Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem

by Simon Singh
Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem
book data
788 ratings, 4.08 average rating, 111 reviews (more data...)
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published
September 8th 1998 (first published 1997) by Anchor

binding
Paperback, 336 pages

isbn
0385493622    (isbn13: 9780385493628)

description
When Andrew Wiles of Princeton University announced a solution of Fermat's last theorem in 1993, it electrified the world of mathematics. After a flaw...more




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Bruce
06/18/08
Bruce rated it: 3 of 5 stars

Read in April, 2009
recommends it for: everyone from high schoolers on up
What a fun book this was (thanks, Trevor, for the recommendation)! There are many reasons I think I like (good) nonfiction -- a sense of direct relevance, gravitas, frequent insights into the workings of the universe (and people), but mostly for knowledge narcs -- high levels of information density served up into an intriguing package by someone else who has undertaken the heavy lifting (research, organization, thinking). So, here in Singh's work I get a solid lay understanding not only of the...more
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Mark
12/10/07
fbuser852655723 rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in January, 2006
If you don't think math can be sexy and exciting, then you ought to give Singh's book a read.

By the time Pierre de Fermat - sometime civil servant and occasional brilliant mathematician - left this earth, he'd left an indelible mark on the 17th century. His work with Pascal on "laws of chance" (considered by some an oxymoron) was groundbreaking and enduring, as was his contribution to proto-calculus.

Fermat, though, was very often remembered for something he wro...more
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Manny
03/10/09
Manny rated it: 3 of 5 stars

bookshelves: science
Read in January, 1999
I guess the author does a reasonable job. But when I reached the end, I still didn't feel I understood at all how the proof worked. Probably that's just because it's so bloody hard. I got a lot more though out of Prime Obsession, Derbyshire's book on the Riemann Hypothesis, where the author opens up the box and shows you some of the actual math...
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Anna
08/08/07
Anna rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in March, 2008
recommends it for: all who're interested in maths but not necessarily experts at it
Finished. I have to admit I got completely lost in the last fourth of the book, where he discussed the modular somethings (equations, perhaps). It still is s really great book though.

**re-reading**

After 'White Dog', I strongly felt the need for something neat. Re-reading this is like plunging into a cool ocean.


______original review: ______
After I had finished his Code Book, I picked this one up. I always loved maths in school...trying to find a pat...more
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Kururu
06/07/09
Kururu rated it: 1 of 5 stars (review of isbn 1841157910)

bookshelves: history, math, non-fiction
Read in May, 2009
This book is meant for the latter half of the bell curve. If you're mathematical experience stopped at high school, this book will still disappoint you. I don't understand how you can write about math without writing some math. The equations given weren't pertinent to Fermat's Last Theorem, most were digressions that were meant to prove an already obvious point, an explanation of the Pythagorean theorem?, thank you but my elementary school teacher did plenty enough. The book skimps over the hard...more
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Bob
06/27/09
Bob rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in February, 2009
It was as exciting as fiction to follow not only the history of Fermat's conjecture and the effort it has evoked for 3 centuries but also the personal quest of Andrew Wiles, who embraced this quest as a boy and fortuitously was equipped with appropriate math skills to mount a mighty effort in pursuit thereof. The twists and turns the tale takes on are intriguing.

Among the insights shared is the metaphorical description by Wiles of the process of entering a room in total darkness, di...more
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Lamont
05/18/09
Lamont rated it: 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Suzanne
06/27/09
Suzanne rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in June, 2009
i thought this book would be boring because it was about math. hmm. in fact, it wasn't just good for a math book, but was genuinely compelling storytelling in its own right. it's not solely about fermat & crazy man wiles, which was my main concern, but instead covers hundreds of years of math and research and mathematicians, and makes the whole researching business seem far more exciting than, in my experience, it actually is. it was neat to have some context for all the names that pop up ov...more
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Brian
01/05/09
Brian rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Be careful with this one. This is the one that will get you interested in mathematics, but it's sneaky. All the numbers are stuffed into appendices -- you don't have to touch the stinky stuff. Each chapter is a mini biography, starting in ancient Greece and ending now-ish. If you think rock stars have crazy lives, then check out the men and women in here. Not for the faint of heart: one has meat stripped from bone with sharpened clam shells and another lies bleeding to death in a field aft...more
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Jane
01/03/09
fbuser675532321 rated it: 4 of 5 stars

