.00 Pages: 368 (Paperback) ISBN: 1841157910 Pub: Fourth Estate Pub date: 2002-06-05 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1747

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Reader Reviews:

Making Maths interesting. (0/0 people found this helpful)

Mathematics has never had a reputation as being the most exciting subject in the world. Writing a book about how a 300 year old Theorem was proved does not sound like a sure fire winner. Making the book accessible to the lay reader, and topping international best-seller lists, sounds even more far-fetched.

Simon Singh attacks the task with relish. Fermat's Theorem has its roots in Ancient Greece and Singh's book outlines a history of the development of Mathematics, particularly those parts which have a bearing on the theorem in question.

At times, some points are over simplified and repeated needlessly, while at others, some steps in the explanation of the mathematics involved are not explained enough. For the most part, however, the pitch is right for the lay reader with, in my case, only high school knowledge of Maths.

Fermat's theorem, which is based in Pythagorean thought, appears simple but required deeply complex and abstract Maths to prove it. Singh outlines the thought structure of the proof and some of the key ideas involved with broad brush strokes.

The secret to Singh's success, though, lies not in his explanatory powers but the way he fleshes out the various theories and conjectures described with the backgrounds of the main players. By doing so, he gives the story a human edge and provides a narrative edge to the facts and figures of the tale.

The end result is a fascinating and - particularly towards the end - gripping tale of how one of the longest standing problems in Mathematics was solved. An early candidate to be my favourite book this year, I'll happily recommend it to anyone.

Did he or didn't he? (0/0 people found this helpful)

Bought this for my son who is studying Maths at Uni,
but decided to read it myself. I am not a great
reader but I honestly couldn't leave this book down. I found
the writer created quite a good blend of history and mathematics.
So much so that I have bought a couple more of Simon Singh's books.
I hope they are as good.

Throughout the book I kept asking myself, "how on earth
did Fermat work this all out centuries ago". Glad this was touched
on near the end of the book!

Disappointing (0/3 people found this helpful)

Too many general points and imprecisions when it comes to historical facts, could have been better if only limited to science sake.

One of the finest popular science books. (0/0 people found this helpful)

It is a commonly referenced rule in journalism and writing, 'for every equation one adds to the text, one loses half of their readers.' However with Simon Singh's magnum opus, this is not the case. In fact, this one equation is so enigmatic that I would predict the opposite of the aforementioned rule.

The basis of this book is to explore the history of Fermat's Last Theorem - which in essence is to explore variation of indices in the famous Pythagorean equation. This equation is taught to school children yet the subtle variation that Fermat proposed has baffled the greatest mathematicians of the last four centuries. It encompasses a fascinating story about the dedication, imagination and frustration of finding a proof to this unexpectedly complicated conjecture.

Simon Singh is an incredibly talented science writer, he explains complex mathematical ideas in simple prose but never patronises the reader. He explores the stories surrounding the mathematicians - all of whom are inextricably linked to Fermat's Theorem - in a humourous and interesting manner.

Most of all, this book finally launched mathematical science writing into the mainstream. Modern mathematics is exceedingly difficult to understand but Simon Singh has proved that it is possible to appreciate mathematical work without a detailed understanding of it. Above all this book is about a young child's ambition to prove a theorem that eluded the greatest thinkers of countless generations. Highly reccommended.

Fantastic! A truely brilliant story (0/0 people found this helpful)

I will keep this review short as many people have left detailed descriptions of this book already.
This is one of the finest popular science books I have ever read.
I am not a mathematician, but that did not prevent me from enjoying this book. Sing tells this beautiful, sad and gripping story that spans 300 years, better than any fiction author I have ever read. What make's it so enjoyable is, the whole story is completely true.
I believe this book should hold a place on everyones science shelf along side the likes of John Gribbin, Stephen awkings and Brian Grene.

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