I reread the 2001 series earlier this year, and this definitely felt like Arthur C. Clarke's writing (I haven't read any Pohl, so can't compare...) It's the story of a Sri Lankan guy who ends up solving Fermat's last theorem fairly early in his life, and what happens to him (and the earth) after that. The latter part of the book doesn't have much to to with the title, and mostly focuses on world events in relation to a side story about alien beings who are coming to destroy the earth. That didn't sound as disjointed while I was reading it, but in retrospect, I'm not sure the premise mad a lot of sense...