Fermat's Enigma Quotes

“God exists since mathematics is consistent, and the Devil exists since we cannot prove it.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat’s Last Theorem: The compelling biography and history of mathematical intellectual endeavour

“Maths is one of the purest forms of thought, and to outsiders mathematicians may seem almost other-worldly.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat’s Last Theorem: The compelling biography and history of mathematical intellectual endeavour

“Pascal was even convinced that he could use his theories to justify a belief in God. He stated that ‘the excitement that a gambler feels when making a bet is equal to the amount he might win multiplied by the probability of winning it’. He then argued that the possible prize of eternal happiness has an infinite value and that the probability of entering heaven by leading a virtuous life, no matter how small, is certainly finite. Therefore, according to Pascal’s definition, religion was a game of infinite excitement and one worth playing, because multiplying an infinite prize by a finite probability results in infinity.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat’s Last Theorem: The compelling biography and history of mathematical intellectual endeavour

“Although this may seem a paradox, all exact science is dominated by the idea of approximation.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat’s Last Theorem: The compelling biography and history of mathematical intellectual endeavour

“Scientific proof is inevitably fickle and shoddy. On the other hand mathematical proof is absolute and devoid of doubt.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Last Theorem

“Proof is what lies at the heart of maths, and is what marks it out from other sciences. Other sciences have hypotheses that are tested against experimental evidence until they fail, and are overtaken by new hypotheses. In maths, absolute proof is the goal, and once something is proved, it is proved forever, with no room for change.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat’s Last Theorem: The compelling biography and history of mathematical intellectual endeavour

“Reductio ad absurdum, which Euclid loved so much, is one of a mathematician’s finest weapons. It is a far finer gambit than any chess play: a chess player may offer the sacrifice of a pawn or even a piece, but a mathematician offers the game.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“The nineteenth-century mathematician Leopold Kronecker said, “God made the integers; all the rest is the work of man.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“I had this very rare privilege of being able to pursue in my life what had been my childhood dream. I know it's a rare privilege, but if you can tackle something in adult life that means that much to you, then it's more rewarding than anything imaginable." - Andrew Wiles”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“I have a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“... the way to an intellectual's heart is via her library...”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“The Last Theorem is at the heart of an intriguing saga of courage, skulduggery, cunning, and tragedy, involving all the greatest heroes of mathematics.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“The mathematician’s patterns, like the painter’s or the poet’s, must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colours or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics. G.H. Hardy”
― Simon Singh, Fermat’s Last Theorem: The compelling biography and history of mathematical intellectual endeavour

“Archimedes will be remembered when Aeschylus is forgotten, because languages die and mathematical ideas do not. ‘Immortality’ may be a silly word, but probably a mathematician has the best chance of whatever it may mean. G.H. Hardy 23”
― Simon Singh, Fermat’s Last Theorem: The compelling biography and history of mathematical intellectual endeavour

“it is relatively easy to scramble an egg, but to unscramble it is far harder.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“An expert problem solver must be endowed with two incompatible qualities – a restless imagination and a patient pertinacity. Howard W. Eves”
― Simon Singh, Fermat’s Last Theorem: The compelling biography and history of mathematical intellectual endeavour

“The science fiction writer and futurologist Arthur C. Clarke wrote that if an eminent professor states that something is undoubtedly true, then it is likely to be proved false the next day.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“The idea of a classic mathematical proof is to begin with a series of axioms, statements that can be assumed to be true or that are self-evidently true. Then by arguing logically, step by step, it is possible to arrive at a conclusion. If the axioms are correct and the logic is flawless, then the conclusion will be undeniable. This conclusion is the theorem. Mathematical theorems rely on this logical process and once proven are true until the end of time. Mathematical proofs are absolute.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“The sole aim of the institute’s existence is to bring together the world’s greatest intellects for a few weeks in order to hold seminars on a cutting-edge research topic of their choice. Situated on the outskirts of the university, away from students and other distractions, the building is especially designed to encourage the academics to concentrate on collaboration and brainstorming. There are no dead-end corridors in which to hide and every office faces a central forum. The mathematicians are supposed to spend time in this open area, and are discouraged from keeping their office doors closed. Collaboration while moving around the institute is also encouraged—even the elevator, which travels only three floors, contains a blackboard. In fact every room in the building has at least one blackboard, including the bathrooms.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“judges in seventeenth-century France were discouraged from socializing on the grounds that friends and acquaintances might one day be called before the court.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“Mersenne met with the other mathematicians, but he was saddened by their reluctance to talk to him or to each other.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“when not sentencing priests to be burnt at the stake, Fermat dedicated himself to his hobby.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“Of all the links between numbers and nature studied by the Brotherhood, the most important was the relationship that bears their founder’s name. Pythagoras’s theorem provides us with an equation that is true of all right-angled triangles and that therefore also defines the right angle itself. In turn, the right angle defines the perpendicular and the perpendicular defines the dimensions—length, width, and height—of the space in which we live. Ultimately mathematics, via the right-angled triangle, defines the very structure of our three-dimensional world.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“to”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“Life, Prince Leon, may well be compared with these public Games for in the vast crowd assembled here some are attracted by the acquisition of gain, others are led on by the hopes and ambitions of fame and glory. But among them there are a few who have come to observe and to understand all that passes here. It is the same with life. Some are influenced by the love of wealth while others are blindly led on by the mad fever for power and domination, but the finest type of man gives himself up to discovering the meaning and purpose of life itself. He seeks to uncover the secrets of nature. This is the man I call a philosopher for although no man is completely wise in all respects, he can love wisdom as the key to nature’s secrets.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat’s Last Theorem: The compelling biography and history of mathematical intellectual endeavour

“He was gifted with the special capability of making many mistakes, mostly in the right direction. I envied him for this and tried in vain to imitate him, but found it quite difficult to make good mistakes.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“The art of number theory is so abstract that it is frighteningly easy to wander off the path of logic and be completely unaware that one has strayed into absurdity”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“A problem worthy of attack
Proves its worth by fighting back. Piet Hein”
― Simon Singh, Fermat’s Last Theorem: The compelling biography and history of mathematical intellectual endeavour

“although there are plenty of numbers whose divisors add up to one less than the number itself, that is to say only slightly defective, there appear to be no numbers that are slightly excessive.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

“The Brotherhood was effectively a religious community, and one of the idols they worshiped was Number.”
― Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma