false 38412 24 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 was discovered in the proof, Wiles had to work for another year--he had already labored in solitude for seven years--to establish that he had solved the 350-year-old problem. Simon Singh's book is a lively, comprehensible explanation of Wiles's work and of the star-, trauma-, and wacko-studded history of Fermat's last theorem. <I>Fermat's Enigma</I> contains some problems that offer a taste of the math, but it also includes limericks to give a feeling for the goofy side of mathematicians. 38182 book 1997 Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem total:916|5:291|4:431|3:167|2:22|1:5| 916 3729 1309 127 3 2 false false Fri Apr 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 18 17:59:18 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 03 14:23:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Mon Dec 10 06:08:03 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 10 06:08:46 -0800 2007
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 "law...more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1999 Tue Mar 10 05:34:14 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 10 05:37:39 -0700 2009 Prime Obsession, Derbyshire's book on the Riemann Hypothesis, where the author opens up...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Mar 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 08 05:41:41 -0700 2007 Sat Mar 29 08:05:15 -0700 2008
**re-reading**

After 'White Dog', I strongly felt the need for something neat. Re-reading this...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Sep 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 11:49:05 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 11:49:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Oct 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 19:33:36 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 19:41:03 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Sep 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 02:44:31 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 22 02:01:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Sat May 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 11:08:30 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 20 22:36:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Feb 20 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jun 27 14:08:12 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 14:24:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false true Mon May 18 13:50:51 -0700 2009 Mon May 18 13:57:27 -0700 2009
Simon Singh takes you on a very simple step by step tour of the evolution of math starting around 1637 when Fermat postulated his famous theorum and claimed to have a proof of it, through the final ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 21:44:46 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 14:25:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Oct 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 15 19:57:29 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 13:43:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jan 05 11:22:24 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 11:56:39 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 03 06:16:37 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 06:19:01 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Feb 13 14:02:49 -0800 2009 Tue May 05 22:24:32 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Feb 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 13 13:17:05 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 18 11:05:24 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Nov 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 22 14:17:37 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 02 15:03:41 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Jun 08 12:02:25 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 08 12:11:53 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Apr 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 05 22:24:18 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 08 02:34:26 -0700 2008
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 gr...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Mon Jan 21 01:00:52 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 01:01:27 -0800 2008 more...]]>