What an amazing story! I am not a mathematician, so the math discussions were often over my head, although the author does his best to make the subject matter accessible. The most interesting part was the history of the quest to solve the problem and of mathematics in general. I skimmed some so that I would not get bogged down in the minutiae, but really enjoyed the book. It was fascinating to be drawn into the secretive, elite world of high-end mathematicians. It's great to know that there...more
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Davis
02/13/09
Davis rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in April, 2009
If you hated math in elementary/high school, you probably won't like this book. But for anyone that likes math, this is a very good book. The author does an excellent job of explaining some of the more challenging mathematical concepts. Though there are some that are just too complex that you have to take the author's word for it. As the title conveys, the book focuses on Fermat's last unresolved theorem which stood for over 350 years. Fermat stated that he was able to prove his theorem, but did...more
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melydia
Read in February, 2009
Most people are familiar with the Pythagorean Theorem which describes a right triangle: a^2 + b^2 = c^2. However, what you may not know is that Pierre Fermat claimed back in the 1600s to be able to prove that a^n + b^n = c^n has no whole number solutions for n > 2. Trial and error suggests this to be true, but for over 350 years, no one could prove it. This is the story of the equation and those who worked towards the eventual solution in the early 1990s, from Pythagoras through Andrew Wil...more
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Tom
10/22/08
Tom rated it: 5 of 5 stars

bookshelves: my-favorites
Read in November, 2008
recommends it for: Red Sox fans and people who love curiosity
There are going to be a certain number, most likely a fairly large number of people who would never consider reading "Fermat's Enigma," because it is about math. That's a shame. Yes, there is math in this book, but you don't have to be a mathematical genius to understand it. God knows I'm not one. What Singh's book actually reminded me of was being a Red Sox fan. (I'll explain.)In the late 18th century Pierre Fermat, an amateur French mathematician, proposed a fairly simple theory. Eve...more
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Hung
06/08/08
Hung added it

Pretty nice read, tells the history of Fermat's Last Theorem, the centuries of mathematicians who tried to solve it, and the one(s) who finally did. Singh writes a surprisingly compelling and human story. Lots of suicides and deaths, some romantic intrigue and twists of fate thrown in, too. But above all, there is a lot of struggle--of many sorts. If you like watching Nova and the Discovery Channel, you'd like this.

The funny thing to me is that I know some math zealots who point to t...more
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Taka
04/05/08
Taka rated it: 4 of 5 stars (review of isbn 000724181X)

Read in April, 2008
Great (4.5)--

Although I would've appreciated a little more concrete math, Simon Singh does another superb job at explaining in lay terms what Fermat's Last Theorem meant for mathematics at large and what Andrew Wiles achieved in proving it after 350 years of numerous failures by other greatest minds of their times. It's a fascinating history whose intensity and influence can't be gleaned from just reading the theorem, which states simply:

For n greater than 2, there is no ...more
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Bloodaxe
01/21/08
Bloodaxe rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in May, 2003
The book "Fermat's Enigma" gives an account of the history of Fermat's Last Theorem and its proof. For those who are not familiar with the story, the theorem in question was stated, without proof, by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in the 17th Century. Fermat claimed to have a clever proof of his theorem, but the margin on the page was too narrow to contain it. Thus, after his death, many great mathematicians struggled to uncover the proof that Fermat never gave, and the prob...more
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Trevor
12/08/07
Trevor rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in January, 2000
This book is as interesting as a detective story while being about quite advanced mathematics - as such it is quite a book showing the remarkable skill of its writer to explain complex ideas in ways that are always readable and enjoyable.

A mathematician finds a simple proof to what seems like a deceptively simple problem of mathematics - that pythagoras's theorem only works if the terms are squared, and not if they are any other power up to infinity. Sounds dull. Except that the mat...more
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Raghu
05/15/07
Raghu rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in January, 2001
This book is about the history of mathematicians trying to find a proof for Fermat's theorem, formulated 350 years ago. Pierre de Fermat, the great French mathematician, postulates that

x^n + y^n = z^n

has no non-zero integer solutions for x, y and z when n > 2. Fermat also wrote that he has discovered a truly remarkable proof which his notebook margin was too small to contain.
That set the mathematical community to find the 'elegant' proof that Fermat talked ...more
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Rebecca
06/14/08
Rebecca rated it: 5 of 5 stars

A very good book, one of my favorites. It brings out the excitement of doing mathematics, makes it a human endeavor. It gets across to the reader some of the beauty of mathematics. It also describes how some areas of math relate to one another, and how many areas relate to Fermat's Last Theorem. It makes clear why the proof is important and gives the reader some basic understanding of the broadest possible outline of the proof (not that I remember it at all now, 8 years later).

I ...more
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Danny
04/06/09
Danny rated it: 4 of 5 stars

A great history of number theory, starting with Pythagoras, heading to Euclid and the library of Alexandria, through the dark ages, then the modern era.

The importance of Fermat's last theorem seems a bit overstated to me, but I guess that's to be expected given the title. Nonetheless, the math parts are pretty accessible, and the history is story is very interesting.
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